General Medicine

Family Pet Animal Hospital is a full-service facility, complete with a laboratory, whole-body and dental digital radiology capabilities, a surgical suite equipped with full instrumentation, two endoscopes, an ultrasound suite, and an entire pharmacy of prescription drugs and foods.

Pharmacy and Prescription Foods

Our pharmacy is stocked with all the routine medications your pet may need on a day-to-day basis, as well as necessary emergency and critical care drugs found in human hospitals. We also carry a wide variety of prescription foods, which can help manage conditions such as kidney disease, obesity, gastrointestinal disorders, and bladder stones. If we don’t have the item you need in stock, most products can be special ordered.

We offer a convenient voicemail ordering system for routine prescription refills and food orders. Press 2 in our voicemail menu for more information. If you prefer to purchase medications through an online pharmacy, please read this important information from the FDA to make sure your pet is getting safe, reliable products via the internet: Purchasing Pet Drugs Online: Buyer Beware.

Anesthesia and Surgery

We use only the two safest types of gas anesthesia: isoflurane, the best choice for most patients undergoing general anesthesia; and sevoflurane, which is faster acting and affords quicker recovery for older or debilitated patients.

We suggest that all animals have pre-anesthetic blood work analyzed within two months of any elective procedure. This helps us detect subclinical problems so that we can address your pet's special needs and minimize any complications. Even young patients undergoing a routine spay or neuter will receive a mini-screen for a baseline check of major organ function. The specific tests recommended or required will vary depending on the patient’s age and medical history.

Patients are monitored throughout anesthesia with an electrocardiac monitor, pulse oximeter, and respiratory monitor. Patients are treated with pain medication to ensure as smooth and pain-free a recovery as possible. All animals undergoing general anesthesia, with the exception of some minor procedures, will have an intravenous catheter and fluids.

Anesthetized patients are placed on intravenous fluids at higher than normal maintenance rates to maintain normal blood pressure levels, ensure that all the body organs get the blood they need, and minimize anesthetic risks. This also helps to speed your pet's recovery, as well as provide access for emergency intravenous medications if they should become necessary. As an extra benefit, our patients feel better after recovery because they are well hydrated. Human hospitals would never consider anesthetizing you without placing an intravenous catheter and administering fluids.

During surgery, your pet will be placed on a heated water mat. Additional hot water bottles will be added for very small patients. We use a pulse oximeter to monitor your pet's oxygen level, an ECG to watch your pet's heart rate and cardiac rhythm, a blood pressure monitor, and a respiratory monitor. While these monitoring devices help us protect you pet during the procedure, we do not rely on high tech monitors alone. Trained surgery technicians are watching your pet continuously, listening to the heart with a stethoscope, checking all the electronic monitors, and constantly checking your pet's gum color, respiration, and depth of anesthesia. While waking up from anesthesia, each patient is individually monitored by a technician to ensure the smoothest possible recovery. Once awake, surgery patients remain in the surgery/treatment area so that our entire team of staff and doctors can keep close watch over them.

Laboratory

Besides the anesthetic and surgical equipment, our doctors and technicians have access to a number of the most accurate and up-to-date laboratory aids. Our in-house laboratory can be of immediate assistance if your pet has an emergency or acute illness. Stat complete blood counts, serum chemistries and electrolytes, blood gases, clotting tests, and urinalyses can all be handled within minutes. We also have a cytology microscope for more accurate cell assessments of our in house growth evaluations.

Radiology

Family Pet Animal Hospital offers the latest in digital radiography, which allows us to see your pet’s X-ray with better detail and includes other features like magnification and contrast change. Digital images can be emailed to specialists if needed, and we can even create a CD for you to take home.

We also have digital dental x-ray capabilities to evaluate tooth roots. Because pets can’t always communicate clearly that they have a toothache, dental x-rays are invaluable in identifying painful teeth that may look normal on the surface. The dental x-ray machine is also excellent at radiographing your pocket pets.

Safety and Sanitation

At Family Pet Animal Hospital we are committed to the highest quality of patient care, from comforting your pets with warm towels in their cages to all the safety precautions we follow for your pets during medical procedures. Did you know that your dog will be walked 3-4 times, and your cat’s litter replaced every time it’s soiled, when s/he is admitted for the day? Did you know all dogs are walked with double leads as a safety precaution?

We take great pride in the fact that one of the most common remarks made by new people visiting our practice is “Wow, it doesn’t smell like an animal hospital in here!” Cleanliness is critical to running a safe hospital and is extremely important to Family Pet. In addition to the cleanliness you can see and smell, we take every precaution to minimize the spread of germs. We use two kinds of sterilization techniques for our equipment to insure that no germs will be passed between patients. Besides autoclaving (heat sterilizing) supplies, we are one of the few veterinary hospitals that use gas sterilization for supplies that cannot be autoclaved. Gas sterilization may be costly, but our patients are worth the expense. In addition, our dental equipment is flushed and the fluid drained so that there is no accumulation of bacteria and therefore no germs passed between patients. A new prophy tip for polishing is provided for each dentistry patient.

Did you know that Family Pet has two separate isolation wards for contagious patients? Each room is equipped with a special fan system that pulls air into the rooms as you enter keeping germs away from other pets in the hospital.

We have an intensive care unit that allows us temperature control as well as the delivery of oxygen and nebulized drugs to critical patients. This unit is in our main treatment or work area so that the staff is always monitoring our critical patients. The unit can accomodate animals of all sizes.

Electronic Medical Records

In 2009, Family Pet completed our transition to fully electronic medical records. Test results are delivered directly from the lab into your pet’s record; all of our radiology is state-of-the-art digital; even our faxes are now delivered and received electronically. We print you a copy of the exam report the doctors type into the computer so you can be sure to understand everything they’ve found before you go home, but we can also email copies of any records you request. Using less paper is environmentally friendly, and your pet’s medical information is more securely and accurately maintained, stored, and transmitted.