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This post was written by Alex Schechter, DVM, a Founding Veterinarian of Burrwood Veterinary in Metro Detroit, and a Veterinary Advisor for Mella Pet Care.
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We’re at a shift in veterinary medicine where vets, including myself, are worried not only about medicine, but about our clients’ experience in the clinic. We want to make it better for pets and pet parents, and Mella Pet Care is at the forefront of that change. Having a non-invasive thermometer makes it easier to take temperature in a clinical setting and is more comfortable for both pets and pet parents, ultimately making both a wonderful first impression as well as creating a differentiation between your clinic and your competitors. With a new focus on overall experience, anything you can do as a clinic to make yourself more desirable is a huge plus.
From a backend standpoint, the accuracy and the ease of use of the Mella Pro is crucial, especially in a busy clinic with a shortage of staff or an increase in case load. As a veterinary professional, you want to do everything as efficiently as possible, and having a device that is accurate, can be used by a single person, and be incorporated into your electronic medical record will help streamline everything.
From an efficiency standpoint, Mella is fantastic.
Frequently in the clinic, we’re already monitoring temperature both during and after surgery. The last thing we want to do post operation when the pet is uncomfortable is take a rectal temperature. Even from an intake standpoint, in an ideal setting, we want to have a full TPR (temperature, pulse, respiration) on every patient that walks through the door. The easier it is and the simpler it is to get these data points, the more temperatures will be taken.
Mella is fascinating because the ability to gather this much information hasn’t been done yet. Not only will you be able to get data points from when your patients are in the clinic four times a year, but any time they’re feeling off, you can get fifteen or twenty in both the clinic as well as at home. Based on this data, there will be more research studies that can be done on core temperatures and temperature changes, which is crucial to the development of veterinary medicine.
When my son is sick, the first thing we do is take his temperature, which opens up the conversation to whether or not we should bring him to the pediatrician. We’ve never had that ability with pets, so imagine that when a client calls, there’s now another data point that we can collect. It’s going to help us get ahead of a lot of diseases and conditions, and it will be standard in every house with a pet.
The Mella Home is changing the game because it provides a whole new set of values and data points that we are currently unable to get.
Furthermore, with Covid-19 and the shift towards telemedicine, again, it’s about how many data points we can get remotely. Right now, the most we may be able to get is respiration rate, but the ability to get a temperature at home is a very important diagnostic value that can help guide the virtual client-patient relationship.
Every household with a pet needs a Mella Home, and every veterinary clinic needs a Mella Pro.
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To hear more from Dr. Alex Schechter, founder of Burrwood Veterinary, check out our Mella Moment Podcast episode where he joins us to talk about common pet allergies, symptoms that may arise, and what you should do if you think your pet is suffering from stressors in the environment.