New Patient Care to be provided at the Ruff Start Surgery Suite

By Kayla Knudsen

We’re SO excited to announce that the Ruff Start Rescue surgery suite has added a few new capabilities to its already extensive arsenal!

Just over a month ago, our vetting staff took a huge leap and brought in new veterinary machinery from our diagnostic software partner, IDEXX! These new machines will provide our vetting team with the ability to run advanced diagnostic tests in-house, meaning they’ll get more timely results that will allow them to come to quicker conclusions regarding the most effective treatment options for our rescue animals. 

Our partnership with IDEXX grew after their representatives reached out to us to let us know about their shelter program. The program states that if Ruff Start meets certain criteria, we are able to use the machinery IDEXX provides at no additional cost to our organization – plus, we are given a discounted rate on the screening tools we use to detect transmissible diseases like heartworm and feline leukemia in all age-appropriate animals that enter rescue!

We were already using IDEXX reference laboratories for intensive veterinary work-ups like enhanced bloodwork panels, so joining their shelter program just made sense.

Wondering what types of veterinary work-ups we’ll be able to do at the rescue office now? Take a peek:

• Complete blood count panels, which can help detect a wide range of disorders like anemia and infection
• Chemistry panels, which can help evaluate the status of several major body organs like the kidneys and liver
• Urinalysis tests, which can detect urinary tract infections and diabetes

We also purchased a dental radiography system, a substantial investment providing our veterinary staff the ability to perform advanced comprehensive dental care for our rescue animals. This major upgrade allows our staff to more fully analyze periodontal disease in our patients, including an enhanced understanding of how severe cases of decay and bone loss may be beyond what is apparent to the naked eye. Radiographs conducted before and after scheduled dental surgeries will also help ensure all teeth fragments and corresponding roots have been successfully removed after extraction.

All of these capabilities will help ensure we are offering our rescue animals the absolute best in patient care.

We are also thrilled about the fact that we’ll be utilizing our partner veterinarians less often by focusing more on the work we can do in-house. Although we have great relationships with our clinical partners and are immensely appreciative of their help, we are aware most places are currently short-staffed, and we want to ensure that their clients are able to take advantage of their valuable clinical time – as well as save our rescue some serious coin! After all, our veterinary expenses already tend to reach triple digits in any given year, and every dollar we spend more wisely can be attributed to other animals that need us via our animal care fund.

All in all, we’re grateful to IDEXX for having a shelter program and making it easy for our veterinary team to keep up the amazing work they do every single day for the animals in our care. Keep your eyes peeled for further updates from the Ruff Start surgery suite!