Introduction

We believe dentistry and dental maintenance is very important for your pet in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Brushing their teeth is highly recommended on a daily basis. We understand with the many other things you are busy doing or at times the pets personality makes brushing daily very difficult. At these times, we do offer an oral solution you can squirt on their teeth to help to prevent tartar. Even with brushing and/or using oral solutions, there are times when your pet may need to have a dental performed. This is a full anesthetic procedure. We would anesthetize your pet and then using an ultrasonic scaler, clean off the tartar on their teeth. At this time we can see if there are gingival pockets forming. For some of those we may be able to use a dental prophylaxis applied in the pocket of the gum to help to strengthen that area and not incur extractions. We do, however, at times, find some teeth need to be removed. We will call you and explain why the tooth would be removed prior to pulling the tooth. Once the teeth are cleaned and all teeth are looking healthy, we apply a product, similar to what dentists use in pediatric dentistry, Ora-vet, which is a gel that helps to keep tartar build up from forming. We also then would recommend you use the home kit, which is started two weeks after the dental and applied once a week. This too will help to keep tartar from forming too quickly and can extend the time between dental cleanings. Please talk with our doctors if you are concerned regarding your pets teeth.

We believe in spaying or neutering your pet. For male puppies when your new puppy is approaching 6 months of age, it is an ideal time to neuter him. Neutering at 6 months of age will help prevent many annoying behavioral problems and reduce his risk of many medical problems as well. A brief list of likely benefits follows:

• Eliminates annoying sexual behavior such as lifting his leg to “mark” his territory both outdoors and in the house and mounting legs and furniture.
• Eliminates roaming in search of females. If allowed to run loose he may fight with other males, be injured, killed by automobiles or get lost. If confined, he may become hyperactive, aggressive or vicious.
• Reduces the overpopulation problem with pets. The Phoenix metropolitan area ranks third in the nation for euthanasia of unwanted pets.
• Prostate infection and cancer, dangerous and commonly seen problems of older unaltered males, are eliminated, as is testicle cancer.
• Reduces the chance of your dog later biting or being aggressive towards other dogs and humans. Statistics show that most dog bites are inflicted by unaltered males.
• Less roaming and sniffing behavior means less external and internal parasite infestations.
• Neutering your pet will not change his personality except to make him a calmer, more devoted pet. The surgery will not cause him to become fat and lazy. Any older, less active pet may experience weight gain. This can be easily controlled by proper diet and exercise.

For female puppies, when your new puppy is approaching 6 months of age, it is an ideal time to have her spayed. Spaying her at 6 months of age can provide the following benefits:

• Eliminates unwanted heats and the inconvenience of protecting her from male dogs.
• Eliminates the messy discharge and odor associated with estrus.
• If spayed prior to the first heat, spaying greatly reduces the risk of mammary cancer.
• Protects your dog against the risk of ovarian and uterine cancer and uterine infection (pyometra).
• Helps reduce the overpopulation problem with pets.

There is no scientific or other evidence that your dog will in any way benefit from having a heat and/or litter before being spayed. Although hormonal changes after the surgery may temporarily increase her appetite, weight gain can be controlled by adjusting the type and amount of food given along with a good exercise plan.

We highly recommend your pet be on heartworm preventative. Heartworm infection in Arizona is on the rise. We at Estrella Animal Hospital have seen more cases of heartworm in the past few years. The treatment for heartworm positive dogs is very risky. The prevention for heartworm is very simple. We use Heartgard Plus, manufactured by Merial. It is a once a month chewable and usually dogs think it is a treat and are always asking for more. We require any pet over 6 months of age that has not been on preventative to have a heartworm test prior to starting the medication. The Heartworm Association then recommends having your pet retested once every two years. Merial also requires this as a minimum, (in other states with higher incidence of heartworm, testing is required yearly) in case there is a break through, their guarantee will be upheld.

Heartworm in cats is also on the rise. Although at this time there is no test for cats to check to see if they are positive, research shows cats can and do get heartworm. There is a once a month prevention for cats also. Please ask anyone on our staff regarding heartworm prevention.

We highly recommend you have your pet microchipped for identification purposes if they should ever become lost. Collars and identification tags are important, however, they can be removed or break off, leaving no way for anyone to know where they belong. A microchip can be implanted into your pet and there is a registry open 24 hours a day for anyone who scans the chip to call to locate the owner. Humane Societies, Animal Control, and almost every veterinarian will scan a stray/lost dog for a microchip. We have had numerous pets recovered by their owners because they were microchipped. Please ask us regarding microchipping.

Feline Leukemia and Feline Infectious Virus are very prevalent in kittens and cats. They are highly contagious diseases that can be spread from mother to kitten, from housemate cat to housemate cat, from outside stray cats to house cats. The disease is spread through saliva. Not only cat bites, but preening, drooling, sneezing also spreads the disease. Please, whenever you are bringing a new cat into your home, have them tested prior to introducing them to your other cats. Many cats can be symptom free and be a carrier. Once your cat has been tested negative, please have them vaccinated for Feline Leukemia. There is not a vaccine at this time for Feline Infectious Virus. Be aware of their surroundings. Keeping cats indoors is proven to extend their lives.

Not only do humans suffer from allergies, our pets also can have allergies. They can run from grass/pollens to food to anything in the environment. We treat many pets with allergies and skin conditions caused by allergies. Some breeds are more susceptible to allergies than others. Our doctors are very experienced with many of the known causes for allergies and can help your pet to alleviate their symptoms. There are times when our doctors feel there needs to be more done for allergy suffering pets. At that time, they will refer you to a Board Certified Dermatologist for further testing and treatment.

We are a general practitioner hospital. Capable of treating many ailments your pet can present with. There are times, however, when further diagnostics, treatments, or surgeries need to be performed.

At these times, we have a large number of specialists in our Valley who can perform these services for your pets. We will be happy to refer you to a specialist for matters that need to have further workups.