FAQs

Pet Care Center Esplanade recommends yearly visits for most pets and older pets coming in more frequently – at least every 6 months. Yearly exams include physical examinations by our veterinarians plus annual vaccinations or booster vaccinations, parasite screening & prevention and various lab tests performed.

For puppies and kittens, we need to see them on a more frequent schedule during their first year of life. For pets over age 7, we recommend exams and blood work every 6 months to help us detect diseases and issues before they become a problem.

Our veterinarians take every precaution to make sure your pet comes out of any procedure, whether major or minor, on the way to a swift recovery. To ensure your pet’s safety, we provide round-the-clock care and monitoring for all surgical patients during business hours. We perform all pet surgeries under anesthesia and advocate the use of pre-anesthetic blood work to detect any underlying disease that may affect the response to anesthesia.

With your pet’s comfort and safety at the forefront, we utilize pain management protocols before, during, and after surgery until they are completely recovered. This includes monitoring of vital signs, assessing your pet for pain indicators and keeping them well fed, warm and comfortable in their surroundings.

Besides just BAD BREATH, dental disease:

• Releases bacteria into the bloodstream
• Increases risk for heart, liver and kidney disease
• Can cause severe pain and problems for your pet

Pets need regular dental cleanings to increase quality and length of life and:

• Allows us to chart dental disease over time
• Means less time under anesthesia
• Reduces the need for more advanced and expensive treatment in the future such as teeth extractions and oral surgery

Dental disease is THE most common disease in dogs. Recent studies show that 85% of cats and 92% of dogs over age 3 have periodontal disease.

A thorough dental cleaning can only be accomplished while the pet is under general anesthesia. The anesthesia we use is safe for all animals and your pet is constantly monitored during the dental procedure. Prior to anesthesia, blood tests are performed to help uncover any hidden illnesses.

A professional cleaning (sometimes called a prophylaxis) removes plaque and tartar from the teeth. Your pet's entire mouth health (teeth, tongue, gums, and lips) will be examined and assessed.

Pets cannot tell us how they feel and are able to hide their pain from us (especially cats). Changes in behavior such as appetite change, lethargy, energy level, aggressiveness, inappropriate elimination and vocalization (barking/meowing) can be symptoms of behavior or health issues. Contact our vet hospital for an exam appointment right away.

Isolate your pet from other animals and small children to prevent the spread of the parasite to them. Bring your pet to our vet clinic for a thorough testing for parasites. Parasites can most often be easily treated, but parasite preventative measures are best for your pet and your wallet. We have safe and effective parasite prevention products available.

Pet Care Center Esplanade recommends waiting until your pet is at least 4-6 months of age before seeking a spay or neuter procedure. Contact us to discuss specific details based on species, breed, and size. Spaying/neutering has health and behavior benefits to your pet and of course helps prevent overpopulation.

One infected mosquito is all it takes to infect your dog with the baby form (larval stage) of the heartworm parasite.

Heartworms are a serious and potentially fatal disease in pets. Twelve-inch-long worms (looks like spaghetti) live in the heart, lungs and blood vessels of infected pets, causing lung disease, heart failure, organ damage and can be fatal if untreated.

How does my pet get heartworms? Heartworms living in an infected dog, cat or wildlife produce baby worms that circulate in the bloodstream. When a mosquito bites an infected animal, it picks up these worms and when it bites another animal, the worms enter through the bite wound. Heartworms can grow and live for 5 - 7 years in dogs and 3 years in cats.

What can I do to protect my pet? Heartworm disease is preventable! Dogs should be tested annually and before starting prevention. Provide heartworm prevention 12 months of the year. Prevention is the safest and most cost-effective option, but treatment is available for dogs (although costly and lengthy). Cats should be tested before starting prevention and re-tested as the veterinarian deems appropriate. There is NO treatment in cats, so prevention is critical and the only means of protection.

Pet Care Center Esplanade has safe, effective products available that cater to you and your pet's lifestyle and your budget. Heartworm prevention should be provided 12 months of the year.

Of course!! Oscar was fed the food that his owner brought when he was dropped off, or if his pet owner didn’t drop of his food, Oscar was fed high quality prescription Royal Canin Low Fat Gastrointestinal dry food. Occasionally, pets do not eat as much while they board, so it is “normal” for them to play catch up once they return to their homes.

At daycare, (unless it is a puppy), pets are not fed lunch. Just like my 3-year old son when he gets home from school, they have usually built up a huge appetite playing all day!

Of course, it goes without saying that after a surgery/dental, pets are hungry because they were fasted the morning of the procedure!

All pets have access to water during their stay. That being said, when they are here just for the day, such as for daycare or grooming/bath, they are given water when they are walked. This is to prevent them from splashing and turning over water bowls in the cages (and getting dirty). It is also normal for pets to feel more comfortable drinking water when they return home.

Chances are, Fido is worn out! If we did our job, Fido had lots of play time and exercise while boarding or in daycare. There is so much activity in our hospital that Fido is likely over stimulated and excited. Because of this, his sleeping pattern changes in the time he was here with us. He just needs to catch up on his zzzzz’s!! Typically after a good night’s sleep, Fido feels like playing within the next 24 hours. I usually feel like sleeping a lot when I come home from vacation as well!

First of all, if Maggie was having diarrhea, the staff and doctors would have contacted you and started Maggie on medicine. That is the good thing about boarding your pet at a veterinary hospital…if they develop problems, the issues are addressed immediately.

Secondly, pets often experience excitement when returning home. Plus, they are often rewarded with treats/chews upon arriving home. So this “excitement” leads to colitis, a common cause of loose or watery stool. Some pet owners expect it and we arrange to send home medication to prevent diarrhea.

We take every precaution at Pet Care Center Esplanade to prevent viruses and parasites from being passed along. Stalls/runs and cages are sterilized with Parvosol and dilute bleach solution. We require dogs to be checked every 6 months for parasites (unlike annually at most vet hospitals). This is the reason: some of the parasites we see are easily spread between dogs (Coccidia and Giardia) and are not prevented by monthly heartworm preventatives. We have staff that clean/scoop fecal material as soon as it hits the ground. See the previous blog about our resort team and the great job they do!

So, to recap, loose stool/diarrhea is common but please let us know if it continues for more than 24 hours.

Our goal and hope is that your pet returns home happy and healthy! Of course, there is always a chance your pet may get sick while at our hospital, but we do everything we can to prevent it. We aim to have smiles and wags all around!

Age is not a disease. Mature dogs and cats that are otherwise healthy are generally able to tolerate anesthesia for an elective procedure. However, anesthesia can be a risk for dogs and cats just as it is for humans, which is why we take care to further reduce the dangers by following a proactive protocol to assess our patients and monitor their care throughout the dental procedure. These precautions include pre-anesthetic testing, inhalant gas, electronic monitoring, and intravenous fluids. Please remember, the adverse effects of bad teeth on the overall health of the pet greatly outweigh the anesthetic risk.

Generally, routine dentals are an outpatient procedure. Patients check-in between 7:30am and 8:00am for blood work and the procedure is performed in the late morning to early afternoon. Patients are ready to return home after 5:00pm the same evening. Pets receiving advanced dental procedures with x-rays and extractions are still dismissed the same day. However, due to safety concerns, if we feel numerous extractions are needed, more than one appointment may be required to complete the necessary procedures.

Some dogs (usually small breeds) can require a dental treatment every six months. Other dogs may be able to go three to four years between cleanings. Typically, after the age of two or three, most dogs and cats will need a dental every one to two years. Assessment by your veterinarian will allow you to discuss your pet’s dental health and if excessive plaque or periodontal disease requires a cleaning. Remember, good oral hygiene at home increases the time between professional cleanings. Pet Care Center celebrates Dental Month 4 times a year; in February, May, August, and November. During those months, we offer a significant discount off of the cost of a dental procedure.

After scheduling an appointment for your pet’s surgery, we will request that you bring your pet in by 7:00am on the day of surgery for a pre-surgical examination and pre-surgical blood tests. NO FOOD OR WATER AFTER MIDNIGHT. The blood tests will evaluate your pet for underlying health problems. These blood tests include a packed cell volume (PCV), mini chemistry profile plus or minus a coagulation profile. If a pet is older than seven years of age, your veterinarian will also recommend performing a complete blood count. The exact type of tests your veterinarian recommends will vary depending on your pet’s age, species, any previous health problems and the type of surgery.

For all dogs and cats, we withhold food from your pet the night before surgery after 10:00pm. Food is withheld so that if the pet vomits while under sedation, the pet is less likely to vomit food, which could be aspirated into the lungs.

On the day of the procedure, a physical examination will be performed and your pet will be prepared for surgery. An intravenous catheter will be placed for delivery of IV anesthetic medication as well as fluids during the procedure. Your pet will usually be given a sedative at this point, which will help to calm and relax him, followed by an intravenous anesthetic and then a gas anesthetic. An endotracheal tube will be placed in the trachea to protect the airway and to administer the gas anesthetic that will keep your pet unconscious during the procedure.

During surgery, several types of monitors are used to make sure that your pet is doing well. These include a heart rate monitor, which counts the number of heartbeats per minute, and a pulse oximeter, which monitors the amount of oxygen in the blood. An ECG monitor, which shows a tracing of the electrical activity of the heart and a blood pressure system is also used. Monitor use varies with the type and length of the surgery, and the species of animal. All pets are provided intravenous fluids during surgery and are placed on a specially heated pad to keep them warm.

Once the surgery is over the anesthesia is stopped and the pet is allowed to wake up in a quiet area where he can be monitored until it is able to move around safely on his own. Although you will be anxious to take your pet home with you, it is best for him to stay in the hospital where he can be monitored until the veterinarian feels it is safe to leave. Your pet will stay overnight in our ICU for monitoring with most surgical procedures. Some small procedures and pets that are having dental procedures will be discharged on the same day and can leave after 5:00pm. During this time, your veterinarian can also provide any necessary pain medication.