Physical Exam

The backbone of well-care is the physical exam. Annual physical exams are important because dogs and cats do not tend to communicate problems to us. Also, every year of a pet's life is equal to 5-7 years for their owners. A thorough nose-to-tail examination allows the veterinarian to find problems that even the most caring owner may be unaware of. 

The routine physical exam involves:

• examination of the eyes, ears and oral cavity
• listening to the heart and lungs
• palpating the abdominal organs, thyroid gland and lymph nodes
• checking the skin for any masses, parasites or infection 
• palpating the limbs, joints and spine
• examining the genital and anal region
• monitoring weight gain/loss

Each practitioner may examine your pet in their unique way.

More focused exams may be done for specific complaints involving eyes, ears, skin or joint symptoms.

The physical exam may be supplemented by additional diagnostics for sick patients, patients with specific risk factors/problems, or as part of aging well care.

Preventative Care / Vaccinations

Preventative care encompasses all aspects of your pet’s well-being. Nutrition and exercise are paramount in the well-being of all creatures!  Proper vaccination for your pet’s risk factors can prevent deadly diseases.  We are proud of our history of 3-year vaccines (see Our History on Dr. Vaughn's career)!  Prevention of internal parasites (heartworms, intestinal worms) and external parasites (fleas, ticks) are important to your pet’s health and comfort, and your family's health as well.

We believe your pet should be a positive addition to your family, and we strive to help you prevent or modify unwanted behaviors. Examining your pet, and discussing these issues demands appropriate time and attention. Our scheduling ensures plenty of time to answer any questions you may have.

As your pet ages, it's preventative care needs will change. More frequent exams may help in discovering age-related diseases in their early stages. Nutrition, exercise, behavior, vaccination, parasite control all remain important, but other issues, such as dental health, may emerge. Diagnostic testing, such as bloodwork and/or xrays, may be needed to determine the best course of treatment for your aging pet. Our hope is to allow your pet to live a long and happy life.

Click here for the Vaccinations Table

Diagnostic Services

Our in-house laboratory enables us to do a wide range of diagnostic testing for monitoring and diagnosing your pet’s health with results often available within hours.  

Additional diagnostic aids available include digital radiology (x-rays), Oncura telemedicine ultrasonography with board certified internal medicine review, EKG, tonometry, cytology and Doppler blood pressure monitoring.

We use the Abaxis Vet Scan Analyzer which allows us to have kidney, liver, glucose, proteins, electrolyte and thyroid test results within hours. Our Heska HemaTrue Analyzer gives us complete blood counts and platelet counts in minutes.  We are also able to do complete urinalysis, fecal testing, heartworm, feline leukemia and FIV testing, tick disease testing (Lyme, Erlichia and Anaplasmosis). Fine needle aspirate and body fluid analysis can be completed in-house. Full histopathology (biopsy) services are also available through an outside pathology laboratory.

When specialized tests are necessary, we use the best referral laboratories including Idexx, Antech, Cornell Diagnostic Laboratory, Wadsworth Laboratory, Michigan State University Laboratory, Kansas State University Rabies Lab, ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center, Texas A&M University Laboratory, University of Minnesota Urolith Center, Heska Veterinary Diagnostic Lab, Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging and Cytopathology, VeGen and UC Davis Neuromuscular Laboratory.

 

 

Medical Care - Hospitalization

Hospitalized patients are housed in individual cages or runs with comfortable bedding. Cats are housed in a separate ward from dogs to decrease their stress levels. Each patient is examined daily by a veterinarian and monitored during the day by our trained kennel staff.

Nursing care available includes:

• IV fluid therapy with fluid pumps available to monitor flow rates
• oxygen cage, with or without nebulized (inhaled) medication, for small dogs and cats
• warming beds
• ECG monitoring
• injectable and oral medications
• feeding tubes
• transfusions

 Medical care boarding and medically necessary grooming and bathing are available to our patients.

Surgical Services

We perform a wide range of surgeries including, but not limited to:

• spay (ovariohysterectomy)
• neuter (castration)
• lump removal
• intestinal surgery
• bladder surgery
• eyelid surgery
• ear surgery
• anal gland surgery
• fracture repair surgery
• wound repair surgery
• cancer treatment 

We utilize the safest, modern anesthetic agents with multiparameter monitoring by the surgical team and state of the art monitoring equipment. Appropriate pain medication and warming beds are used to keep our surgical patients as stable and comfortable as possible. Electrocautery or cryosurgical units are utilized when appropriate.

All surgery patients are admitted and discharged by appointment with a veterinary technician, so that we can answer any questions or concerns you may have about the procedure.

What happens when you bring your pet in for surgery?

Procedure for surgical patients:

1. You will receive a reminder phone call at least 24 hours in advance of your pet's surgery to remind you of the time of drop off and any restrictions on food/water recommended by the doctor.

2. When you arrive in the morning with your pet you will be asked to fill out a short form with contact information for the day, in case we need to reach you for any reason while your pet is hospitalized.

3. You will meet briefly with a veterinary technician who will answer any questions you may have about the surgery.

4. Prior to anesthesia, depending on the age and health of your pet, we may run some screening blood tests to determine if your pet is healthy enough for anesthesia.

5. Once hospitalized, your pet will be given some mild preanesthetic sedation and placed in a kennel or run until time for surgery.

6. Anesthesia is induced using a fast acting intravenous medication. Once the animal is relaxed, an endotracheal tube is placed in the windpipe and gas anesthesia is used to keep them asleep during the procedure.

7. Once the procedure is finished, your pet will be monitored continuously until they are able to swallow on their own and we are able to remove the endotracheal tube.

8. Your pet will be given pain medication and placed in a cage to recover then checked repeatedly throughout the day.

9. If this is an overnight procedure, your pet will be walked and fed in the afternoon.

10. The hospital is not staffed overnight, but we leave pets in the hospital overnight only if we feel they are safe and stable. If your pet’s condition is not stable, we will refer you to the Capital District Animal Emergency Clinic for overnight care.

11. Overnight patients are examined in the morning and receive a quick clean-up bath before going home.

12. All discharge appointments are done by a veterinary assistant, to allow for proper post-operative instructions and to allow you to ask any follow up questions you may have.

Dental Care

Good oral hygiene is important for your pet's health and well being.  While bad breath and trouble chewing can be a sign of dental problems, many pets show no signs that they're suffering from potentially severe dental disease. 

Daily tooth brushing is ideal for keeping your pet's teeth in good shape, however many pets will not tolerate it.  Most pets will eventually develop tartar and gingivitis, requiring a dental cleaning.  A comprehensive dental cleaning is done as an anesthetic procedure, for which you to drop your pet off in the morning and get them back home later in the day. 

Our comprehensive dental cleaning includes:

• hand scaling the teeth to remove tartar
• ultrasonic cleaning of teeth and gums
• high speed polishing with fluoride

Our Dentalaire high speed drill allows safe removal of any diseased teeth with minimal trauma to your pet. 

We suggest you visit Veterinary Oral Health Council (VOHC) for diets and treats that promote stronger teeth and better breath.

When your pet comes in for a comprehensive dental cleaning it is more than a simple cleaning! Pets have to be anesthetized for complete and thorough dental assessment and completion of necessary work. Anesthesia is a risk and the veterinarian would not have suggested the dental work if the benefit of the cleaning did not outweigh the risk of anesthesia. If the idea of anesthesia makes you uncomfortable, please discuss your concerns with the veterinarian, because inaction carries other complications.

How exactly is a dental cleaning performed?

STEP 1: safely and completely anesthetize your pet for a comfortable procedure

STEP 2: scale the tooth surface by hand with dental tools

Scaling involves scraping or chipping the adherent tarter and plaque from the visible part of the tooth on all surfaces.

STEP 3: ultrasonic scaling of tooth and gum line

An ultrasonic tool is used to clean the tooth surface but more importantly the groove in between the tooth and gum on all surfaces.

STEP 4: inspection of all teeth

Each tooth is individually inspected for periodontal pockets, mobility, chips, fractures or other signs of tooth disease.

STEP 5: extraction of diseased, painful or infected teeth, if needed

STEP 6: polish teeth with a fluoride treatment

Teeth are polished to be made as smooth as possible to slow or decrease the formation of more tarter/plaque. Fluoride will strengthen the tooth enamel.

STEP 7: recover your pet peacefully after a pedicure (nail trim)

Last but not least we will try to successfully communicate what happened during your pet's procedure and how to keep your pet's mouth as healthy as possible. Other topics may include other treatments for the mouth including antibiotics and pain relievers.

Some pets require routine, repeated dental work to keep a healthy mouth. For others, a once in a lifetime procedure is all that is needed!

Our goal is not cosmetic, but to preserve healthy teeth in a clean mouth and to remove weak or diseased teeth for a more comfortable mouth. Our dental techniques are very routine and basic, but advanced dental procedures are available locally from veterinary dentists.

Pharmacy

Our pharmacy includes a complete inventory of medications, nutriceuticals, shampoos, and paracitides including heartworm, flea and tick products.  We carry Royal Canin, Purina and Hills Science Diet prescription diets.

Hospice and Palliative Care

Pets are living longer, happier lives and we striving to find unique and personal ways to keep them enjoying a good quality of life even with chronic and progressive diseases.

Providing palliative care allows a pet to remain at home with chronic disease with a focus on quality of life and symptom relief.  Hospice care allows a pet to remain at home with relief of symptoms of disease and loving home care until the quality of life is no longer sustainable.

Euthanasia is never an easy decision.  Our veterinarians will help you decide when the time has come and then guide you through process. 

We have our own crematory on the premises. Your pet’s cremation is handled in a caring and professional manner by Drs. Bull and O'Loughlin. We offer a private cremation which allows us to return your pet’s remains to you for subsequent burial or scattering. Remains are sealed in a handcrafted wooden box made by our longtime employee, Bridget.

End of Life Services

Euthanasia is never an easy decision. Our veterinarians will help you decide when the time has come and then guide you through process.

We have our own crematory on the premises. Your pet’s cremation is handled in a caring and professional manner by Drs. Bull and O'Loughlin. We offer a private cremation which allows us to return your pet’s remains to you for subsequent burial or scattering. Remains are sealed in a handcrafted wooden box made by our longtime employee, Bridget.

Wildlife Rehabilitation

Dr. Carrie O’Loughlin shares her veterinary expertise with local wildlife rehabilitators to the benefit of our diverse wildlife population. Birds of prey and other wildlife are vulnerable to injury, often by cars because they fly over or sit on or near roadside. Some injuries require nursing care, others major orthopedic surgery to return the patient to full health needed to be returned to the wild. Sadly, not all patients can be fully healed. But most of these patients have been returned to the wild with Dr. O’Loughlin’s skill and the tender, loving, constant attention of caring wildlife rehabilitators.

Dr. O’Loughlin has volunteered many days and over $10,000 worth of veterinary care for wildlife patients.

What do you do if you find injured wildlife?...

First, do not touch or move any animal that is not in imminent danger of injury.

Second, call North Country Wildlife Services at 518-964-6740 for further instructions. Many animals are capable of reviving or are actually not injured and will move on without your interference.

It is very important to remember all wildlife can possibly be carrying Rabies, a deadly disease transferable to humans. Do not touch or care for wildlife unless you have confidence in your own knowledge and ability to protect yourself.

Dr. O'Loughlin has worked on many types of wildlife including rabbit, beaver, deer, coyote, muskrat, opossum, fox, squirrel, porcupine, river otter and turtle. But the majority of her wildlife patients are birds, including red tail hawk, swan, turkey vulture, flicker, great horned owl, pigeon, broad wing hawk, screech owl, ring bill gull, canada goose, coopers hawk, kestrel, Merlin, sharp shinned hawk, dove, duck, rough legged hawk, crow, red shouldered hawk, peregrine falcon, sharpie hawk, barred owl, nighthawk and even bald eagles.