The American College Of Veterinary Surgeons

Here at Western Carolina Veterinary Surgery, we are very proud of Dr. Crouch and all his accomplishments. One accomplishment that we would like to highlight is Dr. Crouch is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons (ACVS). Below is information and some common questions about what it means to be a Diplomate with ACVS.

Founded in 1965, the American College of Veterinary Surgeons is the American Veterinary Medical Association specialty board which sets the standards for advanced professionalism in veterinary surgery.

Following the 2010 certification examination, ACVS includes more than 1,470 Diplomates. Approximately 65 veterinarians earn their Diplomate Credentials every year. More than 60 percent of the ACVS Diplomates operate in private and specialty practices that accept cases on a referral basis from primary care practitioners. The remainder are primarily employed by academic institutions and industry where they teach, conduct research, practice in teaching hospitals, and participate in the development of new products and treatments which improve the quality of veterinary and human health care.

The ACVS defines the standards of surgical excellence for the profession, promotes advancements in veterinary surgery, and provides the latest in surgical educational programs. By fostering the highest standards of excellence in veterinary surgery, the ACVS is helping the veterinary profession achieve its goals of providing outstanding service to the public and care to animals.

Q: What is a Diplomate?
A: An ACVS Diplomate in an individual who has been certified as a specialist in veterinary surgery by the American College of Veterinary Surgeons.Q: What does “board certified” mean?

A: A board certified surgeon is an individual who has completed the requirements of the ACVS to become certified as a specialist in veterinary surgery (an ACVS Diplomate).

Q: Do I need a surgeon who is board certified?
A: Advances in animal health care have led to a wider variety of treatment options, including highly specialized surgical procedures. Board certified surgeons spend at least four years after achieving their veterinary medical degree (DVM) focusing strictly on surgery. This concentrated training in surgery allows the ACVS Veterinary Surgeon to keep current with frequent advances in veterinary medicine. Ask your veterinarian if the procedure requires a specialist. General procedures may be less likely to require someone who is board certified.

Please visit http://www.acvs.org/ for more information.

Ice, Ice, Baby

Winter has set and its time to bunker down and maker good decisions to keep our family and pets safe. Periodically, Western Carolina Veterinary Surgery will be posting facebook updates for cold weather advice.

For starters, I know Paris Hilton probably brought them on the scene and made them more trendy, but coats and booties can help your dog stay warm. In particular, short-haired or elderly dogs benefit from wearing a coat or sweater. We would suggest to look for coats or sweaters with high collars or a turtleneck that covers the dog from the base of the tail on top to the belly underneath.

WCVS On Facebook

Tips, reminders, community events, surgery insights, holiday hours, and much more can be accessed right at the tips of your fingers through our website, http://www.wcvs.org/ or through our Western Carolina Veterinary Surgery's facebook page.

We update our facebook regularly to bring you helpful information and we would like to invite you to check out our page.

Please join us a fan and stay connected with us!

Our latest facebook update...

" This gave me a little chuckle. Check out the latest news about reindeer adoptions from the Asheville Humane Society http://www.ashevillehumane.org/

Newsletter

About once to twice a month, we like to send out an enewsletter to keep people in touch with creditable information regarding their pets health and different happenings around WCVS. Here is a look into the November newsletter...

Does your pet limp or skip? This may be an indication of a significant joint problem. Since many dogs and cats may not cry out in pain, they may be hiding a serious orthopedic condition. A thorough orthopedic exam may be required to diagnose your friend’s condition. Dr. Crouch offers consultation in orthopedic diseases affecting dogs and cats. Our practice is limited to surgery and all cases must be referred from your family veterinarian .

Warmest regards,

Dr. Crouch and the staff at Western Carolina Veterinary Surgery

Please visit our website or send an email to info@wcvs.org to be added to our information list!

Pilots N Paws - Another Successful Rescue

Our friends at Pilots and Paws have been keeping busy and blessing many people and animals in the process. Check out their latest story about a lucky German Shepard named Skye.

Skye made it to NJ thanks to everyone who helped us with this sweet girl! She had a restful night—and is eating me out of house and home! What an appetite. Deb and I made it back with about 30 min to spare before that storm with the 70 mph winds hit–yes, the one with the sideways rain. Skye was great in the plane, and in the car (we had to detour for quite a while during the storm b/c of downed trees and flooding—took over an hours and 1/2 to get home—she was patient!!). She is thin—but will put the weight on.
Again, THANK YOU.

Hugs,
Linda

Find more stories at www.pilotsnpaws.org

www.wcvs.org

Pet Adoption Made Easy

I wanted to take a moment to highlight a website that connects shelters and breeders to potential pet owners.

If you have every considered adopting a pet, here is your place to look. On their website, you can learn about adoption, search for adoptable pets, find adoption groups, and post a classified ad. They have done an excellent job at streamlining the process for adoption.

Another perk about the site is how easy they have made it for searching for the pet. It seems as tho they have thought of everything!

Take a peek at www.petfinder.com or click on the photo of Dexter, the puppy. He is currently living at Animal Compassion Network waiting on a home.

Triple Pelvic Osteotomy

Triple Pelvic Osteotomy (also called Pelvic Osteotomy or abbreviated TPO) is one of the treatment options for hip dysplasia, a developmental disease of the hip joints most commonly seen in large and giant breed dogs.

The object of a TPO is to change the orientation of the shallow hip socket (acetabulum) to allow better coverage of the head of the femur. This increases the depth of the acetabulum causing it to “capture” the head of the femur and not allow it to slip out of the socket. Increasing the stability of the joint helps to minimize the development of degenerative joint disease (arthritis) as the dog gets older.

Indications

Triple Pelvic Osteotomy is a procedure that is generally done on young dogs that are showing pain in the hips, but have not yet developed significant radiographic changes in the joints. Unfortunately, the early changes of hip dysplasia are subtle and some dogs do not show signs indicating that they have the disease until after they have already developed changes in the joint that make performing a TPO inadvisable. For this reason, many veterinarians recommend doing routine palpation and X-ray screening of the hips in all large and giant breed dogs at about 6 months of age.

Any young large or giant breed dog that demonstrates lameness in one or both rear legs, reluctance to run and play, tires easily, shifts the weight to the forelimbs, shows loss of muscle mass in the rear limbs, shows pain when the hips are manipulated, or has a “popping” sensation felt over the hip joints, should be evaluated by your veterinarian.

If caught at the early stages, TPO is a very successful procedure with few complications.

Figure 2. A pelvis from a dog, showing the three areas where the bone must be cut in order to rotate the hip joint (acetabulum)

Figure 3. A special plate is used to hold the rotated acetabular segment in the desired degree of rotation until the ilium has healed back together.

Figure 4. X-rays taken of the pelvis immediately after surgery show the rotation of the acetabulum on each side and the plate and screws holding the acetabulum in the desired degree of rotation.

Figure 5. An X-ray taken of the pelvis at 8 weeks after surgery shows that the ilial osteotomy is now healed.

A special thank you to ACVS for providing this information for dog owners. For more information on potential complications from TPO and aftercare, please refer to their website by clicking here.