FAQ

If your pet is lethargic, not as active or perky as usual, disinterested in eating, not drinking normally, vomiting blood, got into the trash or may have eaten a foreign object or unusual food, you should withhold its food and call for an appointment.  We will get your pet in for an exam and possible x-rays or blood work.  If your pet does not show any of the above symptoms after vomiting, still keep it under observation to see if it vomits again.  Remove it’s food for 12 hours and make sure that water is always available.  If no more vomiting occurs after 12 hours has gone by, feed it two parts cooked whole rice and 1 part boiled chicken or lean hamburger for a day or two.  If vomiting continues for more than 24 hours or occurs more than once in 24 hours, withhold food and make an appointment for an exam, x-rays and/or blood work.

If your pet’s stools aren’t extremely watery, don’t contain fresh blood, aren’t dark black and tarry, and aren’t associated with vomiting or excessive straining, take your pet off food for 12 hours.  Make sure water is always available.  After 12 hours you may try feeding a bland diet of cooked white rice and boiled chicken or lean hamburger.  Mix 1 part meat to 2 parts rice.  If diarrhea worsens, you see any of the signs listed above or the condition doesn’t improve in 24 hours, call to make an appointment for an exam.  DO NOT GIVE Pepto Bismol or Kaopectate to your pet (especially cats) unless you talk to our clinic first.

You may purchase a product called “Forbid” (or try meat tenderizer) to sprinkle on your dog’s food.  It changes the stool, making it taste even worse.  You may try “booby-trapping” any stool in the yard with hot sauce.  However, you must be consistent.  If your dog encounters any stool that has not been booby-trapped then it will take longer for your dog to stop this habit.  Also try leash walking your dog and keeping the yard picked up.

Fleas are small, dark brown-black insects.  You can usually see them, often near the base of the tail or on the belly.  They flee from light.  You can also see “flea dirt”.  This dark, grainy material in the hair coat or on the skin turns red when moistened, as opposed to dirt, that continues to be black even when wet.

Average temperature for dogs and cats is 101.5.  A range of 100.5 to 102 is probably okay.  Always use a well-lubricated rectal thermometer to take your pet’s temperature.

Rawhide chews usually do not cause a problem.  Choking or blockage may happen if your dog swallows the whole chew or an un-softened chunk of it.  Rawhide chews can upset some dogs intestinal system causing vomiting or diarrhea.  It’s best to supervise your pet when it’s chewing on any toy.

A cold, wet nose may be a sign of good health in dogs and cats, but even a healthy pet can have a warm, dry nose on occasion.  On the other hand, really sick pets can also have cold, wet noses.  What does all this mean?  Your pet’s nose is not a reliable indicator of your pet’s health.

Roundworms, hookworms, giardia and coccidia can all be transmitted through stool-contaminated soil, sand boxes or litter boxes.  In addition, cats can carry toxoplasmosis and shed it in their stool.  If your pet has one of these worms/parasites and a member of your family comes in contact with its stool, they could become infected.  Pet Vet recommends checking all pets’ stool samples on a yearly basis and deworming new kittens or puppies prophylactically.  Also, cleaning up your pet’s stools daily will decrease the chance of these parasites being infective to your children or family.

No, but Pet Vet doctors may modify the vaccine schedule or administer a pre-med PRIOR to vaccinating your pet.  These measures should decrease the incidence and/or severity of the vaccine reactions.  Also, Pet Vet offers blood work to determine your pet’s vaccine titer level; if the level is adequate your pet may not need to be vaccinated that year. We will discuss your concerns and formulate a plan prior to vaccinating your pet.

Heartworm preventatives are not 100% effective.  Sometimes a dose gets missed, spit out, vomited or is just not adequately absorbed, resulting in inadequate protection.  Heartworm testing is a safeguard against your pet suffering from heartworm disease without your knowledge.  Furthermore, giving some types of heartworm preventative to a dog that has heartworm infection may actually result in a shock-like reaction due to a rapid kill of immature heartworms.

Puppies and kittens usually reach puberty around six months of age.  After this time female dogs usually come into heat twice a year; on average the heat cycle takes about three weeks to complete.  Female cats are different; they come into heat seasonally. Cats normally cycle at approximately three week intervals during the spring, summer, and fall.

Yes, it can still be spayed.  However, due to extra bleeding from an increased blood supply to the area, there is more risk involved and it may cost more.  Pet Vet recommends most pets be spayed prior to their first heat.  This surgery can be done starting at 4 months of age.

The early series of vaccinations insures a good level of protective immunity in a young puppy or kitten.  This is the age when they are most susceptible to many contagious diseases.  A series of vaccines are given because it is unknown exactly when your puppy’s or kitten’s antibodies, received from it’s mom, are dissipating.  At this time their own immune system must be stimulated with the vaccines to protect themselves.  This loss of mom’s antibodies generally occurs somewhere between 6 and 12 weeks of age. Adult pets will usually need yearly vaccine boosters, but will not need to repeat the series.

It is important to help your pet associate nail trims with “good things” to look forward to.  This association is accomplished by playing with the pet’s feet one at a time, and then rewarding it with food treats.  Do not clip any nails yet.  Instead, gradually increase the length of time spent holding the foot, start touching each individual toe, then clicking the clipper (a noise that can be scary to some pets), and then clipping a toenail.  Do not expect to be able to clip all its nails at the same time or to reach this comfort level within a couple days.  Give it plenty of time and treats.

The incision should be clean and dry with no discharge.  It should be warm but not hot and not exceedingly painful to a light touch.  There will be a slight amount of swelling, but not so much that the skin has swollen around the sutures.  The area around the sutures should be pink, not beet red.  Do not allow your pet to lick any incision.  Please call or make an appointment to come in if you have concerns or questions about the incision.

The advent of providing pain control for pets is a recent development in veterinary medicine.  Studies have shown that pets given pain medication post operatively heal faster, eat sooner, have fewer infections, and are much less stressed than pets that don’t receive pain medication.  Pet Vet does recommend pain control for most surgeries and some dentals.

Pre-anesthetic blood testing allows Pet Vet to evaluate your pet’s basic organ function.  The testing could warn us of a condition not obvious on physical exam.  It may indicate that we should take extra precaution with your pet’s anesthesia or surgery, or avoid a procedure altogether until a discovered problem can be corrected.

Yes, you should give all medications prescribed until gone.  Your pet may look like it feels better, but not be 100% over its illness.  If the medication isn’t given until the prescription is finished, the illness may reoccur and it could be worse than it was initially.

A Federal law requires that veterinarians establish a valid client-patient-doctor relationship before treating an animal and/or providing medication.  Also licensed veterinarians are the only people who can diagnose and treat animal illnesses.

Cancer is an unrestrained growth of cells that destroys normal tissue and body parts as it grows.  Some cancers are very aggressive and can spread (metastasize) fairly quickly throughout the body.  Other cancers are slow growing and are more unlikely to spread.  Most of the types of cancers that affect people can also affect companion animals.

We know veterinary care appears to be expensive.  Our doctors are highly educated (having completed a minimum of 3 years college undergrad and 4 years of veterinary school) and must obtain 20 hours of continuing education every year.  Our facility is not just a doctor’s office for patient visits; it also contains a complete laboratory, x-ray and ultrasound suite and pharmacy.  Also included are dentist’s and oral surgeon’s quarters, a sterile surgical suite, and a hospital in-patient facility.  Our supplies and equipment cost the same as those of our human counterparts, and unfortunately most pets aren’t covered by health insurance.  The field of veterinary medicine is expanding tremendously such that veterinarians can now offer incredibly sophisticated procedures and medication of the highest order.

Payment is expected at time of service for either in clinic or house calls.

We accept cash, most credit cards and checks with a valid driver’s license. We also accept CareCredit.

CareCredit is a financing/revolving line of credit . All charges quality for 90 day/3 months No Interest if paid witin Promo Period Payment Plans  of  3 or 6 months or there are an Extended Payment Plan options for 24, 36, 48 or 60 for amounts over $1000.00 offered at 11.9%. They offer online application and approval.

Go to CareCredit.com for more information.