Our Services
Medicine | Surgery | Anesthesia | Dentistry | Emergency Services
WELLNESS OR HEALTHY PET EXAMS
Puppy and Kitten Exams start when the youngsters are approximately 8 weeks old. Veremedy strongly recommends a series of two to three exams for these young growing members of your family. These exams allow our veterinarians to answer questions on proper feeding and rearing of pets. Appropriate strategies for vaccination protocols are reviewed and implemented. All puppies and kittens need to be dewormed, and we can recommend the correct prescription-strength medication to accomplish this important task.
Annual Exams of healthy pets is an excellent way to keep pets healthy. At every annual exam we chart your pet’s weight, check all teeth and gums for dental disease, we do a complete physical exam, review internal and external parasite control programs, and we address any health concerns that may have arisen. For some pets, screening blood samples are taken to monitor drug levels or to look for complications to chronic medication use.
Geriatric Exam services become important for older pets. Monitoring organ function with blood tests, screening blood pressure as an indication of cardiac or renal disease, and diagnosing and treating arthritis are areas of focus for these examinations. In some cases, particularly in older cats, twice yearly exams may be indicated to stay on top of health problems.
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INTERNAL MEDICINE
Medicine is both an art and a science. A good medical workup always starts with a thorough physical exam of your pet. Then, because not all diseases can be diagnosed with ears, eyes and fingers, additional tests are often needed. Veremedy Pet Hospital maintains:
- A complete in-house laboratory in both locations that allows us to perform extensive testing on blood, urine, and stool.
- Advanced digital -radiology units in both locations. This allows doctors to share images between hospitals to facilitate team work, and it allows us to easily send images to specialists for second opinions when needed.
- The latest technology in ultrasound imaging is also available. Dr. Morris primarily uses this high-tech instrument out of our Woodstock facility. However, the unit is portable and occasionally shows up in White River Junction as well.
Once a diagnosis is made, Veremedy shines in its ability to provide critical and intensive care to sick and debilitated patients. Our medical wards are equipped with:
- Programmable fluid pumps that deliver intravenous fluids and constant rate infusions of critical medications.
- Circulating warm water heating pads in the intensive care ward kennels.
- Portable oxygen delivery systems to facilitate the delivery of much needed oxygen to patients with lung or cardiac disease.
- Emergency-procedure carts that can be used anywhere in the hospital to perform critical procedures when pets present with life-threatening emergencies.
If cancer is diagnosed then we stand ready with the means to deliver necessary chemotherapy agents. Our staff has experience in taking all of the safety precautions necessary to insure that the correct doses are given, and that proper monitoring for side effects occurs.
SURGERY
From the routine to the complex, surgery is an integral part of the services we perform everyday. All of the veterinarians on our team perform the routine surgeries of neutering, spaying and standard tumor excisions. In addition, each veterinarian has a repertoire of more complex surgeries that they have performed many times to solve a specific pet health problem. Some of these procedures include:
- Orthopedic surgery such as fracture repair with IM pinning, or cruciate ligament repair surgery.
- Abdominal surgery including the intestinal surgeries gastrotomy, gastric dilatation and volvulus surgery, partial gastrectomy, pyloromyotomy, intestinal resections and anastamosis, and subtotal colectomy. Liver surgery including gall bladder resection, bile duct repair, and liver biopsy. Splenic and pancreatic surgery including resections and biopsy. Bladder surgeries such as stone removals and cancer resections.
- Eye surgery including the repair of entropion, ectropion, and cherry eye; corneal ulceration or perforation surgery, and the excision of cancer from the eye including, when necessary, the removal of the eye itself.
- Chest surgery including the repair of diaphragmatic hernias.
- Ear surgery including lateral ear resections, polyp extractions, and deep flushing of the bulla.
- Skin surgery including the removal of a wide variety of cancers, and the performance of various plasty procedures that are designed to treat medical conditions. (We do not perform routine cosmetic surgery such as the removal of tails or dewclaws, or the cropping of ears)
It is also important to note that our surgeons know when it is best not to perform a surgery, and instead refer a case to a specialist. If advanced surgical intervention is warranted, we have several options for referral of complicated surgical procedures. <top>
ANESTHESIA
Whether for the surgeries listed above, or for the dental procedures noted below, our hospital offers the very best in general anesthesia and pain management. When advisable, patients have pre-anesthetic blood samples taken so that the doctor can alter the anesthesia to compensate for kidney or liver problems. All general anesthesia patients receive a tranquilizer to help ease any anxiety they may have. Each pet always has an IV catheter placed so that injectable anesthetics as well as other medications can be quickly administered. Each pet breathes oxygen and gas anesthesia for most procedures. From the time your pet leaves his kennel, until the time he is recovering from anesthesia on soft blankets, one of our nurses is by his side. We use a reliable combination of the latest monitoring equipment, and the best-trained staff to make your pet’s anesthetic experience as comfortable as possible. The equipment includes ECG monitors, blood pressure monitors, respiratory monitors, core body temperature monitors, and blood oxygen saturation monitors. Each pet is kept on a circulating warm water pad with warm blankets for every procedure. We know that we cannot take every last piece of risk out of anesthetic procedures, but we are sure that we can stack the odds in our favor by taking every possible precaution.
The anesthesiologist’s job is not done at the end of the procedure. In fact, often before the procedure begins much thought goes into how any post-operative pain will be managed. Veremedy embraces a multi-modal approach to pain management. Often combinations of opiate-like medications with other classes of pain medications (NSAIDS or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) are utilized. So, from start to finish, your pet’s comfort is foremost in the minds of our care providers.<top>
DENTISTRY
In Veremedy Pet Hospital’s dental suite, we handle everything from routine scaling and polishing, to complex root extractions using the latest techniques with our high-speed drill. Recent studies indicate that a high percentage of cats have painful cavity-like lesions in their teeth. A high percentage of dogs have significant gum disease. We know that gum disease can be a precursor to infections in other parts of the body such as the heart valves, kidneys, and liver. The advantages of routine dental care for prolonging and enhancing a pet’s life are becoming well established. At Veremedy, we have all the equipment and skills to make sure your pet has access to these important health care procedures.<top>
EMERGENCY CARE
Somehow, many pet health care problems seem to occur after 5:00 PM and on weekends. As of June 1, 2010 there are two options for after-hours emergency care in the Upper Valley Region. At this time, Veremedy does not have a preference for one location over the other; neither has had enough time to establish a track record. Veremedy will monitor the quality of the medical care that is rendered, the level of customer care that is given, and the timeliness of reporting medical data back to us on the status of our patients. For now, we appreciate the efforts of both organizations to provide much needed after-hours care to the region. <top>
