- Dental CareAs a mom of two small boys and a veterinarian, I find it fitting that kids and animals share a month of dental awareness. I think Pediatric Dentists and Veterinarians share a few similarities. First, their patients care nothing for their own dental health. This means that someone else has to take full responsibility for caring for those teeth. Your dog isn’t any more likely to schedule their routine dental care than your kid, and both kids and pets aren’t going to remind you to brush their teeth. Second, fear plays a very big role in dental care. Dogs and cats, like kids, don’t understand why they are being asked to let a stranger open their mouths and look at their teeth. I actually think veterinarians have the upper hand here, because we get to fully anesthetize all of our patients to do routine dental cleaning! Finally, brushing teeth isn’t something that comes naturally. It takes training and gets better with time and practice (starting young doesn’t hurt either!)
- VaccinationIf your pet has not been seen for vaccinations within the past year, please note this on the reason for your visit and wait in your car until our staff come out. We will make sure there is not an infectious disease threat before having you or your pet enter the building.
- Behavioral CounselingHere at Highland Pet Hospital, we offer a wide range of medical services for the health care of our patients, including examinations, outpatient care, inpatient hospitalization for our patients who need more intensive care, intravenous fluid therapy, allergy treatments, behavioral counseling, oral and injectible medications and therapeutic prescription diet recommendations.
- Nutritional CounselingWeight Gain- Pets are not immune to the holiday weight gain that we humans experience. It happens really fast! Sometimes this happens from overindulging in treats. Sometimes it happens because all of the family comes home for a little while, and suddenly everyone thinks it’s his or her job to feed the cat (and the cat certainly isn’t protesting!)
- Comprehensive ExaminationBased on our many years as a professional small animal veterinary practice, we generally recommend the following procedures with introductory and Annual Wellness exams.
- Parasites Treatment and ControlAt Highland we recommend using preventatives to protect your pet from harmful parasites. For most dogs we recommend using Heartgard for heartworm and intestinal parasite prevention year round. We also recommend using Nexgard for flea and tick prevention at least through the first hard frost in the fall and then starting it back up again in the spring. For the best prevention of flea and ticks though, Nexgard should be used year round. For our feline friends, Revolution is a product that can protect against heartworms, ear mites, fleas, and many intestinal parasites. These products are to be used every 30 days.
- Pain ManagementDr. Burks loves a challenging medical case! She is particularly interested in the long term management of chronic illness and embraces a multi-faceted approach to pain management. She very much enjoys the relationships she has made over the years with people and their furry family members. Dr. Burks is very excited to rejoin the Highland team, as she worked with Dr. Ekdale and Niehm prior to entering veterinary school.
- Diarrhea Treatment
- Skin Condition and Allergy TreatmentUse the pet’s own food for a treat! This is an especially important tip for pets with food allergies. Put the “treats” in a special container to make it a special and fun thing! This is helpful for humans AND pets. If your kids love to give the dog or cat treats, decorate a treat container together and fill it with the pet’s own food to make it “special”.
- Intestinal Foreign Object RemovalDuring a dental cleaning your dog or cat will have full mouth dental x-rays. If he or she needs to have any teeth extracted, a nerve block will be administered to reduce pain during the procedure. Necessary teeth are extracted based on signs of periodontal disease, root exposure, bone loss around the tooth, radiographic bone loss, signs of infection, or formation of resorptive lesions. Extraction sites are sutured closed with absorbable suture. Remaining teeth are scaled and polished. During this entire procedure a veterinarian, a certified veterinary technician, and a veterinary assistant are present and overseeing the procedure! These procedures can actually take quite a long time! Aside from orthopedic procedures, dental procedures are the longest surgery we do! Longer even than emergency surgeries like c-sections and foreign body removal which cost nearly twice as much! The pets go home with medications for pain, and antibiotics where necessary. A follow up recheck is scheduled to check for healing and to form a long term plan for dental care.
- Obesity Treatment
- Periodontal Disease TreatmentCavities just aren’t all that common in dogs. The most common dental disease of dogs is periodontal disease. Periodontal disease is an infection and inflammation of the gingiva (gum) and bone around the tooth. It causes mobility of the teeth, recession of the gums, odor, and loss of teeth. One of the most common oral diseases of cats is tooth resorption. Tooth resorption is a process in which the dentin of the tooth is destroyed. This leads to a painful area on the crown of the tooth. While we often refer to these lesions as cavities for the sake of simplicity, they form through a different process than the cavities humans get. The treatment for dental disease in both species is an anesthetized oral exam, cleaning (including below the gumline) and extraction of diseased teeth.
- Veterinary SurgeryWhether it’s a routine checkup or emergency surgery, you shouldn’t have to worry about how to get the best medical care for the pet you love. That’s why we’re pleased to offer CareCredit®, North America’s leading client payment program. CareCredit lets you say “yes” to the best treatment for your pet immediately, and pay for it over time with low monthly payments that fit easily into your budget.
- Declawing
- Laboratory ServicesWe provide diagnostic services including blood tests, urine tests, fecal examinations for parasites, bacteriology, x-rays, electrocardiograms and blood pressure measurement. In addition, we use the referral services of Antech Diagnostics and the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Illinois.
- X-Ray
- Dental RadiologyPets have teeth, too! Our dental procedures range from extraction of retained baby teeth in puppies to periodontal therapy in senior pets. We also perform routine dental procedures for pets of all ages. Proper dental care greatly improves oral health and prevents bad breath. Our dental procedures, or as we call them “Oral Assessment, Treatment, and Preventative Plans” ( Oral ATP s) include extensive dental care. We perform dental x-rays to assess the roots of the teeth and detect any decay we can’t see above the surface, clean each tooth thoroughly, extract any teeth that need to be extracted, polish and apply sealants.
- Senior Pet CareJust like women over the age of 40 require more frequent mammograms, and men need regular prostrate exams, our senior pets also need special attention as well. Since each cat or dog year can equal 5-7 human years, this means that your 6 or 7 year old dog may actually be 49, and then when they turn 8 they are now the human equivalent of 56. Can you imagine going 7 years without getting a mammogram? Prevention is key. By seeing our senior patients every 6 months we are trying to screen them more frequently for health issues. The sooner we find small health problems in our pets, the sooner we can hopefully catch disease processes at early stages before a larger problem has been created.