In conjunction with the State of Wisconsin and Barron County, the Animal Hospital of Chetek is participating in the Adopt-A-Highway program along a two mile section of County Highway M in the Town of Chetek.

This program was initiated by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to allow groups to volunteer and support the state's anti-litter campaign.  The  group takes responsibility for litter control along a segment of state highway that is assigned to them.

Each group will pick up litter on their segment of highway at least three times each year between April 1st. and November 1st.

For a two mile section of County Highway M, just North of Chetek, you will notice the difference a dedicated group of volunteers can make in keeping our roads free of litter and debris.  And they all seemed to be enjoying it tremendously!

Thank You to the Doctors and Staff for your hard work.  It looks great!

A Special Thank You to Amy Snapp for being the Coordinator for this Project!

Click on each image for a larger view of this hard working crew!

Amy, Cally, Dave,

Dr. Mark, & Dr. Rene'

- From our Spring and Summer 2002 Newsletter -

Dr. Schoenberg recently completed the five-month, 120-hour intensive veterinary acupuncture course in February.

In March she returned to Houston to take a two-day examination that will lead to certification by the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society (IVAS).

She will be submitting a case in veterinary acupuncture for review by the examining board and will be completing a 40-hour internship with an IVAS certified veterinary acupuncturist in the next few months.  She has started integrating acupuncture into some of the cases we’ve seen recently at the Animal Hospital of Chetek.

See Services for An Introduction to Acupuncture.

If you have questions about this treatment modality or if you would like to know more, please call us.

You can also find information regarding veterinary acupuncture and IVAS on their web site at http://www.ivas.org

International Veterinary Acupuncture Society

The Wisconsin Veterinary Medical Association (WVMA) named Dr. René Carlson as "Veterinarian of the Year" at their annual meeting in October 2001.

This award is given by the WVMA annually to a member who made major contributions to the advancement of the veterinary medical profession.

Dr. Carlson has been active in the WVMA for many years, including serving as its president in 1994.  Currently, she is a member of the WVMA Executive Board.

Dr. Carlson also serves as a delegate to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and is a director for the American Veterinary Medical Foundation (AVMF).

The Wisconsin Veterinary Medical Association is the professional veterinary organization for the state of Wisconsin.  The association serves more than 1,850 member veterinarians.

We now have ultrasound available at the Animal Hospital of Chetek.  This state of the art technology allows us to "see" inside the abdomen without surgery and without any radiation risk.

An ultrasound gives a 3-dimensional view of the internal organs and can be used to detect abnormalities or used as a diagnostic tool for screening for early disease state.

We are also able to perform echocardiograms (ultrasound of the heart) and to detect abnormalities of the heart valves, chambers, and walls. 

Our new ultrasound equipment also allows us to consult with virtually any veterinary specialists across the country by telemedicine.  Telemedicine capabilities use the internet to transmit the ultrasound images taken for case consultations.

Chetek vet combines tender heart with state of the art

 The Animal Hospital of Chetek looks like a house from the outside and feels like home when you step inside. Pets are welcome on the waiting room furniture, and dogs and cats who have to part from family members behave as if they’ve headed for a holiday instead of health care.

Muffy the dog and Win Win the cat, both about 10 years old, were at the clinic for dental checkups.  Companion animal veterinarian René Carlson was also going to check on the little dog’s persistent sneeze and Win Win’s bothersome canine tooth.

Muffy’s sneezing could be nothing more than a piece of grass irritating the inner lining of her nose, said Carlson.  She explained that she would check Muffy’s nose while she was anesthetized to be sure there was nothing seriously wrong.  Win Win’s tooth was fractured and would have to be removed, she said.

Carlson has practiced companion animal medicine since she graduated from the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine in 1978 and completed her internship in small animal medicine and surgery in Springfield, Mass., in 1979.

She moved to Chetek in 1990 with her husband, Mark, a veterinary pathologist at the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Lab in Barron.  Carlson built the hospital 1 mile north of Chetek on Hwy. M in 1996.

As a child, Carlson had cats, parakeets, dogs, horses, geese and rabbits on the family’s 8 acres. “It was just a case of Mom and Dad letting their kids have all the animals they wanted,” she said.

When Carlson was 14, one of her kittens wandered too near a dog’s bowl, and the dog attacked.  The family veterinarian could not save the kitten, and the experience wrenched from the young woman a commitment to the small, voiceless members of the animal kingdom that humans treat either as pets or pests. “Someday I’m going to be a veterinarian so I can help all those animals,” she vowed. Carlson shadowed her family’s veterinarian in Bloomington, Minn., for 1 week as a high school junior.  The next fall, he offered her a job, and the young woman cleaned cages, emptied wastebaskets and swept and mopped floors 7 days a week for $1.50/hour.

Carlson worked her way up from the entry position to veterinary assistant, a job that required her to perform lab tests and surgical preparations and assistance and gave her 3 years of practical experience before she entered veterinarian school.

“Current standards would not allow me to do that now,” she vowed.  “That’s a very fond time in my history.”

Being a veterinarian is similar to being a pediatrician, Carlson said.

“Your patients are relatively small,” she said.  “They can’t talk to you, and It’s very emotional.  People are very concerned about their animals.  It’s their family.

“One of the things I’m most passionate about is knowing how the animal fits into the family and why they’re so important to them,” she said.

Whether the pet owner is young, old, healthy or handicapped, every situation is different and special.

“I’m not an animal rights person, but they’re really victims of the circumstances they’re born into,” Carlson said.  “So I just admire people who extend their love and care to animals.”

It’s almost as important to watch the owners as it is to watch the pet, she said.  The way pet owners move or speak often signals physical distress or emotional stress in their own lives.

“That’s what motivates me,” said Carlson.  “It drives me to try to do everything I can to save the animal.  It is so important to those people to have them back for comfort.”

That’s why Carlson and the hospital’s other two veterinarians, Mary Schoenberg and Mike Kuchevar, wear pagers and have made home visits for elderly people who cannot bring their pets to the clinic.

“We’ll see everybody,” she said.  “That’s why I always ask them, ‘Would you feel better if we saw them tonight?’  I don’t care if it’s a tick.  Peace of mind-that’s what we want to give people.

“The animals do not always appreciate what we’re doing for them, even though we try to make it as pleasant as possible,” said Carlson.  “They don’t pay the bills, and they don’t come back by choice. “So we coddle and care for the family.  That’s part of health care, but it’s also part of our business.”

VETERINARIAN OF THE YEAR

Carlson was recognized as 2001 Veterinarian of the Year at the Wisconsin Veterinarian Medical Assn.’s convention in October in Madison.  “It was the shock of my life,” she said. Carlson usually attends the events; still, her husband was nervous for the 3 weeks while he knew and “created lie upon lie” to ensure that his wife would not miss the awards ceremony. “It’s probably the biggest moment of the convention,” she said.  “I was sitting there like everybody else, trying to guess who it was going to be.”

Carlson’s contributions to the profession began when she served 2 years as secretary of the Dane County Veterinary Assn.  As a resident of northern Wisconsin, Carlson attended meetings of the Northwestern Wisconsin Veterinary Medical Assn. And was nominated as president-elect just before the president moved, bumping her into the lead position in 1992 and 1993.

At a state leadership conference, she was asked to run for WVMA president.  “At first I said, ‘No, I’m not qualified,’” she said. But then Carlson remembered her experience on the group’s public education, marketing and veterinarian tech’s advisory committees and her Dale Carnegie human relations course that taught her to approach every opportunity in life with enthusiasm and self-confidence. ”It’s because of that course that I had the courage to buy land and build the clinic,” Carlson said.  “If you’re willing to stretch yourself and cross the line, it expands your horizon so much.”

The concept is similar to the goldfish theory that reminds us that fish, and humans, adapt to their environments, she said.  Compare the size of the goldfish in a small bowl to one in an outdoor pond.  Personal growth is usually limited by self-constructed boundaries.

“I’m such a believer in having the courage to confront your fears and expand your knowledge because it opens so many opportunities in life that you wouldn’t believe were possible,” Carlson said.

Carlson decided to campaign, gave it all she had and was elected WVMA president for the 1994-1995 year.  The commitment includes 1 year terms as president-elect and past-president.

Later she served a 4-year term as Wisconsin’s alternate delegate to the American Veterinary Medical Assn.  Carlson is currently in her second year of a 4-year term as the Wisconsin delegate to the AVMA.

IN SURGERY

Carlson, Schoenberg and Kuchevar require that all animals receive blood tests before they are given anesthesia, a big step for a small animal hospital in rural Wisconsin.  But underlying, invisible problems like anemia, liver problems and dehydration can jeopardize a patient’s safety while they are sedated, Carlson said.

“In my mind, the ones who are taking the risk are the animal and the doctor,” she said.  “We’ve really built this place on the best patient care, and those are the clients we have.”

Win Win was sleeping under the watchful eye of certified veterinary technician Danette Saffert when Carlson entered the room.  Saffert grew up a farm girl, helping Dad treat the cows, active in 4-H and FFA and showing sheep and cows at the Barron County Fair.  She graduated from the 2-year veterinary technician program at Madison Area Technical College in 1999.

“Danette’s got the tough job,” Carlson said. “Anybody can learn to do surgery with training.  Anesthesia is always the tricky part and is different for each patient.” A state of the art monitor tracks the level of carbon dioxide in the body.  There are few of these instruments in the state, yet high levels of carbon dioxide during anesthesia can cause complications, she said.

Isofluorane gas is a fast-acting anesthesia that Carlson prefers.  Different amounts place patients in different “planes” of anesthetization. “It’s all based on experience and the monitor, Carlson said.  “I want the safest anesthetic agents available.”

“I need a 15 blade and a surgical pack,” said Carlson, draped now in surgical gown, gloves and cap.

Turning, she explained, “Many times I take an X-ray.  But this tooth is fractured, and I’m going to have to remove it.”

The unusual thing about veterinary dentistry is that “you don’t know what you’re getting into until the animal is asleep,” she said. Humans go in for a check-up and schedule follow-up appointments for necessary procedures.

“Here we’d have to put them under anesthesia again with more cost and risk to the animal, so we just end up doing it,” said Carlson.

She made an incision through the gum above Win Win’s canine, drilled the bone from the side of the tooth and then inserted a dental elevator between the tooth and the little ligaments that hold it in place.

“If you stretch and release, stretch and release, you don’t have to put too much pressure on it,” said Carlson.  “The trick is to just be patient.”

Saffert stood across the table, watching the monitor, reaching beneath the surgical sheet to check Win Win’s heartbeat, calculating the flow of anesthesia.

In a matter of minutes, the tooth was out.  Magic.

Or so it seemed.  But the bony arch over the canine tooth makes removing it one of the “messiest” of dental procedures, Carlson said.

“The interesting thing with animals is they experience pain just like a person, but they don’t tell you,” she said as she sutured the incision.  “We’re devoted to managing pain.  It’s very well proven that animals heal better if they don’t hurt.  So he’ll get pain medication.”

Saffert stayed with Win Win when Carlson stepped from the room.  “We always have a technician with the patient,” Carlson said. “That’s very important. There’s nothing better than the real live person watching them. Machines aren’t perfect.”

The bone will grow back, Carlson said. And Win Win will be fine without the tooth, which primarily serves to snag prey and hold out his upper lip, she said. Win Win doesn’t have to hunt for supper, and he will be healthier without the chronic toothache. And the missing tooth did not detract from his looks; he is beautiful.

Veterinary dentistry has only been practiced for about 15 years and wasn’t taught when Carlson was in school.  She has since taken classes at the University of Illinois and the University of Madison veterinary schools and “endless ones around the Midwest” to learn to care for the oral health of her patients.  Dental checkups are now part of their annual physicals, and Carlson continues her studies.

Saffert monitors Win Win’s heart and his breathing as she turns off the anesthetic, and he begins to waken.  When he swallows, it is safe to lay him gently onto his blanket from home, stroke his fur until he lifts his head, and then tuck him in with gentle words before leaving to assist Carlson with the next procedure.

“There’s no pus, no foreign bodies, no tumors or infections,” Carlson said as she examined Muffy’s nostrils with a videoscope. The tiny camera probe displays what the doctors see on a television screen and on televisions in two exam rooms.  Pictures can also be printed for documentation in animals’ records. “Just light pink, normal vessels here,” the doctor said.  “I don’t see any indication of anything.”

The hospital also boasts an ultrasound that allows the doctors to look for tumors or bladder stones without taking the animals to surgery, she said.

THE BUSINESS

“Eat?” she replied to a question of when she would take a break to replenish her own strength. “That’s a good question. Some days we just eat on the fly.”

A literal statement that day. Within the hour, Carlson was off to catch the afternoon shuttle flight to the Twin Cities for a flight to Chicago, where she would attend a 2-day board of directors meeting of the American Veterinary Medical Foundation, where she is in her third year of a 3-year term as secretary and plans to serve another term.

The professional charitable organization funds veterinary education and research, sponsors Veterinary Medical Assistance Teams for dogs like those that worked at Ground Zero following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, and reimburses veterinarians when they provide medical care following catastrophic events and natural disasters. Carlson speaks to interested groups about the dog teams to raise funds for AVMF.

Schoenberg performs veterinary acupuncture and will be certified through the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society, and Kuchevar has a special interest in reptiles and birds.

“The benefit of acupuncture is that it teaches you a little more about the total body experience,” Carlson said.

Working with other doctors allows them to share their experience and interests to the benefit of their patients.

The business also includes another certified veterinarian tech, two veterinarian assistants, 1-2 groomers and four ward attendants.

The practice emphasizes preventative medicine, and its services include surgery, dentistry, geriatric health care, radiology, nutritional consultation, Microchipping, reproductive services, orthopedic surgery, diagnostic laboratory, pharmacy, boarding and grooming.

Euthanasia is a last resort in cases of terminal illness, extreme age, injury beyond repair and extreme aggression. Diseases like diabetes are manageable, she said.  And dealing with them promotes good animal health care. “Anybody can kill animals,” said Carlson.  “The people here work hard to save animals, and it boosts morale.”

The hospital is one of only 50 of the 700 Wisconsin practices to be certified with the American Animal Hospital Association and was one of 12 in the nation to earn the group’s Practice of Excellence Award in 2000.

“We’ve been blessed by the good things happening here,” Carlson said.

Hospital hours are Monday-Friday, 7:30a.m.-5:30p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. For information, call the office at 859-6650 or visit the Web site at “www.animalhospitalchetek.com.”

The Animal Hospital of Chetek celebrated our 5-year Anniversary with an Open House on August 19.  Activities included hospital tours featuring our latest diagnostic and monitoring devices:  ultrasound with telemedicine capabilities, videoscope, pulse oximeter, capnographer, electrocardiogram.   We had demonstrations on dog sledding, a popular sport in our snowy winters, and dog agility.  The day ended with a special ceremony that recognized the importance of our bond with the pet families we serve and the importance of the work we do to help those pets and families in need.

Thank you to all who attended and to all the volunteers who helped make the day so special.  Congratulations to Russ Hoel on winning the grand prize, a paddle boat!