News & Notes

The Tennessee Veterinary Medical Association (TVMA) is holding their 2012 Music City Veterinary Conference in Cool Springs from March 9-11. Dr. Huskey and Dr. Treadwell will be at our VOS exhibitor booth on March 9 and 10 to meet with local veterinarians and technicians. Stop by and see us!

Dr. Huskey will also be performing CERF certification for purebred dogs at the Nashville Kennel Club’s 2012 Country Music Cluster dog show at the Williamson County AgExpo Center on March 10 and 11. Registration is required and fills up quickly, so we recommend attending breeders to call ahead for their spot.

Coming up: May is National Service Dog Month, and Veterinary Ophthalmology Services will be offering free eye screening exams for guide dogs, hearing dogs, handicapped assistance dogs, detection dogs, police dogs, search & rescue dogs, and formally trained and certified therapy dogs in the area. Registration will open on April 1st at the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists (ACVO) website.

Our office will be closed for the holidays on the following dates:

• November 24-25
• December 23-26
• January 2

An ophthalmologist will be on call for our referring veterinarians and current patients to address ocular emergencies during these times. If you need medication refills or other requests, please leave a message on our voicemail or send us an email, and we will address it as soon as we return to the office. If it’s possible you might run out of medication over the holidays, please call us in advance!

For other emergencies, please contact a 24-hour animal emergency facility.

All of our office closings and schedule changes can be viewed on our Office Calendar.

Have a wonderful holiday season!

Please read carefully if your pet is prescribed the following medications:

• Amlodipine 0.625mg tablets
• Cidofovir 0.5mg Solution
• Cyclosporine 1% Ointment or 2% Solution
• Demecarium Bromide 0.125% or 0.25% Solution
• Dexamethasone 0.1% Ointment
• Dichlorphenamide (Generic Daranide) 12.5mg, 25mg, or 50mg capsules
• EDTA 1% Solution
• Methazolamide 12.5mg capsules
• Tacrolimus 0.03% Ointment, 0.02% Solution, or 0.03% Aqueous (AQ) Solution

To fully comply with state and federal laws regulating compounded drugs and pharmacies, we have made adjustments to the way we dispense compounded medications to our patients.

Compounded medications are medicines that are not manufactured by a pharmaceutical company, but are formulated manually by a pharmacy. Compounding is most often utilized when a drug is not available from a manufacturer or is needed in a different concentration or formulation, as is common when adapting human drugs for use in animals.

Our new policy requires that refills of these drugs be dispensed directly from the pharmacy where they are made.

For patients who are currently utilizing these medications, you will still be able to contact us when you need more of these medications. Refills can still be purchased through our office, but they will be shipped to you directly from the compounding pharmacy. Your invoice will be through our practice and show your purchased compounded medications along with a $5 shipping charge from the pharmacy. They will arrive packaged from the compounding pharmacy, separate from any medications that were dispensed from VOS.

To compensate for possible shipping delays, we recommend contacting VOS for a refill at least one week before you run out of the medication.

We regret any inconvenience this may cause our clients. We strive to make our services to you and your pet convenient and affordable as much as we can. Please feel free to call our office at (615) 690-9399 or email office@vostn•com if you have any questions or concerns about these changes, and we thank you for your patience and understanding.

Revised 2/14/2012

We’ve expanded our site to include more features and information to help you understand what we do, get what you need, and help you take care of your animal’s eyes.

Check out our new guides:

• New Patient Guide: Do I need an ophthalmologist? When can I schedule an appointment? What do I need to bring with me? This guide has everything you need know.
• Medication Guide: Refills, refunds, and guidelines for your pet’s medications
• Surgery Guide: Is your animal scheduled for a procedure? Make sure you are prepared with this comprehensive guide.

Announcements and events will be posted here, in News & Notes, where we will highlight the special animals we see at our clinic each month in our “Featured Pets” section.

We have also expanded our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), Diseases, and Services pages to include more information, and added pages for Forms & Downloads (a condensed list of our PDF forms and information sheets), Employment & Education Opportunities (job openings and externships), and Other Resources (links to other clinics and ophthalmology resources).

If you notice anything amiss with the site (broken links, typos, etc.), please let us know at office@vostn•com  (office@vostn•com)  . Thank you!