I have worked in 4 different veterinary hospitals since 1997. One thing is the same in all 4 hospitals – clients are usually surprised when they see what exists behind the swinging doors. There is a perception that the hospital is more similar to your own doctor’s office than a hospital. What you see is a reception area with a spot for food and pet supplies, a desk with some computers, a fax machine, phones, smiling staff members and then an area with some exam rooms and a weigh scale for your pet. The exam rooms have a couple pieces of medical equipment so the Veterinarian can look in your pet’s ears and eyes. Yes, it is very similar to a doctor’s office.
Do you know what else we have at the hospital? A fully stocked pharmacy. We carry antibiotics – oral tablets, capsules, topical and medications safe for the eyes. There are drugs for gastro-intestinal problems, skin issues, liver and kidney disease, endocrine disorders, steroids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, ear infections – yeast, bacterial or inflammatory or any combination of those. There are cardiac medications, medications for behavioural problems or urinary incontinence. The list goes on and on. And guess what? We stock medications in an assortment or strengths depending on the size of your pet. We also carry a variety of those medications because we provide individualized pet care and your pet may tolerate one medication better than another. We have staff that have attended school so that they are familiar with the variety of medications, side effects and interactions. We take great care in making sure your pet has the medication they need to treat their illness.
Behind our pharmacy are the swinging doors. This is the area you do not often see and ironically, it is the area we are most proud of! You first enter our treatment area. This is where we perform minor procedures like blood collection, porcupine quill removal, nail trims or wound care. This is a large room fully stocked with our hospital supplies. There is an area for the veterinarians to scrub in for surgery, a steam autoclave to sterilize all of our medical instruments after each use. We have a separate dental suite where dental procedures are performed. Just like at your own dentist, we are fully stocked with all the instruments needed to ultrasonically and hand scale your pet’s teeth. The teeth are polished just like they are at your dentist. Digital radiographs are obtained to evaluate disease below the gum line, just like at your dentist office. There are instruments for more complicated dental surgery as well. Electronic monitoring equipment is used to monitor things like your pet’s heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen saturation while they are anesthetized. There is an anesthetic machine and electronic intravenous fluid pumps to ensure your pet receives the exact rate of fluids while they are with us. Then we move on to another separate surgical suite with all of the same anesthetic monitoring equipment, intravenous fluid pumps, another anesthetic machine and vast array of surgical supplies and instruments.
There is the radiology room that takes state of the art digital radiographs and is fully leaded for pet and staff safety. Our staff wear all of the protective clothing to help protect them from exposure to radiation. Every staff member that takes radiographs wears a monitoring badge that is checked quarterly by National Dosimetry Services, a regulatory body in Canada to track staff radiation exposure. We also have an ultrasound machine and a veterinarian that is specially trained to perform ultrasonography on pets as an additional diagnostic tool.
We have a recovery area to closely monitor pets recovering from anesthesia or that require close supervision.
An in-house laboratory exists with equipment that we maintain and use to get your pets blood and urine results as quick as possible. A microscope is used to visually look at the variety of cells in the blood to pick up subtle changes the blood equipment may miss and to look for bacteria, yeast, urinary crystals, parasites and wide variety of cells that may be present in the samples we obtain from your pet.
There is a separate cat ward, a separate dog ward and a grooming area. And did I mention storage? We take great pride in ensuring we are fully stocked with the supplies we need to handle every emergency and hospitalized patient that enters our hospital.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of all we have in the hospital to care for your pet, but it may give you a glimpse behind the swinging doors. But do you know what our most valuable asset is to provide you superb pet care? Our highly educated, trained and compassionate staff. Our doctors, technicians, veterinary assistants and the site coordinator of the hospital are dedicated to partnering with you to ensure your pet receives the best care and has as stress free of a visit as possible. The icing on the cake? Every team member has a PhD in pet snuggles from Snuggle University. Okay, I made that part up!
Written By Jen Kendrick
