- Dental CareBut, taking care of the fur is not the only thing that is considered grooming. Trimming nails, cleaning ears, cleaning teeth, expressing anal sacs, are all considered part of grooming. For cleaning teeth, visit our Dental Health page. Don't even think about expressing your cat's anal sacs on your own unless you like getting bitten by your cat. We will do that for you during your cat's regular exam. Trimming nails is purely up to you. Once you start trimming your cat's nails regularly, they will eventually stop wearing them down on their own, and if you don't continue to trim them regularly, they will be at more of a risk of having their nails grow around into their paw pad.
- VaccinationVaccinations are one of the great things about medicine that have drastically reduced illnesses that years ago were fatal to numerous animals and humans. No, they are not without risks, no medication is ever 100% safe. But the risks are minimal, and the benefits far outweigh the risks.
- Behavioral CounselingIf dominance aggression is occurring shortly after bringing a new cat into the home, then there is a good chance that with time and medications, the cats will learn to coexist peacefully.
- Nutritional CounselingWeight loss. This is a common issue with cats that have already become overweight or even obese. There are a variety of ways to get your cat to lose weight. If your cat is a dry food only eater, then you will have to control their calorie intake. You can do this by a variety of ways.
- Comprehensive ExaminationYearly exams, and for older cats, semi-annual exams, are extremely important to catch a large number of disease processes before they make your cat sick enough for you to notice. Cats are masters at hiding illnesses or any signs of weakness. By the time you can tell that your cat doesn't feel good, they really don't feel good. They may have felt that way for a while, they are just finally to the point where they can't hide it anymore.
- Parasites Treatment and ControlThis is much less common, although usually a bit easier to clean, assuming the stool is normal. Again, there are a few medial issues that can cause your cat to defecate outside of the litter box. These can include anything that makes defecation uncomfortable such as intestinal parasites, inflammatory bowel disease, constipation, impacted anal sacs, large intestinal tumors, or diarrhea. And, all of the disease processes listed for urine can also cause a cat to defecate outside of the litter box. So, to begin with, we will want to do a thorough exam on you cat, and also to examine the stool itself. If we cannot find a disease process, then the next step is to treat for behavior issues. All of the reasons that cats will urinate outside of the box can also cause cats to defecate outside of the box, so the methods to counteract are pretty much the same. The important thing is to address the problem when it first starts. All too often we will see a cat that has been defecating outside of the litter box for several years, and now the owner finally wants to do something about it. At this point, it is an ingrained habit, and there is a higher chance that we will not be able to fix the problem.
- Pain ManagementAll cats must be under 5 years of age and in good health, no purebred cats will be accepted. Injectable anesthesia and one injection of a pain medication will be used. All cats will go home on the same day.
- Vomiting Treatment
- Diarrhea Treatment
- Skin Condition and Allergy TreatmentIntestines - if the intestines have abnormal gas patterns, this could potentially indicate a full obstruction by a foreign body. If the intestines look abnormally thickened, it could indicate a chronic inflammatory condition, such as inflammatory bowel disease, food allergies, chronic intestinal parasites, or even cancer. For obese cats that we cannot adequately palpate, we can also check for signs of constipation.
- Feline Retro Virus TreatmentFeLV/FIV - Feline Leukemia and Feline Immunodeficiency Virus. This is a common test done in kittens and cats that come into your home from unknown backgrounds. Because these are life-threatening viruses that are potentially contagious to your existing cats, or that could just shorten your new cat's life span, we recommend testing all new cats to the home that are unknown as to their virus status. This test only requires a few drops of blood, and we have results in 10 minutes.
- Bacterial and Viral Infection TreatmentRaw diets. There is a lot of controversy surrounding these diets. A cat in the wild would live off of a raw diet - they would catch mice, rabbits, etc. But when a cat eats an animal, they eat everything, not just the muscle meat. In addition, cats can pick up parasites and bacterial infections from eating uncooked food. If you are thinking of making a homemade raw diet for your cat, we strongly advise against it unless you are working with a veterinary nutritionist. You just cannot give a cat all of the nutrients they need from just a few ingredients. Now there are some over the counter commercial raw diets that are balanced for cats. If you are thinking of feeding a raw food diet, we recommend trying one of these diets. If you are looking for a specific brand recommendation, please call us.
- Urinary Tract Infection TreatmentOnce we have the urine, we will first put a few drops on a dipstick, which will indicate some of the chemical properties of the urine, such as if there is glucose in the urine, protein in the urine, bilirubin in the urine, and to what extent. We will then check the specific gravity on a refractometer, which measures the concentration of the urine. This can give us information regarding the kidney function among other things. Last, we will spin the urine down in a centrifuge, and look at the cells in the urine under the microscope. This can tell us if there are elevated white blood cells, red blood cells, crystals, or any other abnormal cells in the urine. Based on this information, we can tell if the urine is normal or abnormal, and if abnormal, a likely reason for it, such as a urinary tract infection.
- Diabetes Treatment
- Thyroid Disease TreatmentTotal thyroid level. This test is a screening test to check for the presence of hyperthyroidism. While cats almost never get hypothyroidism, low thyroid can also indicate what we call sick euthyroidism, which can indicate a significant disease process going on in your cat. We can also either run this test in house, which requires about 0.2cc of blood, or we can send it out to an outside lab which requires about 1cc of blood.
- Heart Disease TreatmentOpen mouth breathing for more than a few minutes. This can be due to severe nasal congestion, heart disease, or lung disease.
- Kidney Disease TreatmentKidneys - we can see the shape and size of the kidneys to assess if there is possible kidney disease present, and if there are any stones present in the kidneys. Smaller kidneys can indicate a chronic kidney disease, larger than normal kidneys can indicate an acute kidney disease that may still be treatable. Misshapen kidneys can be an indication of chronic kidney disease, or cancer.
- Cancer Treatment
- Wound and Fracture CareWound care. Please don't use hydrogen peroxide. This is an antiseptic with way too much credit. It is very damaging to the tissue it is used on, and could even be absorbed into the bloodstream and cause a fatal embolism. Don't use it. Instead, use a diluted gentle soap and warm water, alcohol (although this will sting like crazy and you might get bit), or if you have it, betadine or chlorhexadine solutions would be ideal. Be very gentle when cleaning out the wound. It hurts, and you don't want to cause even more damage. If it is a large wound and you can see muscle, bone, or worse, or if there is pus draining from it, then you need to bring your cat into the veterinary clinic as soon as possible.
- Veterinary SurgeryYour cat has just had orthopedic surgery performed. Here are a few things you will need to know for the next eight weeks.
- DeclawingA very controversial subject matter, depending on who you ask. Declawing is an amputation of the first digits of each front foot. Its primary purpose is to eliminate the damage that cats can cause from scratching on furniture and carpets in a home. Are there alternatives to declawing? Yes. Is declawing the best option for you and your cat? Read the following and make your own decision.
- Spaying and NeuteringIn addition, for male cats that are not neutered, they are very aggressive to other cats, especially other non-neutered male cats, and will get in intense fights, spreading and receiving diseases like feline leukemia and FIV. Older male cats that are not neutered are prone to prostate enlargement that can result in difficulty urinating, and have a higher chance of developing prostate or testicular cancer. Neutering prevents testicular cancer by 100%.
- Laboratory ServicesPeriodically, either as a health screening or because we are looking for a specific disease process, we will want to do various tests on your cat. These include but are not limited to; blood work, urinalysis, x-rays, ultrasound, and blood pressure measurement.
- X-Ray
- Dental Radiology
- MicrochippingMicrochipping is probably the thing most likely to return your cat to you if they ever get lost. Cats lose collars quite easily, and if you think your cat will never get outside as an indoor only cat, you have a very high likelihood of being mistaken. Windows get left open with loose screens, or you may have visitors going in and out of your house without noticing your cat slipping out the door.
- Boarding
- Grooming