“Wow!” is the response we have received on multiple occasions when our furry friends’ owners find out the full extent of our services. It’s an expression that we love to hear, because we continually put a lot of time and effort into ensuring our services are superb. Above all we pride ourselves on taking care of people too, by explaining everything thoroughly and recognising that pets are family.
On Site Laboratory
At Petcare Vets we have multiple in house testing facilities meaning we can have results on the same day or next day. These include on the spot ear swab results (five minutes), full biochemistry and electrolytes (same or next day), blood film examination, packed cell volume, urine testing including microscopic examination (same day/next day), skin scrape examinations (five minutes). This means we can treat critically ill patients very well with constant monitoring while they are hospitalised and on fluids as well as carrying out routine pre anaesthetic blood testing on the same day as the procedure.
Ear Swab and Skin Swab Examination
For all ear problems an on the spot ear swab is carried out before dispensing medication. Ear medication can be extremely expensive and ear issues have a high chance of reoccurring, this simple quick and cheap test will mean we are using the most effective treatment for your dogs ear condition, maximising the chances of a quick response and minimising their exposure to unnecessary treatments as well as minimising your time and money spent on treatment. It can be repeated at the end of the treatment course to assess response and ensure it is safe to stop treatment. Some skin treatments/investigations will also benefit from this test but it will be done on a case by case basis.
Surgical Theatre and Recovery Suite
Petcare Vets Charlesland has a dedicated surgical theatre which is used for sterile procedures and xrays only. This means that the room is protected from over use and contamination and as such is “Super Clean” mimimising risks of post operative infections. Strict aseptic techniques are used for all surgeries and special theatre shoes and clothing are used within the theatre. We do not use prophylactic (preventative) antibiotics for surgeries on healthy animals such as neutering or lump removals, because we do not need to.
Post anaesthesia animals are recovered to a sitting up position within theatre and on 100% oxygen and full monitoring in place. They are then placed on a comfortable warm bed for further monitoring within the “Prep” Room. This means that they are in the same room as staff members constantly for at least one hour post surgery, rather than being left in a distant kennels. This is the same for all animals.
Small Kennelling Facitlities – We are a small practice and see this as a strength rather than a weakness. We have a limited number of kennels and beds in our Prep Room, meaning that it is impossible for your pet to be recovering in a noisy busy kennelling area. At the same time we have facilities for keeping sick animals and healthy animals in separate areas to minimise risk of healthy animals in for routine procedures getting sick.
Imaging and Other Facilities
As well as having dental x-ray, we have a full body x-ray generator and processor (same day results), and on hand portable ultrasound machine and portable Ecg. In addition there is a brand new Auroscope, and Opthalmoscope available for use in consult and under anaesthesia (checking ears and eyes).
Any facilities we currently do not have we have the ability to refer to the nearest specialist facilities, including Primrose Hill (Opthamology and Acupuncture), the Canine Centre (Hydrotherapy for Dogs), Nutgrove Vets (Cardiology), University College Dublin (General Surgery and Medicine/Oncology), as well has having facilities for in house Orthopaedic Specialist attend the clinic and review X-rays on request.