Health Maintenance Services
Swift Creek Animal Hospital is a full-service animal hospital staffed by skilled, compassionate and caring individuals. Beyond our comprehensive nose-to-tail wellness examinations, we offer a full range of services, treatment for eye disorders, allergy and dermatology treatment, cancer treatment, nutrition counseling and prescription diets, behavior counseling, and more.
Whether your pet is a playful puppy or kitten, active adult dog or cat, or a senior pet entering his or her golden years, we use a personalized approach to high-quality pet care based on your pet's lifestyle and your expectations. Call us today to find out more about all the ways we can help keep your pet healthy and strengthen the bond you share.
Internal Medicine
Despite the best preventive care, your pet can become sick. When this happens, it is stressful for you and your pet, especially because you can't simply ask what's wrong. It's times like these when you especially need an attentive, compassionate veterinarian you can trust to accurately diagnose and effectively treat your pet.
While the focus of our medical practice at Swift Creek Animal Hospital is preventive care, an important part of our services is the diagnosis and non-surgical treatment of diseases that can affect your pet's internal organs and body systems. All our veterinarians are knowledgeable and have considerable experience diagnosing and treating a range of complex internal medicine cases, including kidney, heart, respiratory, immune-mediated and endocrine diseases.
Glaucoma Prevention
Glaucoma is a common condition in which the fluid pressure inside the eye increases, resulting in damage to the optic nerve, followed by loss of vision and blindness. There are two types of glaucoma: Primary or chronic glaucoma is hereditary or develops as your pet ages and secondary or acute glaucoma develops as the result of an injury or illness. Because secondary glaucoma can progress rapidly, it is considered an emergency situation and requires immediate medical attention.
Symptoms of glaucoma to look for include:
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Our veterinarians recommend your pet receives a routine glaucoma exam as part of his or her regular wellness care. The exam is not only an effective screening measure for chronic and acute glaucoma, it can also help set a baseline measurement of your pet's normal intraocular pressure (IOP). Establishing an IOP baseline is important because the normal measurement can vary between species, breeds and even individual pets.
This is a noninvasive, simple procedure that should not cause your pet any pain or discomfort. We apply a mild anesthetic eye-drop to ensure your pet is comfortable during the exam.
Dermatology & Allergies
If left untreated, allergy-related and dermatological conditions can fester and become serious health concerns for your pet. Therefore it is important to identify the first signs and symptoms of allergies and dermatological conditions. These include:
- Scratching, licking, chewing or biting the skin, feet and ears
- Red, raised, scaly areas on the skin
- Bumps, crusts or pus filled vesicles on the skin
- Increased skin pigmentation
- Thickened skin
- Loss of hair
- Salivary staining (brown color)
- Head shaking
These problems can indicate a serious dermatological condition or allergic reaction to allergens such as fleas, pollen, dust and various foods. If you notice any of these issues, it is important you bring your pet in for an evaluation. If left untreated, they can become serious medical concerns.
For your pet's allergies and other skin problems, we take the time to explain the condition, how to prevent future occurrences and the proper method of home treatment. Should your pet need more specialized care, we will refer you to a Board Certified Dermatologist.
Your Pet's Nutrition
Proper nutrition and a balanced diet, along with fresh, clean water, is an essential ingredient for your pet's overall good health. As your pet's caregiver, nutrition is the most significant health variable you control.
Feeding your pet the highest-quality food you can afford is one of the best ways you can contribute to his or her health and vitality. Although the differences between premium and budget varieties may not be apparent on their nutrition labels, they are in the quality of the ingredients. Both may contain the same amount of protein but be very different when it comes to digestibility and nutritional value. Making the best nutritional choices for your dog or cat not only effects general health, but will improve the quality and length of your pet's life.
To support your efforts, your veterinarian at Swift Creek Animal Hospital performs a thorough body condition evaluation during every physical examination and offer weight loss counseling if needed. We also provide you with important information on proper serving size, nutrient needs, and feeding strategies for your individual pet and help you navigate pet food claims so you can make the most informed choices.
Prescription Diets
Some pets have serious nutritional challenges or chronic conditions that benefit from a special diet. When that's the case, we may recommend a special prescription diet. Making this change can have a significant positive impact on your pet's overall health and well-being.
Prescription diets benefit medical conditions such as liver disease, bladder and kidney disease, digestive problems, renal failure, food allergies, diabetes and more. Swift Creek Animal Hospital carries Royal Canin, Purina and Science Diet prescription foods and high-quality nutritional products. We can also order Iams products for you.
Behavior Counseling
Even with the right training and lots of attention and love, your dog or cat can develop bad habits or unwanted behaviors. Please don't make the mistake of believing you and your family must live with these problems or worse, consider giving up your pet.
Swift Creek Animal Hospital offers behavior counseling for many of your pet's problems, including inappropriate urination or defecation, urine marking, aggression, nipping and biting, separation anxiety, inappropriate chewing and barking, digging, chewing, and introduction of new pets into the household.
Our assessment begins with your pet's clinical history and a thorough medical examination. Before beginning behavior therapy, any diagnosed medical problems will be treated using both conventional and alternative treatments. If our team cannot help with your pet's behavior problem, especially in a case involving extreme aggression, we can refer you to an animal behavior specialist.
Reproductive Medicine
Whether you're an experienced breeder or breeding your pet for the first time, Swift Creek Animal Hospital can help manage your pet's pregnancy with pre-natal care and fetal ultrasounds through birth and post-natal care. We also perform planned Caesarian sections.
Holistic Medical Services
Holistic (or integrative veterinary) medicine is the examination and diagnosis of an animal that considers all aspects of the animal's life, and employs all the practitioner's senses. While we do not provide acupuncture or other holistic modalities at our animal hospital, we believe they can be valuable complements to traditional medicine, and are happy to offer a referral to other practicing veterinarians and are enthusiastic to co-manage cases with holistic providers.
Treating Your Pet's Cancer
If your pet develops cancer, our experienced veterinarians consider many factors when advising the most appropriate course of treatment. The standard treatment for almost all pet cancers is surgical removal of the mass. Benign (non-invasive, non-spreading) cancers in an accessible, well-defined area are almost always permanently cured by surgical removal. Surgery is also the best treatment for the majority of malignant cancers that have not spread.
We can also provide your pet with chemotherapy if our veterinarians determine it is the best course of action. Chemotherapy for pets has been designed to improve their quality of life and maximize their life spans. Although much less serious than the effects felt by humans, some pets experience side effects such as anemia, reduced resistance to infection, and gastrointestinal upset. Our medical team will help you monitor your pet for these conditions.
Before making the decision on the appropriate course of action for your pet, please discuss all of the relevant factors with our medical team so you can make an informed choice. Our understanding of cancer is increasing all the time, leading to better treatment approaches, quality of life and improved outcomes.
Referrals
As a part of our commitment to provide your pet with access to the best care possible, we refer to the following area specialty centers when needed: Dogwood Veterinary Emergency & Specialty Center, Veterinary Referral and Critical Care, The Veterinary Emergency & Specialty Center, Animal Eye Care of Richmond and the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. Specialty care is available in many areas including neurology, cardiology, dermatology, oncology, internal medicine and surgery.
If you would like more information about the veterinary health maintenance services Swift Creek Animal Hospital offers for your pet or to schedule an appointment at our animal hospital, please call (804) 744-7222.