Health Care Services

Lost Pet Microchip ID

It is not unusual for a dog or cat to find its way outdoors without its owner to explore the world and then find its way home for food and warmth. However, all too often a pet that runs off fails to return home. This is a terrible situation and we have all seen the sad lost-pet notices posted on telephone poles and elsewhere.

This begs the question: How would you find your lost pet if it lost its tag, the tag was unreadable, or if you were traveling?

The sad fact is that getting lost is the number one cause of pet death. A broad range of studies have shown that more than 10 million pets get lost each year and about 90 percent will not be returned to their owners unless they have some form of permanent lost pet identification.

This is why Wilmington Animal Hospital views microchip lost pet IDs as a standard of care for all of our canine patients and many of our outdoor feline patients. With a microchip, your pet can be identified quickly and easily by animal control officers, shelters and veterinary hospitals. Microchips are safe, unalterable and permanent identification for pets.

Wilmington Animal Hospital uses Datamars microchip system. Each pet's unique identification code can be read anywhere in the world. In addition, Datamars uses an online platform called PetLink. PetLink provides veterinarians, shelters, and pet owners a user-friendly online service to report animals that have been lost or found, as well as an online search engine, Petmaxx, that allows users to search for lost animals in 31 national databases worldwide.

Senior Care

Congratulations! By taking the time to learn more about the special needs of your senior pet, you have taken the first step toward providing the best care for your friend in its golden years.

As with humans, pets in their senior years—those about six years of age and older (depending on species and breed)—begin to go through a gradual reduction of their physical capabilities. However, this process can be slowed and managed through proper veterinary care, thereby offering your beloved pet an extended period of vitality and good health. Additionally, preventive care tailored to your pet's age, lifestyle, risk factors and other elements can help prevent common diseases or detect them at early and easily treatable stages.

There is also an important role for you to play as your pet's primary caregiver. While you cannot control age-related decline, you can influence your pet's activity level, living conditions, access to quality senior veterinary care, and daily nutrition. With your veterinarian's help, you can manage these factors in order to prolong your pet's good health, vitality, and increase his or her well-being, even as his or her pace slows a bit.

However, the best time to begin your pet's senior care program and recognize the need for a little extra TLC is well before age-related conditions begin to set in.

Senior Care at Wilmington Animal Hospital

Wilmington Animal Hospital recommends a senior care program tailored to your pet's age, physical condition, breed, and lifestyle with the goal of identifying age-related health issues before they become difficult and expensive to treat.

In particular, your senior pet's program should include at least one annual exam—some may require two per year—and laboratory testing, which includes a complete blood count, urinalysis, full blood chemistry screen, and thyroid testing.

As a service to our clients we offer twice-per-year comprehensive Senior Pet Wellness specials.

Internal Medicine

If your pet becomes ill or you suspect there may be something wrong with him or her, we cover all areas of internal medicine, including endocrinology (e.g. diabetes and related diseases), allergy consultations, gastrointestinal disease, dermatology, kidney and liver failure, oncology, and others.

Our medical expertise is enhanced by access to advanced diagnostic equipment, our in-house lab and pharmacy, as well as a range of holistic and complementary therapies. We also maintain close relationships with area specialists in order to provide greater treatment options for advanced or complicated cases.

In all, we are able to provide superior medical care in order to cure or manage a wide range of medical conditions.

Proper nutrition is also an important component to maintaining good health as well as resolving medical issues. For this reason all pets receive nutritional counseling from their veterinarian. Many conditions that cats get are directly related to what they have been eating. We work with clients to improve their cats' diets. Dogs can benefit from this as well. We infrequently prescribe prescription diets but rely more on home-cooked or high-quality raw or home-prepared diets.

For more, please go to our nutrition page.

Cancer Treatments

A diagnosis of cancer can be frightening. However, most pets respond extremely well to cancer treatments, which can include tumor removal surgery and chemotherapy. Additionally, pets do not experience the same side effects from chemotherapy that humans do, and often go on to lead healthy lives long after their cancer is in remission.

Wilmington Animal Hospital offers a range of primary and complementary cancer therapies. Although we refer patients to a local oncologist for traditional chemotherapy, we do offer adjuctive alternative treatments that include homeopathy, herbal, ozone, nutritional, and IV vitamin C therapy.

For more, please see our Holistic Medicine page.

Class IV Laser Therapy

To further reduce pain and promote healing after surgery, an injury or to manage a range of chronic and acute conditions, Wilmington Animal Hospital offers Class IV laser therapy. Laser therapy is an FDA cleared medical treatment that uses low-level lasers to stimulate the natural healing capabilities of the body's cells. This form of laser therapy is effective at promoting healing on a cellular level as well as decreasing inflammation after surgery or an injury. It can help reduce inflammation in areas of the body affected by chronic illnesses such as arthritis or acute conditions such as back pain from disc problems. It can also be used to increase joint mobility in ACL tears and hip arthritis, and relieve the aches and pains common to geriatric pets.

The laser creates a deep penetrating light that induces the body to release endorphins and stimulates the injured cells to heal at a faster rate. This tool enables us to offer our clients an alternative to pharmaceuticals that is capable of producing immediate results without any dangerous side effects.

What is involved in this therapy?

All patients will need an evaluation by one of our veterinarians. Diagnostic testing, such as X-rays, might be indicated.

Our technicians perform the treatments. You may be present in the room, and we will provide you with special protective glasses.

Each treatment lasts from 2-8 minutes, depending on the condition, size of the patient, and other factors. For bilateral conditions, like hip dysplasia on both sides, the treatment time is doubled.

For chronic conditions such as arthritis, three treatments are performed the first week, two the second week, and one the third week. Some patients require more treatments to reach full healing. After their improvement has been maximized, we will determine a maintenance protocol, like once a month, for your pet.

Are there any side effects?

Most animals experience immediate pain relief to some degree. Some pets will get antsy from standing still, while others might truly be reacting to the stimulation. Local heat is expected at the laser light site, and we closely monitor, especially in dark-coated, animals, for too much heat production.

After the therapy is completed, most pets feel great. Some will go home and sleep for a while, which could be a way of resting from finally experiencing pain relief, or could be directly related to the relaxing effect of the endorphins that are released. Rarely, a pet may be more uncomfortable, which could indicate too much healing occurring at once. In this case, the treatment can be continued but at lower settings or shorter durations for the next few treatments. There is no concern for harming the joints with this therapy.

What is the success rate?

• Approximately 25 percent of patients will show a response after the first treatment.
• 50 percent of patients will show a response after the second treatment.
• 95 percent will show a response after the third through fifth treatment.

To schedule your pet's Class IV laser therapy, call us: 302-762-2694.