Acupuncture
Southwoods Animal Hospital offers an alternative to conventional medicine with acupuncture. Dr. Joe Packheiser is a Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist through the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society. Acupuncture is based on traditional Chinese medicine which creates a balance of energy flow in the body. Acupuncture can be used to treat a variety of problems such as arthritis, intervertebral disc disease and lumbosacral disease (a.k.a. “back problems”), urinary incontinence, and allergies. Please call for a consultation appointment with Dr. Joe Packheiser to see whether Veterinary Acupuncture is a treatment option for your pet. back to top
Allergies
There are many types of allergies. Allergic reactions can occur quickly or “acutely” from bee stings, medications, or from vaccines. Allergies can also occur over time or from “chronic” exposure to allergens such as pollens, grasses, trees, molds, dust, fleas, or even food. Chronic allergies can cause ear infections, skin rashes, paw licking, and scratching. Allergies can be treated with medicines to help control the symptoms, but chronic allergies need to be treated by identifying the cause of the allergy. An allergy test can be performed to determine the environmental factors that are causing your pet’s allergy. Once the allergens are identified, your pet can get allergy “shots” to help control his or her allergies. In extremely allergic animals, who are unresponsive to allergy “shots”, a new drug called Atopica can be used to control the animal’s symptoms with less side effects than steroids. In many cases, dogs or cats will have a food allergy. In these cases, changing your animal’s food to a veterinary prescription hypoallergenic diet may be all that is needed to control your animal’s symptoms. If your animal has symptoms that may indicate allergies, please call for a consultation appointment, so that we can determine which treatment option is right for your pet.
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Behavior
Behavioral problems can affect young animals up to older geriatric pets. Separation anxiety, fear aggression, inappropriate urinations/defecations, and senility are common behavioral problems that have afflicted many pets. At times a systemic disease may cause symptoms that appear behavioral. For example, an animal that inappropriately urinates may actually have a disease such as a bladder infection, diabetes or kidney disease. Our veterinarians can help determine if there is an underlying disease present or if your pet has a true behavioral problem. Once a primary behavioral issue has been diagnosed, our veterinarians can supply behavioral modification techniques and at times medication to help modify and hopefully cure the behavioral problem. If your animal displays an abnormal behavior, please call to make an appointment so that our veterinarians may evaluate your pet.
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Cardiology
Heart disease can be diagnosed with x-rays, ECG, blood pressure, ultrasound, and blood work. Once the specific heart disease is diagnosed, medications and diet can be prescribed to help treat your animal’s heart. In some cases, heart murmurs may indicate a defect with the heart vessels, valves or the heart muscle’s walls. These cases may need surgery to correct the disease. Southwoods Animal Hospital has digital radiology or “x-ray” which is currently the best technology available for x-ray imaging. Besides x-ray, we can process your pet’s blood work, check the blood pressure and perform ECGs (or electrocardiograms) on site.
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Dentistry
Does your dog or cat have bad breath? Dental tartar can build up on your pet’s teeth causing plaque formation, gum disease, tooth loss and subsequent infection. Dental infection can cause the gums to bleed, which spreads that infection to the blood stream. Once in the blood stream, the infection can lead to heart, kidney and liver disease. Gum disease is indicated by redness and swelling along the gum line. When the gums swell, pockets form which allow infection to creep up along the tooth root forming painful tooth root abscesses. We perform dental cleanings, much the same as human dental cleanings. An ultrasonic scaler is used to clean the teeth. The teeth are then polished and an application of Oravet is applied to the teeth. Oravet is a gel that places a protective bond between the gum and tooth surface. Tooth extractions, mass removals within the oral cavity, or correction of gum disease can also be performed at our clinic. At Southwoods Animal Hospital, we have the ability to take single tooth or full mouth digital dental x-rays to pinpoint diseased teeth. Dental procedures are performed Monday through Friday and most patients can go home the same day as surgery. Because the animals must be anesthetized for dental cleanings, pre-surgical bloodwork is recommended prior to anesthesia. Each patient’s heart rate and breathing is monitored while the patient is undergoing the dental procedure. By cleaning and polishing your animal’s teeth regularly, they will be healthier and happier because they will experience less pain-related gum disease and infection.
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Dermatology
Skin problems can be caused by any one or a variety of the following: fungal infections, bacterial infections, allergic reactions, auto-immune diseases, yeast infections, parasites, systemic diseases and even certain types of cancer. Symptoms of a skin disease may include scabbing, pustules, hair loss, hair thinning, skin pigmentation, itching, redness, ear infections and even hot spots. Skin conditions may be diagnosed with tests such as fungal cultures, skin scrapes, allergy testing, skin biopsies, blood work and occasionally x-rays. Most of these tests are performed right at our hospital. Treatment options for skin disorders can vary from topical medicated shampoos, sprays or creams, to medicated dips, and even oral antibiotics, antihistamines, antifungals or in rare cases steroids. See the “Allergy” section for treatment options for skin allergies. If your pet is ailing from a dermatological or “skin” disease, please call for an appointment today.
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Diabetes Mellitus
Diabetes is a common disease that afflicts older animals and especially overweight cats. Diabetes is caused by the body’s inability to process or sometimes even make insulin. Insulin is needed by the body in order for the cells to process the sugar found in food. When animals are overweight the fat “blocks” the ability to make insulin, which results in too much sugar in the bloodstream. When animals have too much sugar in the bloodstream it is called hyperglycemia. Diabetic patients that are not treated will be in a constant state of hyperglycemia. When the sugar cannot be processed it causes changes in the body. Diabetics exhibit the following clinical signs: drinking too much, urinating too much, weight loss, increase or decrease in eating, hind limb weakness, inability to jump or climb into the litter box, inappropriate urinations, bladder infections, cataracts, seizures, coma and even death. If you notice any of these clinical signs, please bring your animal to Southwoods Animal Hospital, so that we may perform blood work and a urinalysis to help determine the cause of your pet’s clinical signs.
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Digital Radiology
Digital radiology is a new state-of-the-art x-ray unit, which gives the best technique for viewing x-rays. This is important for finding small changes such as foreign bodies, fine hairline fractures, and minor arthritic changes. Southwoods Animal Hospital is one of the only clinics in the area to have such advanced technology.
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Geriatrics:
Thankfully our pets are living longer than ever and living well into their “senior” years. With early diagnostics and preventive medicine such as blood work every 6 months, diseases can be detected early and treated early, giving our pets a longer life expectancy. We recommend blood work every 6 months once a dog or cat reaches 7 years of age because in comparison that dog or cat is similar to a 50 to 60 year old human. Another way to help your pet sail into his or her senior years is keeping them at a good body weight. Studies using Labrador Retrievers have shown that overweight dogs live an average of 2 years less than a dog at a perfect weight. Cats too are more prone to developing diabetes if they are overweight because the abdominal fat “blocks” their pancreas from creating insulin. We want your animals to live a long and healthy life, so please try to keep your animals at an ideal body weight! If you question if your pet is at its ideal weight just stop by and any one of our staff can help. Our pets have too short of life spans as it is, so please help us to keep them healthy longer.
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Neurology
Disc disease, cancer, toxins, idiopathic epilepsy, and stroke can all cause neurological disease. Paralysis, muscle tremors, lameness and seizures can all be signs of a neurological problem. The doctors at Southwoods Animal Hospital can perform a neurological exam on your pet. Many of these disease can be controlled or cured by medicine or surgery.
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Nutrition
Some diseases can occur from a dietary insufficiency. However, over-feeding is the most common cause of poor nutrition. Giving an unbalanced diet of table scraps and over-feeding is the most common cause of obesity and can lead to serious diseases such as pancreatitis, arthritis, and diabetes mellitis. A balanced diet is very important to your animal’s overall health. Special diets are offered as a supplement to help control or support certain medical conditions ranging from kidney and liver disease, to skin and allergy problems, to obesity, aging, cancer and even oral health preventing tarter formation. The staff and doctors at Southwoods Animal Hospital can help you decide what is the best diet to ensure that your pet stays healthy.
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Obstetrics or Theriogeneology
Examining vaginal smears combined with monitoring progesterone levels will ensure that your pet is ready for breeding. Semen evaluation can also be assessed to evaluate the male. Pre-pregnancy examinations and pre-labor examinations are very important to ensure that the mother is well vaccinated and has adequate nutrition prior to and during her labor. Congenital problems can be decreased by not breeding animals that have undesired breed qualities such as bad hips, allergies, a history of cancer within the bloodline, eye problems or other breed specific problems. The doctors at Southwoods Animal Hospital will help you decide if your pet is a good breeding candidate. To help ensure your pet has a smooth delivery, an x-ray can help determine the number of puppies or kittens that are present and estimate if the fetuses have enough room to be delivered safely. Cesarean sections can be planned if any difficulties are expected. If your pet is having difficulty delivering her puppies or kittens please bring them right away to the veterinarian.
Signs that your pet is having problems delivering and you should bring them in:
- It takes longer than 30 minutes between each fetus with active contractions.
- There is fresh blood coming from her vulva.
- It takes longer than 2 hours to deliver if she has been resting (i.e. no contractions.)
- They can rest up to 2 hours during delivery as long as they are not contracting.
- You can see a fetus stuck which is unable to be delivered.
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Oncology
Fortunately, our pets are living longer; unfortunately, cancer is being seen more often in our senior pets. Many cancers that are located on the skin, within the spleen, liver, bladder, bone or eye can be removed surgically. Other cancers need chemotherapy or even radiation to treat. Certain types of cancer can be treated with a chemotherapy protocol that can be administered right at Southwoods Animal Hospital. If your animal has a cancer type that needs a more specialized chemotherapy protocol or radiation therapy, our doctors will refer you to an area specialist in Veterinary Oncology. We will then work closely with the specialist to help provide the best care for your pet.
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Ophthalmology
Eye exams are routinely performed at Southwoods Animal Hospital. The Tonopen is a diagnostic tool that is in-house which can determine quickly your animal’s ocular pressure. This will determine if your animal has glaucoma or uveitis. Both of these diseases can be painful, so early treatment is recommended. Many systemic diseases can be diagnosed by doing a retinal exam. The globe of the eye can become damaged from foreign bodies, trauma, or even cancer. Eyelid deformities are commonly found in certain small dog breeds (i.e. Shi Zhus, Pekinese, Lhasa Apsas, Pugs) and larger breeds such as St. Bernards, Great Danes and Shar Peis. Corneal defects such as corneal ulcers can occur from certain viruses, cat scratches, hair scratching the cornea, or even “dry eye”. Many eye problems can be inherited and are breed specific. Many of these conditions can cause pain to the eye, permanent damage and also vision loss. Southwoods Animal Hospital has multiple eye tests that can be performed right at the clinic to diagnose your pet’s eye disease quickly. Most eye diseases can be treated medically or even surgically right here at our hospital. If your animal is experiencing any eye problems, whether it is redness, drainage of the eyes or even pawing at the eyes, please contact us right away. With eye diseases, time is of the essence because even potentially treatable diseases can lead to irreversible blindness if left untreated, so please have your animal seen right away!
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Orthopedics
This includes ligament repairs, tendon or ligament sprains and strains, fracture repairs and arthritis. Treatments include joint supplements, anti-inflammatory medications, surgery, physical therapy and even acupuncture.
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Pain Control
Certain diseases need pain control to maintain their quality of life. During surgical procedures injectable pain medications, local anesthetics, as well as an epidural can be administered to alleviate any pain. Oral medications can be given for post-surgical pain or daily for chronic pain such as arthritis.
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Preventive Medicine
Many diseases can be prevented by diets, medication, or a change in lifestyle. Diabetes, kidney and liver problems, obesity, dental disease, some causes of blindness, arthritis, and heart disease are examples of diseases that can be prevented or at least maintained with medications or diet changes. Vaccinations are a perfect way to prevent diseases which can be fatal. Monthly heartworm prevention is another important preventive measure that will keep pets from getting heartworms, hookworms, roundworms, and whipworms.
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Pulmonary Disease
Bronchitis, asthma, collapsing trachea, and heart disease are all signs of pulmonary disease that can be maintained by medication.
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Reconstructive Surgery
Reconstruction after tumor removals, leg amputations and breast cancer surgery can all be done at Southwoods Animal Hospital.
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Reproduction
Brucellosis is a disease that can affect fertility, which can be tested for prior to breeding. Hypothyroidism can affect fertility as well as can be tested for by a simple blood test.
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Ultrasonography
Southwoods Animal Hospital has a state-of-the-art ultrasound machine that can be used for pregnancy checks, getting a sterile urine sample or abdominal fluid sample, for looking for tumors, or abnormal organs such as the kidneys, liver, spleen, gallbladder, bladder, prostate, uterus, or adrenal glands.
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Urology
Bladder stones, bladder infections and bladder tumors can all cause signs of increased drinking and urinations, and at times, inappropriate urinations. Urinalysis, ultrasound, and x-ray are all diagnostic tools that are used to diagnose these diseases. Prostate disease such as abscesses and tumors can be diagnosed by physical examination, ultrasound, blood work, and/or x-ray. These conditions are very common and can be medically and surgically fixed at Southwoods Animal Hospital.
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