Our Services
Wellness Exams | Ophthalmic Care | Microchip Pet Identification System
Imaging | Surgical Services | Laboratory | Dentistry | Weight Management
Wellness Exams
How often is enough? Most pet owners recognize that cats and dogs mature and age more quickly than humans. While the precise figure is subject to debate, cats and dogs age on an average of 7 human years for every one calendar year. Adolescent pets grow at an even more rapid pace. A one year old dog is equivalent to a child in his or her teen years and a 1 year old cat would be the same age as a mid 20 year old human adult.
Click here to see a Comparison Chart - Pet's Age / Human Age
Considering this rate of change, the Animal Hospital of Sayreville has established twice a year wellness exams as the standard of care in our profession.
What are the benefits of twice a year wellness exams? Decreasing the interval between visits gives us a better opportunity for early disease diagnosis and intervention resulting in improved treatment outcome. In addition to a comprehensive physical exam, our veterinarians will discus dental care, nutrition, behavior, parasite control and zoonotic diseases.
Click to view our vaccination guidelines: For Dogs | For Cats
Ophthalmic Care
Ocular Disease can be linked with systemic health problems. The eye serves as a window to the body. A complete ophthalmic exam is performed on each patient including:
- Retroillumination
- Pupillary Light Reflexes
- Vision
- Shirmer Tear test
- Flourescein Stain
- Glaucoma Screen - Intra-ocular pressure measurement by digital tonometry
Microchip Pet Identification System
The Home Again Pet Recover Service is a safe, simple and permanent form of Pet identification. Designed to quickly identify lost pets and reunite them with their owners.
Home Again is your pets ticket home.
Click to view more information about Home Again
Diagnostic Imaging
The veterinarians and medical staff at the Animal Hospital of Sayreville may utilize x-ray and / or ultrasound technology for diagnosing your pet's medical condition.
X-Rays (Radiographs)
X-rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation, just like visible light. In a medical setting, x-rays are emitted by an x-ray machine, pass through the body and get detected by a sensitive film.
X-rays are very useful for diagnosing medical problems. If your veterinarian feels a lump or mass in your pet's abdomen, an x-ray can very often pinpoint the organ where the problem is occurring. A mass or foreign object in the stomach is often easily seen in an x-ray. If your pet is vomiting and an x-ray reveals irregular gas patterns and bunching of the small intestine, this could mean that your pet has eaten string or Christmas tree tinsel.
How X-Rays Are Performed
X-rays are performed in an area of the hospital specially designated for taking x-rays. The positioning of the animal, x-ray machine and film depend on the type of study and area of interest. Multiple individual views may be required for an accurate radiographic diagnosis.
In order to obtain quality x-rays, the animal needs to be perfectly still during the brief exposure time. Taking x-rays of an animal is different than for humans. You can ask a human to hold still. Pets are not as cooperative and often need sedation. When complete muscle relaxation is required (hip x-rays) or when the pet is uncomfortable (traumatic injury or bone fracture), short-acting general anesthesia may be required.
X-ray Interpretation
When your veterinarian looks at a radiograph (x-ray), he or she looks for different shades of dark and light. Air allows the most x-rays through the animal, resulting in a dark image. Fat is next, creating an image that appears lighter than air. Lighter still is fluid or soft tissue. Structures that are very dense (such as bone) block most of the photons, and appear white on developed film. Metal and contrast media (intravenous and oral contrast) block almost all the photons and appear bright white.
How Your Pet Will Feel
There is no discomfort from x-ray exposure.
Our modern x-ray equipment provides excellent diagnostic quality radiographic films. In addition, we perform many specialty procedures, including GI series and urinary bladder contrast studies. These special procedures are necessary for identifying difficult or chronic problems.
Ultrasound
If the x-ray gives an indication of a problem but not a definite diagnosis, an ultrasound examination may be necessary. Ultrasound is like sonar. High frequency sound waves are directed into the body and bounce back off of the organs. A computer image that allows you to see inside the organ is produced on a monitor screen. Ultrasound allows the veterinarian to see things that cannot be seen on x-rays.
In human medicine, ultrasound is often used to visualize the fetus in pregnant women. In veterinary medicine, important uses include imaging the abdominal organs, visualizing masses and tumors, and viewing heart and major blood vessels. Ultrasound can also be used to guide biopsy procedures.
Cardiac and abdominal ultrasound are most commonly used in veterinary medicine. Click for more information about these ultrasound procedures.
Surgical Services
Our hospital is well-equipped to perform most minor and major surgical procedures from spays and neuters to more complicated emergency, orthopedic and soft tissue surgeries.
Prior to surgery, each patient receives a thorough physical examination to identify any existing medical conditions that might endanger your pet's health. Because not all problems can be detected on examination, we require pre-anesthetic blood testing. These tests not only give us a more complete picture of your pet's health but also allow us to tailor an anesthetic regime that is specific for your pet.
We offer a wide variety of anesthetic protocols tailored to your individual pet's needs. We are equipped with state-of-the-art anesthetic machines offering safe inhalant anesthesia. We utilize extensive anesthetic monitoring devices including Doppler blood pressure, pulse oximetry and other cardiac monitoring devices.
Pain management is a part of our pre-operative, intra-operative and post-operative anesthetic and medical protocol. We urge you to discuss operative pain management options with our staff.
Orthopedic Surgery
Animal Hospital of Sayreville is fully equipped to perform most common orthopedic procedures including fracture repairs, joint surgery and bone biopsies. Our doctors have experience successfully repairing torn anterior cruciate ligaments, the most common knee injury in small animals, as well as patella luxations and getting our patients back to full function.
- Fracture Repair
- Joint Surgeries
- Bone biopsies
- Cruciate Surgeries
- Patella Luxations
Soft Tissue Surgery
Along with spays and neuters, the veterinarians at the Animal Hospital of Sayreville perform all types of intra abdominal surgery. Gastric surgery, intestinal surgery, abdominal tumor removal, reproductive surgery and bladder surgery are just a few of the soft tissue surgical procedures that we perform on a regular basis.
- Spay and Neuters
- GI Surgery
- Bladder Surgery
- Tumor Removal
- Reproductive Surgery
Continuous Intra operative Monitoring
All of our surgical patients are intubated with an endotracheal tube and maintained under general anesthesia with isoflourane or sevoflurane, safe inhalant anesthetic agents. This ensures that the doctor and surgical technician can hear (as well as watch) that the surgical patient is stable.
We also use a pulse oximeter to monitor heart rate and tissue oxygenation. Continuous inta-operative blood pressure and blood CO2 monitoring helps assure us that our patient is receiving exactly the right amount of anesthesia. Again, a loud alarm sounds if there is any deviation from normal.
Monitoring devices include:
- EKG
- Pulse Oximiter
- Blood pressure
- CO2 monitoring
All animals undergoing surgical procedures receive a complete physical examination, pre-anesthetic blood work and pain management medication.
Laboratory
Our extensive laboratory services provide diagnostic information that is critical to the sick or injured pet. With our in-house blood analyzer, we are able to get laboratory test results in as little as 20 minutes. Having test results this quickly allows us to begin your pets treatment almost immediately.
Our in-house laboratory is equipped to perform pre-anesthetic blood testing. This important procedure can greatly reduce the risks associated with anesthesia and surgery.
Click here to find out more about laboratory testing.
Dentistry
We have invested in state of the art dental equipment in order to provide comprehensive care for our patients.
- Complete oral exam under general anesthesia
- Removal of supra gingival/subgingival plaque and calculus with ultrasonic scaler and lavage
- Examine rout surfaces with dental explorer when complete if rough areas are detected, additional rout planning is done with a hand curette
- Perform gingival curettage remove necrotic tissue lining of periodontal pocket with hand instruments
- Lavage oral cavity with antimicrobial solution to remove dislodged debris
- Polish tooth surface to remove irregularities induced by leaning
- Fluoride treatment
- Ora-Vet sealant
Gingivitis is reversible following complete dental prophylaxis. We recommend dental prophylaxis every 3 months 2 years depending upon the amount of dental disease that is present and the individual patient.
Click to view more information about Dental Care and Prevention of Periodontal Disease
Home Care
We suggest brushing your pet's teeth 3 times weekly at minimum. The major goal is plaque removal at the gum margin. A finger brush, toothbrush, or foam tip applicator can be used. We recommend CET Toothpaste and the Ora-Vet Home Care system.
Weight Management Program
More then 33 million dogs and cats in the U.S. are over weight or obese. If left untreated, obesity can lead to many health problems, including:
- Heart Disease and breathing problems
- Arthritis and joint problems
- Diabetes Mellitus
General Causes of Weight Gain
- Decreased Activity pets that dont get enough exercise are more prone to gain weight
- Age senior pets are often less active, requiring fewer calories
- Over-eating pets fed high-caloric diets and treats tend to gain weight
- Neutering/Spaying
- Disease weight gain can be a result of medical disorder
Regular weight checks will help you and your veterinarians to monitor your pets weight and overall health. Allow us to determine your pets ideal weight, in order for a happier, healthier, and a more active lifestyle.