Our Pet Hospital Provides You With a Variety of Additional Services

At Martindale Animal Clinic, our pet hospital offers you a wide variety of additional services.

Anesthesia and Patient Monitoring

Our routine protocol for anesthesia begins with a premedication that takes about 15 minutes to take effect and helps to:

Decrease anxiety
Dry up secretions at the back of the throat
Stabilize the heart

Your pet will then receive an induction agent that is given into the intravenous line which will render them unconscious. The patient is then intubated (a tube put down the windpipe) to make breathing easier and they are hooked up to oxygen.

The anesthetic monitoring is done by our Registered Veterinary Technicians and several machines. The machines monitor:

Blood pressure
Respiration
Body temperature
ECG output
Oxygen saturation in the red blood cells

The machines will give an early indication if there are any medications (given through the intravenous line) that are needed to improve the status of the patient.

The anesthetics we use are chosen for a number of reasons including:

How safe they are to use
Ability to control pain

We Offer Care for Rabbits and Ferrets at Our Pet Clinic

We are pleased to offer you veterinary services for rabbits and ferrets at our pet clinic.

Caring for Your Ferret

Your ferret should be examined yearly by a veterinarian. A stool sample for a parasite check should be submitted at the same time as the yearly check up. We vaccinate all ferrets for rabies and distemper.

Common problems associated with ferrets include:

Gastrointestinal disease (diarrhea)
Adrenal gland disease
Tumors of the panaceas that drop their blood sugar
Dental disease

Ferrets are inquisitive creatures by nature and frequently ingest objects they shouldn’t. Any loss of appetite or abnormal behavior should alert you to a potential problem and the need for veterinary consultation.

Caring for Your Rabbit

Rabbits are susceptible to a variety of conditions including:

Hairballs
Overgrown teeth
Intestinal disease
Reproductive disease
Middle ear infections
Bladder stones
Abscesses

If your rabbit stops eating, stops producing stool, has diarrhea, appears overly quiet or experiences discharge from the eyes and/or nose, you should call to have him or her examined. When warranted a house call may also be arranged.

It is very important to have your rabbit spayed or neutered. Eighty five percent (85%) of rabbits develop uterine cancers by the age of two if they are not spayed.

Unspayed rabbits can develop:

Breast cancer
Ovarian cysts
Endometriosis
Deadly uterine aneurysms

Unneutered male rabbits often become more aggressive and lose their toilet training habits

Diet is extremely important in rabbits. Their diets should consist of small amounts of:

Good quality pellets (that contain no seeds or dried fruit)
Long stemmed hay
About one cup per day of dark leafy green vegetables (ie. collards, kale, parsley, carrot tops and the dark lettuces)
A daily papaya enzyme is beneficial for digesting hair that may accumulate in the stomach

Treats, starches and fruit should be avoided as it causes the growth of toxin producing bacteria in the intestinal tract. Some research even suggests eliminating pellets from the diet and providing hay and dark leafy greens only.

Our Pet Hospital Provides Delivery Service!

Our pet hospital now offers delivery for your convenience. Call us today if you would like your pet’s medication or food delivered to your door.

Contact us if you would like more information about any of the additional services we offer at our pet hospital or to make an appointment with one of our veterinarians. We can also arrange house calls when warranted.

Hours Of Operation