Dental Care
We’re BIG on Dental Care. Dogs and Cats get their permanent teeth by about 7 months. More than 75% of pets over 3 years old have dental problems due mainly to plaque and tartar accumulation causing inflamed gums or gingivitis. You will recognise this as a ‘smelly breath’ caused by bacterial growth on the gums.
Eventually this damages the gum and tooth attachments resulting in bone loss and loosening of the teeth. This stage is called Periodontal Disease. Inflamed and infected gums can cause systemic health problems too. Bacteria can get into the blood stream and move to other parts like the kidneys and heart for example. So, as a preventative measure, brushing is well worthwhile especially in small breed dogs and cats. Ask our nurses for a demonstration and start brushing when the pet is young. If you think there’s a bad smell from the mouth get your pet examined and treated.
Lifelong Care Programme
Baby Stage Pups and Kittens: Clinical exam, vaccinations, microchips, internal and external parasite treatment, discuss nutrition and insurance cover. For puppy behaviour and training we run a course of 5 classes at our School for Puppies.
Adolescent to Young Adults (6 months – 15 months): Clinical Exam at 6 months including weight check, oral examination, skin and coat assessment and neutering advice. At 15 months, health examination and 1st booster vaccinations, parasite control advice, discuss weight, nutrition and exercise.
Mature Adults (Age 15 months – 8 years): Annual Health Examination including internal and external parasite control, weight check, oral examination, skin and coat assessment, nutrition discussion and booster vaccinations.
Senior Adults (8 years old and upwards): Annual Health Examination, booster vaccinations including internal and external parasite control, weight check and nutrition discussion. When pets reach 8 years, they are considered to be Seniors from a medical and nutritional perspective and we recommend a Senior Pet Health Examination including a blood screen at this stage. The objective is to screen for any sub clinical health issues and deal with them early.
Sick Pets
Diagnosis is the key to successful outcomes. If your pet gets sick and is not responding as expected, we want to get a diagnosis as early as we can so that treatment can be more specific and successful. Diagnosis is very much a team effort and includes all of the following:
- Experienced vets working as a team doing thorough clinical examinations
- Vets who keep up their clinical skills to the best standards through ongoing training
- Good caring veterinary nurses who monitor and observe patients very thoroughly looking for any helpful clues
- Laboratory Tests – using our own internal and also external labs to test blood, urine, tissues, fluids, tumours, etc
- Imaging - Radiology – xrays including contrast radiography
- Ultrasound – Thoracic, Cardiac, Abdominal, Pregnancy, Ophthalmic
- Endoscopy – getting inside the body but in a non-invasive way
Diagnosis is especially important where tumours are concerned because some of these growths can be very malignant and must be managed in very specific ways to get the best outcome. It is also important to establish if the tumours have spread before any treatment is started.
Referrals
At Ark Vets Galway, we accept referrals for orthopaedic surgery, spinal surgery and internal medicine investigations from other veterinary practices all over Ireland.
Learn more about referrals here.