Health Maintenance Services
Vaccines
Vaccinations are not only safe and effective; they are an important and fundamental piece of your pet’s preventative healthcare plan.
San Benito Animal Hospital’s vaccination protocol follows American Veterinary Medical Association guidelines and is carefully tailored to the lifestyle of your pet. We also recognize that Parvovirus is well established in our region of the country. Parvovirus attacks either your dog’s heart or intestines, can be fatal if left untreated, and requires extensive and expensive treatments to cure. Additionally, parvovirus is highly contagious and especially dangerous for puppies. For these reasons, we can’t stress enough the importance of bringing your puppy or dog in for vaccination to protect against this disease.
In all, our veterinarians truly believe that our carefully balanced approach is the best means to prevent infectious disease and the possibility of your pet having an adverse reaction to a vaccine.
Microchip Lost Pet ID
Does your pet have a microchip? Each year, millions of pets go missing and many don’t make it back home. Microchipping your pet is a safe, simple and effective way to prevent this tragedy. About the size of a grain of rice, identification microchips are encoded with your pet’s vital information and implanted beneath your pet’s skin, usually between the shoulder blades.
Veterinary hospitals and animal shelters across the country and around the world are equipped with special scanners capable of reading these microchips. The information in the chip is used to reunite you with your pet.
San Benito Animal Hospital uses the resQ microchip system. This system comes with a number of valuable benefits for you such as no registration or annual fees; customer service seven days per week, 24 hours per day; and worldwide coverage since resQ’s microchips can be read by any International Organization for Standardization (ISO) compliant scanner.
Senior Wellness Exams
Dogs and cats in their senior years may have slowed down a bit, but they are no less important members of our families. However, changes to their bodies occur rapidly and they become more susceptible to diseases such as cancer, arthritis, dental disease, diabetes, and heart disease.
This is why we recommend a geriatric exam tailored to your pet’s age and condition. Our senior wellness program includes diagnostic tests designed to catch problems associated with aging before they become difficult and expensive to treat such as a chest X-ray and a full blood workup. We will also thoroughly examine your older pet’s eyes and ears, evaluate cardiovascular and neurological health, weight and nutrition, and more.
After your pet reaches age seven, your veterinarian will talk to you about how we can help ensure your pet’s senior years are the best years of his or her life.
Ear Care
Ear care is an area of special interest at San Benito Animal Hospital and one where we have some extensive training. Most ear infections and related issues are often the result of an underlying condition. These causational medical conditions are often undertreated, which can lead to chronic infection, scarring of the inner ear, hearing loss and generalized systemic infections.
San Benito Animal Hospital treats ear infections aggressively. We begin by taking samples of any discharge that may be associated with the infection and perform a thorough cytological examination to help us determine the source of the infection. Depending on the type of bacteria found during laboratory testing, we may send a sample to a specialty lab to determine if the infection is caused by pseudomonas, a particularly nasty bacterium that may require ongoing treatment.
We also are one of the few general practice animal hospitals in the area to perform lateral ear canal resections, which is used to treat relatively common inflammations of the ear canal. In most cases this procedure would have to be performed by a specialist at a specialty hospital. However, Dr. Allison Tewell Merritt has received training in this procedure.
Our Pharmacy
In numerous acute or chronic conditions, medication is required to cure or alleviate symptoms. At San Benito Animal Hospital we believe that timely and convenient access to these medications is an important aspect of caring for your pet. For this reason, we maintain a comprehensive pharmacy.
Not only does our pharmacy mean you don’t have to wait for important medicines for your pet, but there is a direct line of communication between the examination room and the pharmacy window. Each medication becomes part of your pet’s medical record, which reduces the chance for errors and enhances our ability to monitor its use and the outcome for your pet.
Refills are easy too. Simply give us a call or visit our online pharmacy and we can either mail them to you or have them ready at your next visit.