Family Veterinary Care of Ossining

Due to the impending snow, we will be CLOSED tomorrow, Monday, February 1st.

Please be advised, our office will CLOSE EARLY on Thursday, December 31st, 2020 at 12:30pm and will be CLOSED all day on Friday, January 1st, 2021 for the New Year. We will resume normal business hours on Saturday, January 2nd, 2021. If you have an emergency, please call either Veterinary Emergency Group (VEG) in White Plains at 914-949-8779, Guardian Veterinary Specialists in Brewster at 914-704-4371, Animal Specialty Center (ASC) in Yonkers at 914-457-4000, Katonah Bedford ...Veterinary Center in Bedford at 914-241-7700, or Taconic Rt 202 Veterinary Center in Cortlandt at 914-737-2437. Wishing everyone a safe and healthy New Year! Sincerely, The Staff of Family Veterinary Care of Ossining

Due to the impending weather, FVCO will be closed tomorrow morning (Thursday, December 17th). If the roads are cleared and it is safe to travel, we will open up for the afternoon. We will keep you updated.

Our holiday hours are: Wednesday, 11/25 8am-12:30pm Thursday, 11/26 CLOSED all day Friday, 11/27 8:30am-5:30pm... We want to wish everyone a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving!

Please be advised, our office will be CLOSED on Wednesday, November 11th for Veteran's Day. We will resume normal business hours on Thursday, November 12th. If you have an emergency, please call either Veterinary Emergency Group (VEG) in White Plains at 914-949-8779, Guardian Veterinary Specialists in Brewster at 914-704-4371, Animal Specialty Center (ASC) in Yonkers at 914-457-4000, Katonah Bedford Veterinary Center in Bedford at 914-241-7700, or Taconic Rt 202 Veterinary Ce...nter in Cortlandt at 914-737-2437. Thank you to all of our veterans! Stay safe and enjoy the day! Sincerely, The Staff of Family Veterinary Care of Ossining

PLEASE NOTE: Our main phone line is currently not ringing in our office. If you need to contact us, please call: 914-941-3825 or text us at: 914-357-5714. Sorry for the inconvenience. We hope this gets resolved as soon as possible.

Thank you to everyone for making this past week run as smoothly as possible given the current situation. Please, rest assured, as of now, WE WILL REMAIN OPEN as we are considered an "essential business". In an effort to continue preventing the spread of COVID-19, we have put the following safeguards in to place: 1) To keep our phone lines free, when you arrive, please stay in your car and TEXT 914-357-5714 with:... YOUR NAME & PET'S NAME REASON FOR COMING (scheduled appointment, picking up medication/food, etc...) YOUR CAR COLOR & MAKE/MODEL and someone will come to your car. 2) Please download the Zoom app to your phone (https://zoom.us/support/download) before your scheduled appointment. This greatly streamlines the process of starting your video-chat with the doctor. We will continue to practice "social distancing" as much as possible. Our team members will all be wearing masks, washing hands frequently, as well as continuously disinfecting the office. Please call (914-941-3826) or email ([email protected]) with any questions or concerns. Para preguntas en español, por favor llame o escriba a esta número 914-355-9316. We hope you all are staying healthy!

Friends of Family Veterinary Care: Effective immediately, in an effort to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our community, we will be actively applying the practice of "social distancing". To this end, our office has instituted the specific changes described in detail below. To the extent that it is feasible, we have enacted a system of curbside check-in to minimize congregating in our waiting room and exam rooms. Please call our office (914-941-3826) from our parking lo...t when you arrive to be checked in. 1) PICKING UP MEDICATIONS/FOOD - someone from our office will gladly bring it to your car and can take payment over the phone or will assist in the transaction. 2) BRINGING YOUR PET FOR SCHEDULED APPOINTMENT - when possible, we will see the pet without the owner present. We understand that this is not always going to be feasible due to complicated cases and/or anxious pets. However, when possible, this can certainly help in the effort to prevent spreading the disease. We expect to have the ability to video chat with the owner during the examination set up by the end of the day tomorrow, Monday, March 16th. If this protocol will work for you and your pet, one of our staff members will meet you at the car to bring your pet inside. Any history or treatment options that need to be discussed with the doctor can be done over the phone or by video-chat. PLEASE let our staff know of any potential exposure to COVID-19, coughing, fever, etc... before coming to our office. We understand these are stressful/difficult times for all and are striving to provide the same level of service while protecting our clients, staff members, and their families. We will be utilizing every effort to continue staying open to safely service your beloved pet(s). Our staff will be wearing gloves and masks, when appropriate, and we will be making every effort to keep the hospital disinfected. Please email ([email protected]) or call us (914-941-3826) with any questions or concerns and bear with us as we all tackle this growing pandemic. We hope you all remain safe and healthy!

LOOKING FOR A NEW ADDITION TO YOUR FAMILY? This is Meadowlark ( Meadow). She is 8 years old and very loving to people of all ages. She is not especially friendly to other cats; she prefers to be an only cat. Dogs, if they are nonaggressive and used to cats, she accepts them. She is up to date on her vaccines. She does not scratch up furniture and responds to certain commands. If you can give her a new home, please call 435-645-0926. Her owner is moving to MT in March and her grandson is highly allergic to cats and their dander.

Family Veterinary Care is closed the rest of today and all day tomorrow (1/1/20) in honor of the New Year. We wish everyone a happy and healthy new year! We will reopen Thursday morning at 8am. ... If you have an emergency please call veterinary emergency group at 914-949-8779, Animal Specialty Center at 914-457-4000, Katonah Bedford animal hospital at 914-241-7700, Guardian Veterinary Specialists at 914-704-3400, or Taconic 24 hour at 914-737-2437.

One of our clients is trying to help re-home Pal (pup) and Nellie (kitty). They belong to an elderly woman who just went into a nursing home. Pal is a male, believed to be about 5-6 year old. He is a rescue dog and has had a sad life. His first owner(s) were abusive and his second owner (before the current one), was a senior citizen who either died or went into a nursing home. Pal is timid and shy, but very loyal, sweet and affectionate. He slept in bed with his owner every ...night. He's good with people, but we don't know how he is with other animals (he was too rough with Nellie so they were kept separated). Nellie is a female cat believed to be about 5-6 years old. She's strictly indoors and is also a rescue. She is extremely sweet, friendly, loving, and affectionate. We don't know how she is with other animals. If you, or someone you know, may be interested, please contact our office: 914-941-3826. Thank you!

Family Veterinary Care is closed today in honor of Veterans Day. Thank you to all of the veterans and their families. We will reopen Tuesday morning at 8am. ... If you have an emergency please call veterinary emergency group at 914-949-8779, Animal Specialty Center at 914-457-4000, Katonah Bedford animal hospital at 914-241-7700, Guardian Veterinary Specialists at 914-704-3400, or Taconic 24 hour at 914-737-2437.

From a client of ours: "We are seeking a TEMPORARY home for these very cute girls for 1-2 months... All expenses paid and then some- Need to find home this week." Please contact the office at 914-941-3826 if you are interested.

Do these glasses belong to you? They were found in our parking lot on 9/10/19 and have not yet been claimed. Please let us know if you are missing a pair of glasses. 914-941-3826.

Please keep your eyes open for Trixie...

As many of you have probably read, there has been an FDA investigation into the safety of feeding grain free diets to our dogs. While many of us during physical exam have discussed that feeding dogs a grain free diet is largely unesessary, this is the first study indicating danger (outside of diarrhea) to dogs. There seems to be a risk in developing a heart condition called dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). "In the FDA’s July 2019 update on diet and canine heart disease, they exa...mined labels of dog food products reported in DCM cases to determine whether the foods were grain-free (defined as no corn, soy, wheat, rice, barley or other grains), and whether the foods contained peas, lentils, chickpeas, beans, or potatoes (including sweet potatoes). Their report states that more than 90 percent of foods reported in DCM cases were grain-free, 93 percent of reported foods contained peas and/or lentils, and 42 percent contained potatoes/sweet potatoes." Keep in mind that there are tens of millions of dogs eating grain free diets and so far around 500+ cases reported. As of now the link between diet and DCM is still being investigated. Options for feeding include: 1. In healthy dogs, simply change the diet to one containing grains (corn, soy, wheat, rice, barley...). At this time, this seems like the most reasonable solution for a huge majority of patients. Keep in mind that changing diets in dogs can sometimes lead to diarrhea or vomiting or inappetance. Make sure to make the transition gradually over 7-14 days so their gastrointestinal tract has time to adjust. 2. Testing for dilated cardiomyopathy requires an echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart performed by a cardiologist) and taurine blood levels. If both are normal the diet can be continued as the situation is further researched. If taurine levels are low they can be supplemented. Attached are some links to read about the situation. THIS IS NOT AN EMERGENCY. A huge majority of dogs are not showing any negative effects to grain free diets and in some cases they can be helpful. https://www.fda.gov//fda-investigation-potential-link-betw https://www.akc.org//what-you-need-to-know-about-the-fdas/ https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx

Update: his family was found!! Male, black lab found in Croton. Very friendly! Please let us know if you know this dog. Thanks!

Would anyone like to adopt (or know of someone who would like to adopt) two older female cats? They are bonded together, so they would need to be re-homed together. They are sweet, however take a little bit of time to warm up to new people. If interested, please call us at 914-941-3826.