Primary Care

Did you know that your pets can have allergies to common environmental factors just like you?  Do you ever notice your pet’s skin becoming uncharacteristically red or itchy? This could be an allergic reaction. Pets can suffer from allergies to elements in the environment around them, as well as certain ingredients in their foods, just like people can.  Some signs your pet may be suffering from an allergy can include:

• Itchy, or red/pink skin
• Unusual scratching or itching
• Discharge from the eyes or nose
• Hair loss
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea

If you suspect that your pet could be suffering from an allergy, it is recommended that you schedule to have an examination and consultation with your veterinarian. Your doctor will be able to assess your pet, discuss his or her symptoms, and conduct any necessary tests to help isolate the allergy. Together, you can decide on which course of medication, or diet will help restore your pet to good health.

Deciding on euthanasia for a beloved pet and companion is one of the most difficult decisions a pet owner has to make.

In many cases, it is not so clear cut, and consultation with your veterinarian may be very helpful. We can use a variety of methods to help determine whether your pet is in pain, suffering, and address these needs to improve the quality of life, or to assist you in your decision to say goodbye to your pet.

The Euthanasia Procedure

After a consultation with a veterinarian and thorough discussion of the special circumstances surrounding your pet’s illness, you have reached the decision to euthanize your pet. We appreciate the enormity of this decision, and how important your pet is to you and your family, and we endeavour to ensure a peaceful and pain-free release from suffering.

We believe pets function best at home rather than in the hospital, so we generally prefer to keep hospitalizations to a minimum. However, it may become necessary for an animal to be hospitalized in order to treat certain conditions that cannot be effectively treated at home.

Our Basic Hospitalization Services involve admitting your pet into the hospital for monitoring or necessary medical care. Your pet will have their own cage or kennel within the hospital building and will be monitored closely by technicians and veterinarians throughout their stay.

During a pet’s hospitalization, we encourage frequent visits by the family to provide comfort and reassurance to your pet, and to inform and support the family directly with regard to your pet’s status. You should ask your veterinarian about the best time to call each day to receive an update, and visiting hours can be arranged at the time of hospitalization.Your pet will receive medical treatments (such as medications, fluid therapy, and physical therapy) as directed by your veterinarian.

Once your veterinarian determines your pet is well enough to go home, you will be given verbal or written follow-up instructions. Schedule your follow-up appointment with your veterinarian before you leave the hospital with your pet.

Keeping your pet pain-free is crucial to maintaining his or her quality of life. Our veterinarians use a multi-modal approach to pain management that includes anti-inflammatories, local anesthetics, general anesthetics, and other drugs to effectively combat pain at all levels. If your pet is dealing with acute pain, our goal is to prevent the nerves from perceiving and remembering this pain so that it does not become chronic pain. For this reason, pain-management protocols are a part of the treatment plan for all invasive procedures, such as surgeries. If your pet is already dealing with chronic pain, our veterinarians can create a customized pain management plan based on your pet’s individual needs and medical issues.

Our hospital routinely performs spays and neuters, the surgical sterilization of female and male dogs and cats. Spaying involves removal of the uterus and ovaries of female dogs and cats and is called ovariohysterectomy. Neutering involves removal of the testicles of male dogs and cats and is called castration. Both procedures are performed under general anesthesia and both involve a surgical incision.

Pain management medications are used routinely to insure your pet’s comfort. These surgeries are performed most commonly at or around six months of age. Ask our staff about spaying or neutering your pet to help prevent unwanted sexual behavior and pregnancies and to decrease or eliminate the possibility of certain disease conditions later in life.

Our hospital offers a variety of anesthesia services for your pet. The term anesthesia indicates the use of medication to block sensation, typically resulting in unconsciousness. Anesthesia is induced using a variety of medications, both injectable and inhaled. It is used for procedures that require an unconscious animal, such as surgery, certain imaging studies (e.g., x-rays, MRI, CT scans) or medical procedures (e.g., endoscopy). Pets undergoing anesthesia are typically pre-medicated with an injectable drug. This pre-medication helps the pet relax so that full anesthesia can be induced more smoothly and safely.

Next, the pet receives intravenous medication to cause loss of consciousness. A tube is then placed into the pet’s upper airway, and gas anesthesia keeps the pet comfortably anesthetized during the course of the procedure. While a patient is under anesthesia, they will be monitored in much the same way as a human undergoing anesthesia would be. This monitoring includes listening to your pet’s heart and lungs, visually assessing your pet’s reflexes, and using equipment to monitor your pet’s blood pressure, level of blood oxygen, and temperature. Your pet will also likely be monitored using an ECG machine. Trained technicians act alongside veterinarians to ensure that your pet’s procedure goes smoothly.

If you have any concerns about anesthesia, please call us and ask to speak to a veterinarian.

Our Hospital is proud to offer our clients access to a complete diagnostic laboratory. We have access to machines able to perform complete blood cell counts, complete chemistry panels, including liver, kidney, and pancreatic enzyme function tests, glucose, and electrolytes. Additionally, our hospital can send samples out to a diagnostic laboratory for more advanced and specific tests such as cultures and biopsies. Our diagnostic services vary by hospital.

Please call on of our hospitals to learn more about the in-house services available.

Our hospital is equipped with an In-House Laboratory that enables our veterinarians to quickly perform diagnostic tests on a variety of body fluids (ear swabs, blood, urine, etc) and other samples (feces, etc.) to achieve an accurate and rapid diagnosis.This is especially important in very ill animals and those requiring immediate or emergency treatment.

While not all samples can be analyzed in-house; when this capability is combined with our outside laboratory services, a full comprehensive laboratory evaluation is obtained. Feel free to contact our staff or veterinarians if you have questions about our In-House Laboratory capabilities.

Our hospital offers routine radiology services. Radiology is the study and science of x-rays. X-rays are used to help your veterinarian diagnose a problem or a disease in your pet. X-rays are capable of detecting arthritis, fractures, bony tumors and other forms of cancer; heart enlargement and congestive heart failure; bladder and kidney stones; stomach or intestinal foreign bodies; pneumonia and other lung diseases and much more.

X-rays are part of a diagnostic work-up if your pet is having a problem or as part of a general wellness examination in an older pet to detect potential problems early. Ask our staff or veterinarians if you have questions about our Radiology Services.

Our hospital offers thorough Ear Exams as one of our Dermatology Services. Conditions of the ears can be extremely uncomfortable and even painful. Symptoms like head shaking, scratching and pawing at the ears, rubbing the ears on the floor or furniture, whining, and abnormal odors are common.

Conditions of the ear occur frequently in dogs and cats and result from a variety of causes. Determining these causes is vital to the long term resolution of the symptoms. As with any other health issue, gathering a detailed history and performing a full examination of the patient is critical. Careful examination of the ear with an otoscope, visualizing the full length of the ear canal and the ear drum, provides information important to the diagnosis.

Pain is common in ear disease and some patients will require sedation or anesthesia to be properly evaluated. Additional diagnostic tests are often warranted. Gathering samples to check for mites, inflammation, bacteria and yeast is a common first step. Cultures are sometimes needed. In uncomplicated ear disease, treatment may be straight-forward when the proper information is gathered. However, most recurrent cases of ear disease involve multiple causes like allergy, infection, foreign bodies, tumors or ear mites. Treating only one cause will limit the response to therapy. Rechecking the ear after each stage of the treatment is critical to providing a long term resolution to the problem.

Our hospital offers many General Surgery Services that include a variety of common and elective procedures performed under general anesthesia.

Examples of common surgeries include: spay (ovariohysterectomy), neuter (castration), lump removal and biopsy, laceration repair, abscess and wound repair, exploratory surgery, removal of gastrointestinal foreign bodies, enucleation (eye removal), cystotomy (removal of bladder stones), and skin biopsy.

As these procedures usually require general anesthesia, please refer to our Anesthesia Services for a detailed description of our offerings. We routinely use pain management medication in our general surgeries to ensure your pet’s comfort. Please refer also to our Pain Management Services for a detailed description.

Ask our staff if you have questions about our General Surgery Services.

Our hospital maintains an isolated area to prevent the spread of contagious disease from potentially infectious patients to others in the hospital. Our personnel are trained and isolation procedures are followed to keep patients safe. These procedures include the appropriate use of disinfectants, the proper disposal of infectious materials, and the wearing of disposable gloves, boots, masks and gowns while handling infectious patients.

All these measures are meant to keep our patients and staff healthy. Please contact our staff if you have questions about isolation procedures.

Our hospital offers Senior Wellness Medicine Services for your older pet.

When your pet reaches their “golden years” they require special care and your veterinarian will recommend certain screening tests. The tests enable your veterinarian to provide an early diagnosis for some of the common diseases that affect older pets, so that they can manage those diseases more effectively. In addition to this testing, twice-yearly examinations will be recommended to ensure your pet receives the best care as he or she ages.

Our pets age much faster than we do. Therefore, we need to do all we can to watch carefully and frequently for any developing problems. The earlier we find them, the more we can do to control these problems.If your pet is already facing an illness or disability that can come with old age, your veterinarian will work with you to maintain the highest quality of life for your pet.