When adopting a new pet, it’s important to make their first visit early to ensure there are no problems for your pet. At Vale Park Animal Hospital, the team works diligently to keep pets healthy and allow families to leave visits on a happy note.
"With early exam visits, we can assess the pet's health and any behavioral issues," said Dr. Kelly Rock, an associate veterinarian at Vale Park. "We also make sure the pet has started on their flea and tick prevention as well as their heartworm prevention. We check their vaccine status and make sure the pet is up to date on all vaccines."
There can be different procedures for these early pet visits that Vale Park orchestrates varying based on the age, history and type of pet. However, the hospital aims to follow a similar path for the start of each visit.
“One of the big things we do is a physical exam on pets,” Dr. Rock said. “We assess stool samples to ensure that the pet doesn’t have any intestinal parasites. Based on the age of the pet, we draw blood for a heartworm and tick disease panel. For some of our older dogs, we'll also take a look at blood samples and urine samples. The full physical exam helps us determine what additional testing a pet will need."
According to Dr. Rock, many pet owners receive the recommendation to schedule the first visit as soon as possible. Some clients elect to do so once their adoption date is set up.
With a new pet, it brings not only an increased level of responsibility but also questions for those who might have never been in this situation before. Vale Park strives to provide exceptional medical care while maintaining an approach that’s centered around each client and their pet.
“We take a look at what the pets already have first,” Dr. Rock said. “The owners might have important questions regarding the health of their pets and we want to determine the type and severity of the situation first."
Vale Park consists of more than six departments within the hospital. Even though it could take some time for an employee to start working with the team, everybody contributes with the mindset to make the hospital a place to find healthy pets and happy people.
"New staff at the clinic receive three months of training to learn the job of working at Vale Park Animal Hospital as well as all the important health information that clients will need," Dr. Rock said. "We want owners to have healthy pets that are a happy member of the family for as long as possible. We want owners to know that we are here to help them with all the needs of their pet, both medical and behavioral. By giving our staff this knowledge, we are able to make our clients and their pets an excellent experience with our clinic."
Along with providing assistance for early visits in the hospital, Vale Park also has instructional videos for dogs and cats available online to assist pet owners with general questions.
For more information on Vale Park Animal Hospital, you can visit its website here.
