Services

Because of the shorter lifespan of our pets, we stress the importance of wellness examinations. Thorough check-ups and preventive care can help alleviate serious health problems. We offer a wide range of veterinary services to keep your companions feeling their best:

Diagnostic Services:  Our clinic laboratory is equipped to provide in-house diagnostic services to care for your pet's complete health care needs. This includes the ability to obtain a complete blood count (CBC), a comprehensive blood panel and a urinalysis, each being completed only minutes after the sample is obtained.

Dentistry:  Our dental services include ultrasonic cleaning and polishing, digital dental x-rays, scaling, tooth extractions, root planing, crowns and minor oral surgery. Because your pets can't tell you when they are suffering from severe dental pain, we emphasize preventative dental care and offer state-of-the-art dentistry. Remember how painful that bad tooth was for you? A cat with a hole in its tooth can be in tremendous pain even if it it not showing signs; cats instinctually hide any signs of illness or pain. Early gum disease can be treated and prevent future tooth loss especially in your toy breed dog. For these reasons the physical exam very important for dogs and cats. Our physical exam will include as thorough of an oral exam as your pet will allow. Veterinary dentistry has made great strides in the last 15 years; your pet's teeth can now have root canal therapy and restorations as good as those done to your own teeth. It is amazing how relieved your pet can be after a painful tooth is removed or treated. Many clients have told us of noticeable positive changes in their pet's personality following our dental procedures.

Dr. Gaskin is an active member of the American Veterinary Dental Society.

Anesthesia:  We utilize the safest available anesthetics to provide an extra margin of safety, especially for our older or high-risk patients. Using the most modern equipment, the patient's vital signs are monitored during all anesthetic procedures. MSVS does not use hallucinogenic drugs for anesthesia nor do our surgical patients need to be hospitalized overnight. Your pet will be ready to go home the same day of surgery and with the same level of alertness as when you brought him/her in. Our anesthesia of choice is isoflurane; we do not use ketamine for any standard surgical procedures. In addition, local anesthetic is always used for pain management.

Vaccinations: State-of-the-art vaccinations are used as indicated. The vaccines we use for cats that are the most advanced technology available in the world; even more advanced then those available for dogs or humans! Your pet's protection will be customized based on a careful risk assessment; we feel very strongly about the importance of not over-vaccinating.

Internal medicine consults: We offer in-hospital referrals to an internal medicine specialist who performs ultrasounds, endoscopic procedures and helps us with the diagnosis of more complicated cases.

Radiology Services:  Our on-site, digital x-ray equipment provides high quality radiographs to aid in the quick diagnosis of many disorders. Digital dental x-rays are also standard. Digital x-rays benefit you with processing times under one minute versus the 20-minute wait to develop traditional film x-rays. Since digital radiography is not fixed, it has the added benefit of being able to zoom in, lighten, darken and sharpen the image in order to provide the doctor with additional diagnostic information.

Senior Wellness Services:  Along with our diagnostic services, we also provide electrocardiography, blood pressure and glaucoma testing on-site as well as consultations with board-certified specialists.

Laboratory:  Our in-house laboratory facilities provide for serum chemistry, hematology, serology, urinalysis and parasite/microbe testing. We also utilize commercial veterinary laboratories for specialized diagnostics and consultations.

Permanent identification: We do microchip implantation using only ISO standardized microchips.  So your pet can be identified no matter where on the globe you take them.

Pharmacy:  We maintain a complete inventory of pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, shampoos, flea and tick control products and heartworm preventatives to meet the needs of your pet.

Individualized Flea, Tick and Worm Control Programs:  We develop programs for the specific needs of your pet and your own particular environmental situation. We will review with you the best ways to control parasites in your house, in your yard and on your pet.

Dietary Counseling:  We will provide guidance regarding your pet's nutritional needs for each life stage, including dietary requirements for growth, weight maintenance, performance, weight loss and senior care.

Behavioral Counseling:  We provide advice regarding the correction of problems such as excessive barking, chewing, spraying, scratching, digging, inappropriate elimination and aggression.

Emergency Care:  Affiliated Emergency Vet Service provides emergency care in numerous locations in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Please click this link to their site: http://www.aevs.com/locations.cfm. Please contact them for care outside our office hours.