See Your Veterinarian Regularly

A common question that is asked is “how often should I take my dog or cat to the veterinarian?” The answer to this question relies on several factors including your pet’s age and general state of overall health, but for the most part it is determined by the age of your pet.  Pet Health Hospital recommends “ongoing wellness exams” which are basically regular checkups of your pet’s condition, and during which point your veterinarian will be looking for specific things that are commonly known to effect a pet of the breed and age.  While these types of exams are different than a visit to the veterinarian when your pet is showing some symptom of a problem, the point of a wellness exam is to potentially diagnose future issues before they manifest themselves into conditions that are obvious to the common person.  Animals are quite good at masking health issues and hiding pain, as is their instinct due to an injured animal in the wild being easier prey than a healthy animal.  Your dog or cat will only show visual symptoms of a potential condition once it is well into the point of being a major problem.  Our specialized wellness programs look for the things that veterinary science has learned over the years are potential problems with your pet’s breed, in an attempt to avoid those issues.  Surgeries and medical treatments can be very expensive, and our philosophy is that it is worth a small price and a small inconvenience on a regular basis in order to potentially avoid a major expense and potentially deadly health situation.  We believe that the veterinary practice should be one of keeping animals healthy as well as treating them once they are sick.

Regular wellness exams should be done once every month during puppyhood or kittenhood up until about a year old.  After a year then regular checkups should be at least once per year and older animals should be checked at least every six months.  The determining factors that decide if your pet qualifies as “adult” or “senior” really depends on the breed as each type of pet has a different lifespan and age cycle.  Keeping with regular checkups can help our veterinarians to keep your pet healthier, which can lead to a longer and happier life.

If your pet is acting in a way that is out of the ordinary, or showing any symptoms of pain or distress like excessive panting, excessive drinking, not eating or drinking or acting overly lethargic, it is best to schedule an appointment immediately instead of waiting for your next wellness exam.  Distress of any kind in an animal is a symptom that there is something wrong that cannot wait even another day.

Pt Health Hospital offers free programs that assist pet parents in understanding the wellness exam schedules that would be most beneficial to their pets.  Contact our staff to learn more information, and always remember that a little bit of inconvenience to have your pet checked out regularly can avoid larger issues and expenses down the road.

Live In Las Vegas And Have A Pet? Call Us First!

There are many Las Vegas veterinarians to choose from, all with different specialties and areas of expertise.  The most obvious reason that one Las Vegas resident would choose to bring their pet to a specific veterinarian is proximity to their home or work place, due to the fact that it is easier to make regular trips to a nearby location than it is to drive all the way across town.  The second most important aspect of why you should choose a particular veterinarian is their knowledge of veterinary science and their personality.  A veterinarian who is passionate about their work and truly caring about your pet’s well being is going to provide a much better experience for both you and your pet than one who is simply collecting a paycheck.  While most veterinarians are passionate about their work, we at Pet Health Animal Hospital provide a level of caring and understanding about your pet’s health that is rarely seen in other clinics where money comes first and service comes second.  We care about the well-being of your pet even more than the money you pay for services, and we prove it every day with our “Canine Health” and “Feline Health” programs, in addition to the free services we offer to those who adopt pets from our local shelters and rescues in Las Vegas.

Our “Canine Health” and “Feline Health” programs are maintenance programs designed to keep your pet healthy over the course of their lifetime, and do everything in our power to avoid surgeries and expensive procedures.  The idea behind the programs is to use the knowledge that we have gained over many years of practicing veterinary medicine to keep the pet parent coming back for regular and routine maintenance procedures at specific times.  This type of schedule is specific for your pet’s breed and health, and involves preventative vaccinations, exams and treatments that we know effect your type of pet over time.  By doing everything in our power to avoid the disease of condition that we know effects your pet’s breed, we can avoid the disease itself in many cases.  This translates to far lower costs associated with the lifetime care of your animal, as well as potentially having to make a decision based upon money if your animal is sick.  Our goal is to avoid the expensive procedures by doing ongoing low-cost procedures, keeping your pet healthier and happier over the course of their lifetime.  We don’t make as much money in the long run, but we get to have patients who are healthier….which makes us happy.  The “Adoption Rewards” program that we offer provides free or low cost procedures to those who adopt an animal from a Las Vegas shelter or rescue, giving those animals who may have lacked good veterinary care previous to your finding them a better chance of living a healthier life.  We don’t think you should have to return an animal to a shelter because you find out that it is sick, so instead we make it affordable by giving you many services for free as a thank you for adopting.  Las Vegas shelter pets need a hand, and we want to give it to them.

Because of our dedication to veterinary medicine,  we find that many of our pet parents are willing to drive a little further to visit us.  We appreciate the fact that pet parents have seen our dedication, and are willing to come a little further than they normally would to visit us instead of a close clinic. We thank you for your dedication, and promise that we will continue to provide the best animal medical care in Las Vegas.

How To Trim Dog Nails

Dog Nail Diagram The procedure for trimming your dog’s nails is very simple, but will generally require two people in order to not harm the dog by potentially cutting the nail too short and causing bleeding.  One person will need to hold the dog to prevent them from running away, and the other person will use a pet nail clipper in one hand and hold the dog’s paw with the other hand.  You should hold the paw in your hand and grip the toes with your fingers, allowing you to have control if the dog flinches or pulls its paw away.  The process is very scary for many dogs, so you should expect them to squirm around and attempt to pull away.  The pressure caused by the clipper will also frighten the dog, which will cause them to jerk when you clip.  Because of this, it is best to set the clipper to exactly the position you want to clip on the nail, and then clip quickly.

The position that you are going to want to clip is roughly 45 degrees angle from the front of the pad, meaning that the clipping will angle closer to the pad on the bottom and further away on the top, however, this is going to be very slight so it is best to simply try to cut the nail flush with the area that will contact the ground when the dog is walking.   The most important thing to remember when clipping your dog’s nails is to not clip too far, making sure that you clip slowly closer until the black spot of the quick begins to appear.  The quickness of the dog’s nail will get longer if your dog does not have regular clippings to keep them short, so pay close attention that you do not clip too far up the dog’s nail, or you will cause bleeding and pain.  Clip until you see the black spot of the quick beginning to appear, and no further.  If you do cut too far and your dog’s nail begins to bleed, run the nail across a bar of soap in order to plug the wound and stop the bleeding.  There are also several powders available that will stop bleeding, ask your veterinarian for their suggestions as far as which to use.

Below you will find a video of how to clip your dog’s nails, provided by Dr. B on one of our patients here in Las Vegas.