Dermatology
At Avenue Animal Hospital, we provide thorough skin and coat evaluations with accompanying diagnostics such as skin scraping and cytology. This allows us to treat various conditions, such as environmental and flea allergies, skin infections, or mites. Treatment might include special diets, shampoos or similar products, and medical management with pharmaceuticals.
Cold Laser Therapy
Cold laser therapy is a noninvasive treatment option for a pet’s chronic pain and arthritis. With this method, you can avoid medication or surgery. The laser delivers specific light wavelengths to the painful area, stimulating blood flow and promoting healing within the cells. The laser also helps to improve discomfort by reducing the pain signals travelling to the brain. Our team will work with you and your pet to determine if cold laser therapy is the best option for your pet’s chronic pain.
Parasite Prevention
We recommend that your pet receives dewormings for intestinal parasites at regular intervals throughout the first year, then regular strategic dewormings as an adult pet. We test in-house with each exam but you also have the option of more extensive laboratory fecal testing. Dewormers will be recommended based on those results. You can be assured of the efficacy and safety of these medications when prescribed by your doctor specifically for your pet.
Monthly heartworm preventative is also recommended year-round. Most of these preventatives also have intestinal parasite protection. Our techincians and doctors can help in choosing the best options for your family and pet. Ask about the Merial guarantee on Heartgard and Frontline when purchased through us.
Some of the most common parasites are:
- Roundworms
- Hookworms
- Whipworms
- Tapeworms
- Heartworms
- Fleas and Ticks
- Coccidia
Senior Care
The health of your pet can change rapidly as he/she ages, and changes can go unnoticed. Early intervention can lead to a longer and healthier life for your pet. Pets can develop diseases common to senior humans, such as diabetes, heart disease, endocrine disease, and cancer. These diseases may go unnoticed in their early stages, so be sure to bring your in for physical health exams twice a year once they are seven years of age. We need to establish baseline blood work, identify existing health problems, monitor any behavioral changes with our cognitive dysfunction behavior form, and may need to adjust his/her diet and nutrition.
The doctor will evaluate the general health of your pet and monitor the physical effects of aging. The doctor may recommend routine blood testing, urinalysis, hormone testing, electrocardiograph (ECG), and x-rays.
Medications & Supplements
We can prescribe and supply medications and supplements for your pet. Whether they need pain relief medication or parasite prevention, we will make sure you can easily access the medication your pet needs to stay healthy!
Nutritional Counseling & Prescription Foods
If your pet is under or overweight, there may be an underlying health problem, or they may just be eating too much/not enough. Some pets need prescription foods because they have a sensitive stomach or a different healthcare need that cannot be fulfilled by regular pet food. We offer nutritional counseling to help you establish a healthy diet for your pet. We can also prescribe and provide prescription foods for your pet to ensure they are getting the nutrients they need.
Surgery
We are proud to offer an array of surgical services. We first provide your pet with a thorough pre-anesthetic evaluation including an exam and blood work. The blood work is required for pets 8 years and older, but highly recommended for all surgical patients.
Surgical procedures include:
- Spay/Neuter
- Bladder stone removal
- C-section
- Wound repair
- Growth/Mass removal
- Foreign body removal
- Feline declaws
- Surgical dental procedures
- Abdominal exploratory/intestinal resections
- Minor eye procedures
We work diligently to provide the best surgical services through quality instrumentation, continuing education, training on surgical procedures, and staff teamwork. We work closely with numerous specialists in the Chicago when dealing with those cases requiring advanced care.
Microchipping
Avenue Animal Hospital provides microchip implants (a device about the size of a grain of rice) injected under the loose skin between the shoulder blades to aid in the identification and recovery process should your pet become lost or stolen. A specialized scanner reads the coded chip. You can schedule most of these implants as an office visit, but ask our client care representative about scheduling this with your spay/neuter or dental cleaning appointment.
