West Toledo Animal Hospital

The extent of care given to any animal is ultimately determined by the owner. Every pet owner has different ideas as to what is acceptable pet care. Veterinarians can only make their clients aware of the medical options that are available. Then, they guide owners in their choices regarding the most important health care options for their pets. The final decision and choices rest with the owner. Veterinarians are willing and do go to the extra mile for pet owners, but owners should be prepared for the associated expenses and understand that the veterinarian should be compensated for his/her professional services and related expenses.

Vaccinations are designed to protect pets—and even owners—against an array of illnesses. While vaccinations help keep infection at bay for your pet, they also play a large role outside of disease prevention. Some diseases are zoonotic; meaning they can be transmitted from animals to people. Vaccinating your pet helps reduce the risk of human infection, particularly if there are vulnerable members like the younger or elderly in your household or immunosuppressed patients. Veterinary vaccinations are substantially less expensive than the cost of treatment for the diseases they protect against. Life-threatening illnesses to your pet can be nearly 100% preventable with vaccinations. Our veterinarians can best determine a vaccination schedule for your pet. This will depend on the type of vaccine, your pet’s age, medical history, environment, and lifestyle. However, in general, vaccines should be given at approximately 8, 10, and 12 weeks of age then repeated annually. By taking preventative measures to protect your pet, you will help ensure a healthier and happier life for both of you. Please contact our hospital if you have any questions regarding vaccines and your pet.

Heartworm disease is a serious and potentially fatal disease in pets in the United States and many other parts of the world. It is caused by foot-long worms (heartworms) that live in the heart, lungs, and associated blood vessels of affected pets, causing severe lung disease, heart failure and damage to other organs in the body. Avoiding this infection of heartworms, as well as fleas and ticks in your beloved dog and cat is essential for the pets’ health. This can easily be prevented in both dogs and cats with monthly medications that can be purchased through our in-house or online pharmacy. There are various preventatives on the market these days and each medication is slightly different in which parasites they protect against and the mode of how they work. That is why discussing the individual needs of your pet is important. Our Veterinarians can tailor the appropriate preventative to your pet’s specific needs so that your pet is being protected, without being given products it doesn’t necessarily need. The American Heartworm Society recommends that you “think 12:” 1. Get your pet tested every 12 months for heartworm 2. Give your pet heartworm preventive 12 months a year. Year-round flea prevention is important even in the cold winter months. A question we get asked a lot is do I really need to keep giving those flea preventives for my pets all year long? Believe it or not, many of these parasites are still active during the winter months, no matter how frigid it may get. Year-round flea preventives not only help safeguard your pet from disease, but they help protect your family’s health as well. Outdoors, fleas can survive in temperatures of -30 degrees Fahrenheit. They can also ride out the winter on dogs and cats huddled next to the skin where it’s warm. It is also important to keep in mind that the flea eggs that fell into your carpeting and furniture last summer may develop into adult fleas in the temperate environment of your home this winter. On dogs and cats, fleas can cause uncomfortable itching, especially in pets with flea allergy dermatitis, which results from a severe allergic reaction to flea saliva; and once fleas are in your home, it can take months to get rid of them, and you run the risk of the people in the house getting fleas as well. Because fleas can contain tapeworm larvae, your pets can become infected when they accidentally ingest a flea during grooming, and children can also contract these tapeworms. Monthly preventives can help protect your pet and children and keep your house from a flea infestation. Please contact our hospital if you have any questions regarding your pet’s heartworm and flea prevention.

When your veterinarian prescribes a medication or special diet for your pet, the intent is usually for the pet to begin treatment right away. Getting your pet’s prescription filled on the same day it was prescribed is one of the advantages of using our in-house veterinary pharmacy. We also carry a wide variety of over-the-counter items such as dental and grooming products. Our pharmacy staff is knowledgeable about all the medications we stock and can answer your questions and concerns. If you’re concerned about giving your pet medication, or have had difficulty in the past, our experienced technicians are happy to provide instructions on the safest and easiest ways to administer medication. However, we also understand the convenience of ordering your pet’s medication online. We encourage our clients to order medications and preventatives directly from us through our online store. Our online pharmacy offers a quicker more convenient solution. Our online pharmacy is connected right to our system. Our online store and in-house veterinary pharmacy supply chain is 100% secure. From the time the medication is manufactured, all the way to when you are going to give it to your pet, it has been handled, stored, and packaged in compliance with manufacturer guidelines. The product you receive from our online pharmacy and in-house veterinary pharmacy is guaranteed to be the name-brand medication in the proper dosage and packaging. When we get a request from other online pharmacy’s you are facing many more steps just to get a simple approval. This can take upwards to a week just to get an approval for the medication not to mention the time it takes for that medication to be shipped to you. We do not guarantee medications shipped from other online companies. Medications purchased directly from our in-house veterinary pharmacy and our online store are guaranteed by the products manufacturer and most importantly by us, your pet’s Veterinarian. Many clients think it is cheaper to use other online pharmacies. We are always conducting cost-comparison research on various medications and products so we can pass those savings along to you. Additionally, we track and maintain a database of the many manufacturers that offer significant rebates with the purchase of their products, for your convenience. You can also always save money by enrolling in our auto ship program. You input the frequency of delivery and let our pharmacy do the rest. If you have any additional questions about our in-house veterinary pharmacy or our online, please don’t hesitate to contact our staff.