Services

Health Examinations	Health examinations are critical to ensuring that your cat will lead a long, quality life. Exams alert you to hidden medical conditions such as heart disease and dental problems. All healthy cats between the ages of 1 and 7 years of age should have an annual health examination. After 7 years, or earlier if your cat has been diagnosed with significant medical problems, they should be examined by a doctor at least every 6 months. Some cats with chronic illness should be examined more frequently. Our doctor will review your cat's history, discuss any signs of illness, including any behavior changes, and will complete a comprehensive physical examination. After completion of the exam, we may recommend additional procedures, such as blood tests or urinalysis, to answer questions we have about your cat's condition.
Medical Diagnostics	With our state-of-the-art I-STAT blood analyzer we can quickly assess your feline friend for many acute and life-threatening conditions, such as kidney failure and diabetes. Our electrocardiogram (ECG) machine, Doppler blood pressure instrument, endoscope, and X-ray machine are essential in managing the most complex medical and surgical cases. We're fortunate to have the support of Antech Laboratory, and their staff of veterinary clinical pathologists. In addition, we utilize other clinical pathology laboratories at several veterinary schools for special testing. We are also proud to offer the services of our visiting specialists. Veterinary Radiologists, Dr. Cynthia Nordberg and Dr. Lee Yanik perform our referral abdominal ultrasounds and Veterinary Cardiologist, Dr. Jerry Woodfield screens our patients with heart murmurs and helps us with the management of complex heart problems.
Surgery & Anesthesia	We perform general surgery, including spays, neuters, and declaws. We also perform abdominal exploratory and bladder surgeries, eye surgeries, skin reconstruction, and orthopedic procedures. When the needs of the patient are beyond our skill levels, we refer them to Dr. E. B. Okrasinski who is an amazingly talented Board-Certified veterinary surgeon. During anesthesia our patients are always monitored by their own surgical nurse and utilizing the latest equipment. We use only Sevoflurane, which is the highest quality and safest inhalent gas anesthetic available today. Every patient is covered with a bair-hugger blanket, which circulates warm air around them and keeps their body temperatures normal. This is a critical issue when dealing with small and sometimes fragile patients. Core body temperature, blood pressure, pulse oximetry, end-tidal CO2 and ECG (electrocardiogram) monitoring are standard operating procedure and are included in the cost of every procedure. The best care is standard and not an option to be chosen! We pride ourselves in our attention to pain prevention and we use injectable and transdermal narcotics as well as other methods of assuring that pain is minimized at all times.Throughout the medical professions, doctors are becoming more aware of the role of pain relief in speeding recovery from illness and surgery. At The Cat Doctor we consider pain control a critical part of overall patient comfort. We're aggressive in intervening to prevent and control pain through our choice of anesthetic agents, local pain blocks, and slow-release analgesic patches. We use pain-relief patches for declaw procedures, and for painful conditions such as traumatic injuries, and pancreatic and lower urinary tract diseases. We have seen dramatic responses, with patients resting more comfortably, eating better, and returning to normal health faster.
Dental Care	We offer a complete line of home dental care products to help you keep your cat's teeth healthy. Our trained staff are happy to demonstrate the use these products. If dental calculus and gingivitis develop, we'll recommend in-hospital dental cleaning. Because anesthesia is required for dental work, pre-anesthesia blood and urine testing are needed prior to dentistry. We perform ultrasonic dental scaling and a high-speed polishing of your cat's teeth. We then carefully examine and record any areas of concern and take digital dental x-rays as needed to further evaluate the teeth. Sometimes diseased teeth will require further treatment and we have all the needed equipment and training to provide the best care available. We monitor our patients with state-of-the-art anesthesia monitoring equipment and we provide pain relief medications, antibiotics, and fluid support as needed. See our client education sheet entitled Dental Care for Your Cat for more information.
Vaccinations	Vaccinations are an essential part of overall preventive health care for cats. We follow the recommendations of the American Association of Feline Practitioners in devising the ideal vaccination protocol for each individual cat, based on its life style, exposure to other cats and animals, age, and its general health. All cats are required to have a comprehensive doctor's examination prior to vaccination. See our Guide to Preventative Care for a Healthy Cat for more information.
Behavioral Consultation	A common cause of the surrender and euthanasia of pet cats is their inappropriate behavior such as house soiling, destructive scratching, and aggression. We can assist you with your selection of a kitten or cat and help you understand normal feline behavior and husbandry so that many of these problems can be avoided. We advise early intervention if problems arise. Sometimes what appear to be behavior problems are actually medical problems in disguise. Our approach to feline behavior problems begins with taking a complete behavior history, completing a comprehensive examination of your cat, and doing appropriate diagnostic testing. You should be aware that we set aside extra time for behavior consultations due to their complex nature.
Grooming	Your cat will feel light on his feet and much more comfortable after grooming. Our skilled veterinary technicians can comb out minor matting on your cat or create a handsome lion cut. They can trim your cat's nails and can demonstrate the procedure to you. Should your cat not allow grooming awake, our doctors can provide safe sedation to allow grooming.