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.

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.

“Pet patients over profits.”

Healthcare in animals is as important as it is in human beings to pay attention to if long and happy life is to be enjoyed, both on the part of the patient as well as the pet parent. What this statement is referring to is the ongoing need to make decisions that are monetary with regards to the wellbeing of your pet, and the mental pain and stress that accompanies those types of decisions. Although insurance plans for pet medications are available, many people do not take advantage of the protections that are offered by a small monthly payment. In large-scale medical events that require expensive surgeries, treatments, and therapies, the decisions to not treat the animal due to out-of-pocket costs, and the eventual suffering or potential death of the pet are decisions that potentially could have been avoided through the maintaining of a small monthly payment. Unfortunately, not nearly enough people choose to protect themselves in this way, leading to poor health and suffering on the part of their pets.

A new concept in animal healthcare is “pet wellness programs” very much like the ones that are seen with human subjects. In this type of system, expensive treatments and therapies are avoided as much as possible by the leveraging of knowledge bases with regards to different species and breeds and applying this knowledge toward preventing illness and disease instead of simply treating it once it is manifest. Years of veterinary science have created an extensive body of knowledge that reaches far beyond the understanding of the bodies of pets in general, but additionally the specific medical issues that manifest in individual breeds at different points in their lives. Because many of these medical issues can be avoided through preventative maintenance involving screenings, vaccinations, and management programs, the concept of preventing the issues before they begin at a far lower cost than attempting to cure the disease or condition once it has presented itself has continued to grow in popularity over the past few years. Although the concept may be the opposite of the “profit motive” that is present in any business, the embracing of the idea of healing and creating bodies that are healthy and pain-free has been embraced by a growing number of veterinarians across the country. While the obvious desire to make as much money as possible will always be the primary concern for many animal doctors, those who embrace the “patients over profits” motivation are creating programs that are completely unique, and that have not been seen in the past.

Dr. Mark Beerenstrauch began his career in medicine many years ago, born from a love of animals and the desire to provide the best life possible for them. Through years of experience working within the traditional veterinarian clinics of Las Vegas, he began to realize that the concept of illness prevention that he observed being crafted within many large businesses and healthcare companies in order to reduce costs associated with lost time off work and medical treatments in people could be applied in theory and practice to his animal patients. When research as to the viability of a program that would statistically reduce the instances of large-scale treatments through low-cost ongoing maintenance began, Dr. Beerenstrauch found a surprising lack of detailed examples existing anywhere in the country to model his programs from. Literally nobody in the veterinary world was doing it, either due to a motivation of increased profits tied to the more expensive procedures or potentially the lack of understanding of how such a program could be implemented effectively. Dr. Beerenstrauch realized that he would need to do the research and create the programs themselves.

Within the Las Vegas veterinary clinic that is run by Dr. Beerenstrauch (Pet Health Hospital of Las Vegas) two specific programs have been implemented in order to assist pet owners in reducing the costs associated with treatments and keep pets healthier and happier. These have been named the “canine health” and “feline health” programs, and their purpose is to provide an easily followed map of healthcare procedures that should be completed at different stages of each species’ life cycle, starting with birth and ending with death. The generalities of wellness care for each species have been sub-divided into numerous “breed-specific” and “health-status-specific” areas, which have all been structured to provide a guideline of specific wellness-oriented programs that are individualized for the specific animal. When a pet parent arrives with a new pet for the first checkup at Pet Health Hospital, a complimentary assessment and ongoing maintenance plan is provided based upon the general knowledge of the particular animal’s health state, age, breed, and various other factors. If followed, this plan should statistically save pet parents money over time through avoidance of many of the commonly known ailments that the particular breed of animal will face. Of course, every disease cannot be prevented, but by doing everything that veterinary science has learned over the animal’s life which potentially assists in avoiding the disease through optimum health, Dr. Beerenstrauch maintains that over time pet owners will spend far less money on average, and also avoid those hard decisions that may have to be made as far as treatments that are not affordable by the owner. In essence, Pet Health Hospital is implementing a form of pet insurance by simply showing people how to keep their pets healthy.

The innovative wellness programs that have been implemented at Pet Heath Hospital are free of charge and are in place in order to provide an understanding of the specific aspects of healthcare that are unique to a breed by pet owners. Dr. Beerenstrauch believes that by providing an easily understood roadmap, along with an explanation of why routine maintenance is beneficial from the standpoint of a healthy pet as well as a monetary saving to the owner, he can create a body of patients that maintain a healthier life cycle and avoid the potentials of suffering through preventable health maladies that could have been avoided for pennies on the dollar when compared to extensive therapies or surgeries. The motivation of creating both healthier and happier animal patients as well as human owners satisfies the reasons he went into veterinary medicine in the first place. “Patients over profits” is alive and well at Pet Health Hospital, and you can benefit from it by making your first appointment.

Las Vegas dog and cat veterinarian

Las Vegas is one of the most exciting cities in the world, with thousands of visitors every month as well as millions of permanent residents.  Medical care is necessary for all of these people, and medical care is equally important for their pets.  Luckily, Las Vegas veterinarians like the highly trained staff at Pet Health Hospital make it an easy choice for those who call our city home.  While there are hundreds of veterinarians in Las Vegas all offering the same types of services, Pet Health Hospital has differentiated itself by concentrating on wellness in animals, instead of just treating the illnesses.  What this means is that we are taking a completely unique approach to veterinary medicine, and although prevention does not have the high costs that are associated with surgeries and high-end treatments, we feel that it is in everyone’s best interest to prevent the diseases and injuries that we have the ability to.  This will create happier and healthier patients, as well as happier pet-parents.

What makes our type of veterinary services different than everyone elses? It all starts with our Canine Health and our Feline Health programs, which were created by our founder and lead veterinarian, Dr. Mark Beerenstrauch.  These specialized programs take the very things that veterinarians know about each specific breed of dog and cat, and map out a lifetime care program specifically for that particular pet by considering the breed, age, and many other individual factors.  With this plan in place, it makes it easy for the pet parent to stay on top of the vaccinations, exams and potentially treatments that will keep their particular pet in tip top health.  Instead of taking a blanket approach to veterinary medicine where all animals are treated the same, we take a scientific approach that allows us to plan for all of the potential health problems that your particular pet might face, based upon the type of animal they are.  By preventing common ailments that are breed-specific, we can help our Las Vegas animal population to be significantly healthier that areas where such programs do not exist.  By maintaining better health in our patients, we create a healthier community.

Contact us today to ask about our programs, and allow us to prove to you that all Las Vegas veterinarians are not the same.  Once you experience the difference, we are confident we will be welcoming you to the Pet Health family!

As a clinic that offers veterinarian services to the Las Vegas general public, one of the questions that is continually asked of the staff and doctors of Pet Health Hospital is “how do I choose the best veterinarian in Las Vegas?” While this question may seem easier for us to answer than you would expect (that answer being “we are the best veterinarian in Las Vegas,”) of course we want to consider all of the aspects that are going to be working together over the course of your pet’s life, all of which will play a role in answering the question for you.  Of course, the very first element to consider in Las Vegas itself, and the layout of the city with regards to your proximity to your veterinarian.  Las Vegas is a city that grew in different areas which were linked together by highways after they had already grown, and this can create issues with regards to traffic.  Unlike other cities, a veterinarian office that is physically within only a few miles of your home might take a significantly long period of time to travel to, due to the nature of the traffic on the roads and highways themselves.  The best way to decide if a veterinarian’s office is convenient for you is to actually make the drive to the office you have chosen, in order to see if there are traffic issues that might make you hesitant to take your pet to the veterinarian for routine exams and treatments.  Make the drive during high traffic times like rush hour, and see how long it takes to get there.  If you feel that the driving time is going to create inconvenience on your part, and you may be hesitant to take your pet in to see the veterinarian on a regular basis because of this inconvenience, then it may be better to choose a veterinarian office closer to your Las Vegas home, or one that is a faster drive on the highway.  This should not be the ultimate deciding factor in your decision, of course, but it will probably begin to play a role in the amount of times you are willing to take your pet to see the doctor.  You would be surprised at how many times people will wait to take their pets in for an exam until too much time has passed and an illness has taken hold, simply because they couldn’t make the time to get the pet into the car and drive to the vet.  Another factor in this decision is going to be the operating hours of the veterinarian office themselves.  Are they open at times that are going to provide you with an ability to take your pet to see them outside of your work hours.  Most people will hesitate to take time off work in order to take their pet to the veterinarian, because of fear of being scrutinized of for loss of vacation time.  It is therefore very important to find a veterinarian in Las Vegas that is open at times when you are not at work.  Another consideration is the amount of time they are able to accept emergency cases, if at all.  Many veterinarians are not equipped to take an emergency case at all, and the ones that are equipped will not usually be open 24 hours.  With that said, you will also need to find an emergency veterinarian within a few minutes of your home in order to take your pet there in the case of an emergency.  You would be amazed at how few emergencies involving pets happen during regular business hours, and in emergency times every moment counts.  This is why the emergency veterinarian that you choose should be the most convenient in proximity to your home, but the regular veterinarian you choose does not necessarily have to be so close, as long as you are willing to take the extra time.

Another important aspect of deciding on the right Las Vegas veterinarian for you is the clinic itself.  Is the staff friendly and helpful? Is the location clean and bright? Does it feel like a doctor’s office or does it feel like a kennel? Your veterinarian is a doctor for your pet, and as a doctor, they should present themselves and their location as a medical facility.  When you call does the phone ring without being answered? Does the staff seem accommodating to your issues, and are they able to offer immediate help if necessary? All of these questions should be considered when choosing the best veterinarian, as they are going to be part of your ongoing interaction with the facility.  When you call or bring your pet into the facility in order to be examined, do you feel as though this is something that you would rather not be doing? If the answer is yes and there is something about the facility or the staff that has made you feel that way, then there is a very good chance that you will begin putting off visits in the future, which is disadvantageous to your pet’s care.  Anything that makes you feel that you would rather not be doing this is going to potentially make you hesitate to bring your pet into the office in the future.  Since regular checkups and care are the best methods for keeping your pet healthy, it is crucial that you not feel uncomfortable coming to the office.

Does the veterinarian or head technician give you the impression that your pet’s health is their main concern? Keep in mind that a veterinarian is a business, just like a doctor is a business.  Although making money is the goal of any business, a doctor or medical professional should not be making decisions about care based upon creating more profits for the business.  Unfortunately, the regulations that govern the actions of human doctors are rarely applied to veterinarians and therefore there are many more that are “profit-driven” than there should be.  If you get the impression that your veterinarian is trying to “upsell” you constantly on items that you and your pet do not need, then you may be realizing that the veterinarian is not putting the health and well-being of your pet first.  At Pet Health Hospital, we have gone as far as to create our “wellness programs” which specifically concentrate on the regular and routine maintenance that will potentially assist in the avoidance of more costly surgeries and treatments.  This is good for the pet owner as it reduces costs associated with care as well as the potential heartache of having to make decisions on expensive treatments based on the ability to afford them when they could have been avoided with some routine and inexpensive ongoing vaccinations and checkups.  Although we want to make money just like other veterinarians do, we would rather make less and have your pet lead a longer and happier life than to make more by not providing education to our patients on how to avoid the expensive treatments.  We have seen too many people make the decision to put a pet down rather than pay for treatments that are hard to bear, and we do everything in our power to never have that choice need to be made by our patients.  The way to do that is by keeping them healthy.

Another consideration as far as choosing the best veterinarian in Las Vegas is the prices that it costs to use them.  The cheapest option is not always the best, as the ability to offer “bargain basement” prices usually comes with lesser care, of less experience.  Although lower prices are always a good thing on the surface, the experience level of the lead veterinarian and the staff, as well as the costs of the facility itself, are going to play into the decision due to the fact that lesser care is not the goal.  A concerned pet parent wants the best care that they can afford for their animals, and if paying a little extra so that the doctor can spend more time concentrating on their case instead of rushing off to another patient is going to keep your pet healthier. Besides, many veterinary clinics offer flexible financing options for pet care, making it convenient to manage the cost of medical services for your beloved animals. One of the traits of a good doctor is attention to detail, and being rushed from patient to patient reduces the ability of the doctor to concentrate on those minute details that might catch illnesses earlier, crete better health plans or make your pet’s life better.

Does the veterinarian follow up? Many veterinarians in Las Vegas simply treat their patients then have the staff follow up to make sure that everything is going according to plan if they follow up at all.  Pet Health Hospital provides a personal follow-up from the doctor or involved staff member who was treating the animal when they came into the office.  This involvement in the process even past the point of prescribing medicine or treatment is one of the characteristics of any good doctor or veterinarian, as it allows the doctor themselves to discuss the follow up with the patients and get a sense as far as if it is going according to plan or not.  This personal interaction is what you would want for your family members that are humans, and you should expect no less from your veterinarian with regards to our pets.

Does the veterinarian office have access to the latest equipment and advances in veterinary medicine?  Just like human medicine, veterinarians need to keep up with the latest advancements in the treatments of the illnesses of their patients, as well as the knowledge on how to keep them healthy.  This will extend to the equipment of the facility itself being new and well maintained, as well as the staff being knowledgeable on how to use it.  Does the veterinarian need to send you elsewhere to get procedures and exams that are beyond their capacities? While this is naturally going to be the case when treating something very specific that can be better handled in a facility that is dedicated to that single thing, the more routine aspects of pet medicine should be able to be handled in-house.  This will extend to minor or routine surgeries, dental, vaccinations, and potentially some therapies.  You are going to be more comfortable if the veterinarian that you have grown to trust is the one also performing the surgery, so it is important to inquire if this is something that the veterinarian handles in-house or refers to others.

With all of the discussion as far as choosing the “best” veterinarian in Las Vegas, it is a personal choice of who you are most comfortable with.  If that particular veterinarian is not available, are you comfortable with the next person in line who can treat your pet? These choices generally will come from referrals or convenience and then be solidified by “the way you feel about them,” and most time this gut instinct is going to make a good choice for you.  We consider ourselves to be the best veterinarian and animal hospital in Las Vegas, and we welcome you to visit us to allow us to prove it to you.