Beach Park Animal Clinic - veterinarian Tampa FL
Personal Veterinary Care - Beach Park Animal Clinic - veterinarian Tampa FL
by Alex Weber, DVM on 05/17/13At Beach Park Animal Clinic, a veterinary clinic in Tampa FL, we believe it is important to establish a solid relationship with our clients as well as their pets. By seeing the same veterinarian all the time, and getting to know our patients personalities, we are able to pick up on minor changes that may have been missed by a new vet. This is one of the most important reasons to establish with a regular veterinarian, just like having your primary doctor who gets to know you over the years.
Dog Parks - a veterinarian's view
by Alex Weber, DVM on 05/06/13Many of our clients at Beach Park Animal Clinic, a veterinarian in Tampa FL, take their dogs to dog parks on a regular basis. This provides a good opportunity for excersise and socialization. Just like any situation, it is very important to take some precautions when visiting these parks. Our veterinary clinic in Tampa recommends following these rules in order to have a safe, fun time.
- Make sure your dog feels comfortable at the park.
- Check out the condition of the park. Any holes in the fences that pet's can escape through, are pet owners picking up after their pet's, is there a place to cool off to prevent getting overheated, etc.
- Check out the other dogs there before letting your pet run freely. If your not comfortable with some of the animals there, don't let your pet interact with them.
- Be up to date on all of your dogs vaccinations and preventatives. If you are not sure about your dog's vaccination / preventative status call your veterinarian and they can help sort this out.
- Bring plenty of water.
- Watch out for overheating. This can happen very quickly so make sure your pet isn't overdoing it. Rest, shade and water are very important.
- Pick up after your pet. This will help prevent possible spread of intestinal parasites as well as keep the park clean.
Regular check ups for your cat
by Alex Weber, DVM on 04/28/13We at Beach Park Animal Clinic, a vet clinic in Tampa FL, are often asked "why should I bring my cat in since they are indoors and aren't sick." The short and simple answer is: cat's are very good at hiding illness.
Low Cost Spay / Neuter Clinics
by Alex Weber, DVM on 04/23/13At Beach Park Animal Clinic, a vet clinic in Tampa FL, we believe in providing focused personalized attention to each of our patients. There are many things that we do to deliver this during our surgical procedures, especially our "routine" spays and neuters. These procedures, that the general public has been desensitized to, are still surgeries requiring proper patient preparation (exam, blood work), and focused, personal attention during surgery and recovery. Remember, a spay is actually a ovariohysterectomy (open abdominal surgery completely removing the uterus and ovaries) which human patients spend a few nights in the hospital from! Due to a lot of economic factors lately, there has been a rise in low cost, high volume spay / neuter clinics in the Tampa area with the loss of the personalized touch and proper patient care. We all have limited money to spend and many people believe that using one of these clinics is going to be a way to save a little money and don't understand why their regular veterinarian charges a little more than the low cost clinic. One major factor for the decreased expense at these clinics is their funding. Many donations and grants are used to finance / subsidize their services for lower income people with pets. This is a great use of the funds, but few of the low cost / subsidized clinics do any means testing to verify that the clients fall into this category. (This seems to be a misuse of their funding and should be addressed so their donors are aware of it.) Below are some of the other things that factor in to why you may pay a little more at your vet but it is very much worth it.
- Familiarity with your pet. Your vet builds a relationship with you and your pet, just like you do with your personal M.D. By observations over a few visits, many veterinarians can get a sense of any mild problems and are able to correct them before anesthesia for surgery or adjust protocols to handle them appropriately.
- Thorough Pre-anesthetic lab-work. A very important aspect of any surgery requiring anesthesia. This is a way of monitoring how your pet's internal organs can process the anesthesia. It is a great way of protecting your pet. We at Beach Park Animal Clinic have identified many abnormalities prior to anesthesia that may have become problematic during the procedures allowing us to make things as safe as possible. This is one of the things that often gets left out at the low cost, high volume clinics and can put your pet at risk.
- Cardiopulmonary monitoring. Monitoring your pet's blood pressure, body temperature, Oxygen saturation, and heart rate throughout anesthesia allows our veterinarians to react to any changes in these parameters before it causes any harm to your pet.
- Focused, personalized attention. Many of the low cost clinics are also high volume. This does not allow the proper attention to be payed to each animal during each step of the procedure. We do not schedule more than 1 or 2 surgeries per day so we can stay focused on your pet. Once again, familiarity with your pet is very important. A lot of the personnel at the spay / neuter clinics are volunteers and not there on a regular basis therefore don't know your pet like the staff at your regular veterinarian. Having a volunteer staff also is factor for some of the reduction of cost for those facilities.
- Follow up. We believe that communication with our clients is extremely important, especially after surgery. Our clients are able to contact our veterinarians at anytime for questions or concerns if necessary. This is one of the most important things that you should get when you get established with a regular veterinarian.
Summer time preparations for your pet - Beach Park Animal Clinic, vet in Tampa FL
by Alex Weber, DVM on 04/19/13We at Beach Park Animal Clinic, a veterinary hospital in Tampa FL, enjoy spending time outdoors whenever the weather permits. The same is true for our furry companions. Being in such a warm and humid climate, it is very important to make sure our pets do not get overheated. Unlike us, they can not sweat to help control their body temperatures and are more prone to heat stroke. Therefore it is extremely important to keep them cool and hydrated during our hot and humid summer months. Some of the ideas that our vets recommend are as follows:
- Plan long walks or strenuous exercise for either early morning or later in the evening when the temperatures are cooler.
- Make sure not to leave them in a car without the air conditioner on (even for short amounts of time) since they are more sensitive to the heat.
- Have plenty of water available to them at all times.
- If your dog has a long hair-coat, getting a summer haircut may help keep them cooler.
