PET WELLNESS SERVICES
Dr. Cooper and the staff at Sky Lake believe that prevention is the key to your pet’s long term health. This approach helps to identify health issues before they become serious and expensive to treat. We recommend thorough, routine wellness exams, vaccinations, regular lab work, deworming and fecal checks, as well as medications to prevent heartworm, fleas and ticks. Dr. Cooper stays current with all the latest veterinary innovations to ensure your pet receives the best care.
Most of the tests we offer at Sky Lake can be done during your pet’s regular exam. This is our chance to get to know your pet, to assess your pet’s overall health, discuss any changes we see, update you on advancements in veterinary care, and for you to discuss any concerns or questions you may have.
During your pet’s yearly wellness exam we will:
- Examine your pet’s teeth, throat, and oral cavity
- Check your pet’s vision and examine the eyes
- Examine the ears for infection, ear mites, allergic reaction and other related health issues
- Examine the respiratory system
- Assess your pet’s heart
- Test your pet’s reflexes
- Palpate lymph nodes and abdomen
- Inspect the skin
- Palpate joints and muscles for arthritis and other orthopedic conditions
- Test to evaluate the function of internal organs, blood, and other systems
Deworming and Fecal Check: Dangerous parasites are always present in the environment. If brought into your home, these parasites can be passed from your pet to you and your family. We normally associate parasites, such as roundworms, tapeworms, and hookworms, with cats and dogs. But people can be infected with the same parasites. Regular fecal checks and deworming are the best way to prevent parasitic disease. It also prevents the shedding of parasite eggs, which can contaminate lawns or any place a pet defecates.
Routine Blood Work: A complete physical includes a heartworm test, parasite screening, and should include a full blood workup. Not only can a full chemistry panel and complete blood count identify the presence of underlying disease processes, but these tests help create a baseline should your pet become ill between routine examinations. Additionally, blood work is necessary if your veterinarian recommends a dental cleaning, removal of a skin mass, or any other procedure that requires anesthesia.
We also recommend complete blood testing annually for all pets over the age of seven.
Fleas and Ticks: Since fleas and ticks are also present in our environment, we recommend that your pet receive preventive medication for these pests. We sell a variety of preventive medications and would be happy to help you determine which is best for your companion.
In all, these services offer the best means to protect your pet’s health and wellbeing through prevention and early detection of disease.
Class IV Laser Therapy For Your Pet
Our therapeutic lasers supply energy to the body in the form of photons of light. Light is transmitted through the skin's layers (the dermis, epidermis and the subcutaneous tissue under the skin). The wavelength of the Class IV Laser allows these photons to travel up to 6-8 inches into the body. That's where deep-seated pain hides out.
When laser light penetrates the body, it stimulates damaged cells to start producing the genetic energy source that all cells need to function and repair. Laser therapy has no negative impact on healthy cells.
By providing the energy they need to function properly again, cells can start the repair process. When cells don’t repair themselves, your pet can continue to suffer pain that never goes away.
Laser therapy accelerates the healing of injured areas, decreases inflammation, and eliminates pain thereby allowing patients to quickly return to normal activities. Our Class IV therapeutic laser is used for post-operative care, treatment of arthritis, skin wounds and other selected conditions.
Benefits include:
- Relief of acute and chronic pain
- Increases the speed, quality and tensile strength of tissue repair
- Increases blood supply
- Stimulates the immune system
- Stimulates nerve function
- Develops collagen and muscle tissue
- Helps generate new and healthy cells and tissue
- Promotes faster wound healing
- Reduces inflammation
Laser beams also have the added benefit of efficiently killing the bacteria that is in its path, producing a sterilizing effect.
Senior Care
Senior pets have special needs. By taking the time to learn more about these needs, you've taken the first step toward ensuring your pet leads a healthy and happy life for many more years.
Pets in their senior years – those of about six years of age and older – begin to go through a gradual reduction of their physical capabilities. This process can be slowed and managed through proper veterinary care thereby offering your beloved pet an extended period of vitality and good health.
Additionally, preventive care tailored to your pet's age, lifestyle, risk factors and other elements can help prevent common diseases or detect them at early and easily treatable stages.
There is also an important role for you to play as your pet's primary caregiver. While you cannot control age related decline, you can influence your pet's activity level, living conditions, access to quality senior veterinary care, and daily nutrition. With your veterinarian's help, you can manage these factors in order to prolong your pet's good health, vitality, and increase his or her wellbeing, even as his or her pace slows a bit.
At Sky Lake Animal Hospital we offer a Senior Preventive Care Plan personalized to address the specific needs of your older dog or cat. This plan provides us and you a baseline to monitor your pet at a time when small changes can be detected and that will help us identify health problems before they become serious concerns or even life threatening.
Our senior plan includes:
- Glaucoma check
- Complete blood count
- Complete urinalysis
- Heartworm test
- Abdominal and chest radiographs
- Blood pressure monitoring
- Full chemistry blood panel
- Internal parasite test
- Thyroid test
- Electrocardiogram as recommended
These tests are not time intensive or difficult to do and can be performed during routine wellness exams.
Pocket Pets
Sky Lake Animal Hospital believes that every pet deserves an opportunity to lead the happiest and healthiest life possible. This is why we offer our clients with pocket pets a range of veterinary services.
Often, the healthcare needs of these animals are unique and require a veterinary practice with the experience and expertise to provide them with the best and most appropriate care possible. For example, in the wild, many of these animals have evolved strategies to conceal illness or injuries as a survival technique. These tendencies continue in domestic exotic and pocket pets, which mean their medical problems often go unnoticed.
This is why we strongly recommend regular physical examinations to check for health problems as well as annual monitoring to check for nutritional and husbandry-related conditions. With regular veterinary medical examinations – two per year is recommended – problems are often diagnosed before they become serious medical conditions.
After acquiring your new exotic or pocket pet, a complete veterinary examination is also recommended. This exam includes a thorough physical examination, nutritional consultation, disease screening and laboratory testing if necessary.
Internal Medicine
Sometimes one of the frustrations of dealing with a sick pet is that you cannot simply ask what is wrong. That is why diagnostic resources are important. When your pet is not well, we need to find out what is happening on the inside. Diagnostic testing and physical examination help us identify the problem so we can develop an effective treatment plan.
Along with advanced training and experience, we make use of the latest equipment to diagnose and treat your sick pet.
International Health Certificates
If you're moving out of the country, you're most likely going to need a Vet Health Certificate.
The certificate is issued by USDA-accredited veterinarians only and must be endorsed by the state's USDA Veterinary Services office. The state Veterinary Services offices will oversee all of the export documents for pets departing from the US, and ensure that the veterinarians issuing the documents are accredited and have filled out the forms with accurate information. At Sky Lake Veterinary Hospital, we can do that for you.
HOURS
Mon-Fri: 7:30AM-6:00PM
Saturday: 9:00AM-2:00PM
Sunday: Closed