Services : Small Animal

Established in 1990, we are a veterinary practice for small animals. We are locally owned and proud to be part of our local community. Building a lasting and trusting relationship with our clients is of great importance to us. Because our patients deserve our best, we are committed to staying current with advancements in veterinary medicine. We believe in thorough client education to assist our clients with the appropriate pet care choices. We have 4 doctors and over 20 support staff dedicated to the care of both our small and large animal patients.

Preventative Care
Preventative care, including annual physical exams, dietary management, immunizations, dental and parasite control programs, is a very important part of your pet’s health. Remember your pet’s lifespan is shorter than ours and their health can change significantly over a 12 month period.

• Vaccinations and Preventative Medicine
  Due to many recent discoveries and innovations in veterinary medicine your pet can be protected against most major infectious diseases. Today, many immunizations and preventative treatments are available that did not exist a decade ago. The staff at County Clinic can assist you in deciding which preventative measures are necessary for our pet.
• Puppy and Kitten Examinations and Vaccinations
  Young puppies and kittens should receive their physical examination and first set of vaccinations at six weeks of age. Additional exams and vaccinations are given every three weeks until they are twelve to sixteen weeks old. Thereafter regular booster vaccinations should be given. During our pet’s initial examinations you will also receive behavioral advice, nutritional counseling, and recommendations on disease prevention. This advice can go a long way towards preventing problems in your pet’s adult life.
• Senior Pet Care and Geriatric Pet Evaluations
  In recent years great strides have been made in recognizing the special needs and requirements of our “senior citizen” dogs and cats. Our veterinarians are well equipped with the knowledge and diagnostic tools to identify age related problems and formulate realistic strategies to allow pets to live longer and healthier lives. If your dog is seven to nine years of age or older (depending on breed) or your cat is eight years of age or older it is now in its geriatric years. We will be happy to discuss with you our recommendation for geriatric testing and geriatric diets.

Laboratory and Diagnostic Procedures
Our fully equipped laboratory is able to perform blood chemistry screens, complete blood counts, as well as routine tests for internal parasites, heartworm disease and contagious diseases such as feline leukemia, brucellosis and feline immunodeficiency virus. X-rays, ultrasound scans of the heart and abdominal organs, are also used to aid in the diagnosis of our pets’ disease.

Our extensive laboratory services provide information that is critical to the sick or injured pet. We have access both in-house and at our centralized reference laboratory to extensive diagnostic testing allowing animals to receive appropriate treatment in a timely manner.

Surgical Procedures
Countryside Veterinary Hospital takes special pride in our surgical expertise. We perform a wide variety of surgeries ranging from routine spay and neuter operations to more complicated orthopedic and soft tissue procedures. We are now using Laser for our declaws and other soft tissue surgery. Laser surgery causes less swelling, less pain, and a quicker recovery time.

Surgery is scheduled Monday through Friday in our State-of-the-art surgical suite using the safest anesthetics available as well as cardiac and respiration monitoring equipment.

For pets that will be anesthetized during their stay with us, please withhold food and water after 10:00 pm the night before. Admissions are scheduled for drop off first thing in the morning, where you will meet with a technician. Please allow for 30 minutes for check in procedures.

All pets that undergo anesthesia should receive pre-anesthetic blood work.

The top 4 reasons to test your pet before anesthesia:

1. You deserve peace of mind. Testing can significantly reduce medical risk and ensure your pet’s health and safety.
2. Pets can’t tell us when they don’t feel well. A healthy-appearing pet may be hiding symptoms of a disease or ailment. For example, a pet can lose up to 75% of kidney function before showing any visible signs of illness. Testing helps us evaluate your pet’s health up front, so we can avoid problems related to anesthesia.
3. Testing can reduce the risk and consequences. If pre-anesthetic results are within normal ranges, we can proceed with confidence, knowing that anesthetic risk is minimized. On the other hand, if results are not within the normal ranges, we can alter the anesthetic procedure, or take other precautions to safeguard your pet’s health and reduce the risk of potential complications.
4. Testing can help protect your pet’s future health. These tests provide baseline levels for your pet and become part of his or her medical record for future references.

Overnight Patients
All pet’s that undergo a surgical procedure such as spay, neuter, declaw or abdominal exploration can stay overnight at the hospital. This will ensure that they are kept quite while they recover and also will allow the veterinarian to examine the pet and incision site before going home.

We do not have overnight staffing, but ensure our patients are comfortable with a blanket, pain medication (when necessary), food and water. If our patients are critical and need 24 hour observation, we will assist you in transferring them to the Animal Emergency Care Facility in Huntsville. For most of our surgery patients, your pet is better to rest in quiet to assist in recovery.

For ill patients that are hospitalized after hours on Saturday and Sunday, we do come in twice daily to ensure that treatments can be preformed, medications can be given and fluid therapy can be monitored.

We certainly allow our clients to visit their pets during extended stays. We ask that these visits be short in duration and limited to normal business hours. Unfortunately, some pets react poorly to reoccurring absence of owners. Therefore, coming and going frequently may be as stressful as it is comforting.

Pain Management
Pain management is an important part of our pre-operative, intra-operative and post-operative anesthetic and medical protocol. All surgical patients including those undergoing procedures such as ovariohysterectomy or castrations receive pain control medications. We urge you to discuss operative pain management options with our staff.

Dental Services and Teeth Cleaning
Proper dental care is as important for your pet as it is for you. In addition to preventing bad breath and periodontal disease it can also prevent infection from spreading through the blood stream to our pet’s liver, kidneys and heart. This bacterial shower can lead to permanent organ damage affecting your pet’s overall health.

Our hospital is equipped to provide dental care information and services to insure your pet receives proper oral health care. We also carry an assortment of dental home care products.

Reduce your Pet’s Dental Plaque and Tartar Formation at Home with OraVet.

• Dental Services that we provide include (but are not limited to):
• Dental Prophylactic Cleaning
• Polishing
• Dental Radiology (X-rays)
• Extractions
• Periodontal Care/Surgery
• Puppy/Kitten Dental Evaluations
• Home Dental Care Instruction and Products.

Pharmacy
We stock an extensive drug inventory so medications can be dispensed before leaving the clinic.

Behavior Counseling
Behavioral problems are the number one reason pets are taken to animal shelters. If you are experiencing a behavioral problem with your pet we offer examinations, counseling, behavior modification programs, and sometimes drug therapy, to help resolve the issue.

Nutrition
We carry Purina diets for your kitten, puppy, adult or geriatric pet. Purina prescription diets are available for pets with food allergies, obesity, kidney, heart or urinary diseases.

Pocket Pets
Our Veterinarians are available to assist you with information and care for your “pocket pets”. Our knowledgeable staff can provide nutritional and husbandry advice for your furry loved ones including ferrets, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, rats and mice.

Pet Identification and Microchip System
A microchip is a tiny electronic device, about the size and shape of a grain of rice. It is implanted beneath a pet’s skin between the shoulder blades, and stays there for the pet’s entire life. This procedure is as easy and painless as a vaccination.

Each microchip has a unique number. This number, along with information about the owner and pet are added to a national pet registry. Most veterinary hospital’s and animal shelters have electronic scanners for detecting and reading these implanted microchips. If a lost pet is found and a microchip is scanned the registry is called and the owner can be contacted.

Bereavement Counseling
We understand how very difficult it is to lose a beloved pet. Our compassionate staff is here to help during your bereavement.