Dr. Alex Lesniak, CPEV

01/09/2026

I love seeing these silly noodles!!! 🥰

01/05/2026

Happy Bird Day!

Today is one of our favorite days of the year...
National Bird Day!

Take some time today to pamper your feathered friend or, if you don't have one, think about why you love birds and how you can better help the birds of the world. We'd love to know what you come up with, so comment below!

As always, tag us in your photos for National Bird Day, whether they're of your bird celebrating or a bird you found in the wild! We love all birds and want our timeline filled with them🦜💚

12/31/2025

❤️

12/31/2025

Important to ring the New Year in safely!

12/25/2025

Check your temps!

12/25/2025

12/25/2025

12/16/2025

Try using large, edible leafy greens as “wrapping paper” for highly prized treats. Good options include kale, collard greens, endive, cabbage, mustard greens, and lettuce.

12/16/2025

Frostbite!

Due to the large number of posts about chickens suffering from frostbite, we thought we'd share a case story about a chicken with frostbite to help educate and reinforce the importance of bringing a frostbitten bird to see a veterinarian.
Big Head is a young rooster who was brought to see Dr. Rebecca Gounaris at the for frostbite following a cold snap. Although all chickens are susceptible to frostbite, breeds with large single combs and wattles like Big Head are more at risk.
When exposed to extreme cold, the body will respond by constricting blood vessels, and so more distal aspects of the body will not receive decent blood flow, causing those tissues to freeze. In chickens, this is their combs, wattles, toes, feet and legs.
Affected areas of the comb and wattles will turn white with superficial frostbite and black with deep frostbite. The black color is indicative of tissue death/necrosis. Blistering may also occur. It can take several weeks before the full extent of damage is determined and if the affected tissue will heal or die and fall off.
Big Head’s case was a severe case of frostbite, since the tissue along the top of comb and edges of his wattles were black. Parts of his comb were blistering. He was prescribed carprofen to help with the pain, antibiotics to help prevent infection (which can occur within blistering or exposed tissue), and pentoxifylline to help improve circulation of blood to the distal tissues and save as much of his comb and wattles as possible. Dr. Rebecca recommended applying silver sulfadiazine (SSD cream) or aloe vera on his comb (gently without rubbing) to help provide some relief and promote circulation. It was important Big Head remained inside to prevent the area from refreezing.
Read more about his story here - https://poultrydvm.com/cases/big-heads-frostbitten-comb

12/15/2025

Comfort Cart 🩷

Humane Euthanasia has always been a passion of mine. It is one of the reasons I decided pursue the CAETA Certified Peaceful Euthanasia Veterinarian certification. My goal is to provide the most humane and painless experience as possible for both pet and human. Not every clinic has the ability to have a dedicated euthanasia room, not every client can afford home euthanasia, and most of the time, pets are calm with sedation, but it’s the human family that needs the most comfort. This is where a Comfort Cart comes in. These sort of things exist in human hospital settings, so why not make them work for veterinary medicine? Is a simple cart going to make the loss any less heartbreaking? No, but it can help make the experience of the moment.
What did I include in our clinic cart after asking pet owners what would make the process easier?
- chocolate for dogs to try, because every dog deserves to try chocolate
- lots of goodies for cats and dogs (but can be offered to other species, or feel free to bring your pet’s favorites)
- grief support literature
- Rainbow Bridge poem
- coloring pages for kids to help keep them busy
- Kleenex and water bottles
- baggies and scissors for fur clippings (clay paws, etc are done automatically)
- pens and paper to leave a note with your pet
- calming sound machine to drown out the sounds of a clinic
Have you heard of Comfort Carts before?

12/10/2025