Wellness Exams

Full comprehensive examinations done yearly helps us prevent and detect diseases and illnesses with your pet. We encourage you to help us ensure the well-being and long term health of your pet so they can have the best quality of life year in and year out.

Some subtle changes to watch out for are behavior, weight gain or loss, appetite change, habits in elimination and attitude

A full Wellness Exam includes:

• Abdomen: We palpate the abdomen to feel internal organs for any abnormalities or changes. This can help to aid in the diagnosis of tumors or other disorders.
• Ears: We gently look inside the ears to detect parasites (ear mites) and infections.
• Eyes: Using an ophthalmoscope we look at your pets eyes, which helps us detect any abnormal changes.
• Heart & Lungs: We listen to the heart and lungs using an instrument called a stethoscope.
• Lymph Nodes: We check your pets lymph nodes for tenderness, symmetry and change in size.
• Mouth: Dental disease is very common, we look for growths, lesions or any other abnormalties.
• Nervous System: Observing your pets behavior and checking the reflexes and reactions are necessary.
• Skin: We inspect the skin, looking for ectoparasites (fleas/ticks), lesions, tumors, and other abnormal growths that your pet mights have.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is one of the safest forms of medical treatment for humans and animals. A properly trained veterinarian should administer the treatment.

Some general conditions acupuncture can help treat:

• Skin Problems: Allergic dermatitis and lick granulomas)
• Respiratory problems: Feline asthma
• Musculoskeletal: Arthritis, traumatic nerve injury and intervertebral disk disease.
• Gastrointestinal problems: Diarrhea, inflammatory bowl disease

Surgical Services

Our patients and their care are the most important thing to us. Our compassionate, personalized and trained surgical team is designed to give your pet the safest, most comfortable experience.

• Pre-Surgical Labwork: Your pet may look healthy physically, but things can be happening internally that we are not aware of, therefore, we recommend scheduled labwork base on your pet’s health. Labwork can also tell us if there is infection, anemia, or any abnormal organ functions that cannot process anesthesia or that would change our anesthesia protocol with your pet.
• Post-Operative Recovery & Nursing Care: Our nurses carefully monitor your pet for any signs of post-anesthesia complications and help maintain a clean and comfortable recovery.
• Suture Removal: 10-14 days later a technician and a veterinarian will ensure that the surgical site has healed properly and remove the sutures at no charge.

Surgeries routinely performed at Cabrillo Pet Hospital:

• Spays and Neuters
• Abscess’s
• Aurical hematomas
• Cruciate ligament repair
• Cryptorchid neuter
• Cystomoy (bladder stone removal)
• Eye surgery
• Excise Mass’s (papillomas, lipomas, large Mass removals)
• Eye surgery (mass’s and entroption)
• Foreign body’s removal (Enterotomy)
• Enuclueation
• Femeral Head Ostectomy
• Keratectomy
• Mastectomy
• Nicitan Glands (cherry eye)
• Perineal Urethrostomy (PU Blocked cat surgery)
• Splenectomy and wound repairs.

What Do I Need to Know Before Surgery?

• No food after 8 pm the night before surgery water is OK.
• Please check with the doctor about giving any medications the morning of surgery
• Surgical admitting time is between 7:30am-9am
• A receptionist will call you the day before to review with you your drop-off time and pre surgical instructions
• Please allow 15-20 minutes during admitting for our Receptionists and Technicians to fill out the necessary forms and answer any questions you may have.

Anesthesia

A licensed RVT Veterinary Nurse is continually monitoring your pet while under anesthesia.

For example:

• Pain Injection: Controls pain before and after the procedure
• IV Catheter & IV Fluids: Ensures that we have access to your pet’s vital organs and ensures blood pressure stays high enough during anesthesia to provide sufficient blood supply to vital organs as well as prevent dehydration.
• Anesthesia: We use a combination of injectable anesthesia to induce and Isoflurane Gas and oxygen to maintain your pet under anesthesia.
• Surgical Monitoring: We monitor heart rate, respiration rates, pulse oxygen levels, and body temperature.

General Dentistry

Periodontal disease is very common, about 84% of dogs and cats suffer from some form of dental disease. The importance of proper dental care is critical for a pet’s good health. Oral infections if left untreated can damage internal organs if bacteria travels through the blood stream.

Things you may notice at home:

• Bad breath
• Tartar (yellow) buildup on the teeth
• Swollen, receding, or bleeding gums
• Changes in eating habits
• Excessive drooling
• Fractured or abscessed teeth

To prevent dental problems, the key is to use any pet oral products that you can incorporate into your daily routine. There are Gels, rinses, water additives or other dental chews and pet tooth paste.

Follow these guidelines for optimal oral care:

• Brush your pet’s teeth daily using pet toothpaste (not human)
• Rinse your pet’s mouth with Oral Hygiene Rinse to help maintain oral health and reduce plaque.
• Give a dental treat, such as C.E.T. Chews. When given daily, it will help break down plaque and tarter.

Based on the veterinarian’s dental examination findings, he or she will recommend a time frame to complete your pet’s dental cleaning. For example, dental prophylaxis, the removal the plaque and tartar from the teeth and also below the gum line. Using ultrasonic scaler followed by polishing each tooth.

Diagnostics Procedures

Should your doctor determine that lab tests would prove useful diagnostic tools, on-site laboratory is well-equipped with cutting-edge technologies that provide reliable, prompt results.

Diagnostic tests & Procedures:

• Abaxis VS2 (Blood Chemistry & Electrolyte Analysis)
• CPL Pancreatic test
• Feline Leukemia/FIV Testing
• Parvovirus Testing
• Heart worm Testing
• Fecal Flotation
• Urinalysis
• Skin and Ear Cytology
• In House Cytology
• Skin Scrapings (dermatology/allergies)
• Digital Radiographs
• Digital Dental Radiographs
• Ultrasound
• Blood Pressure reading
• Electrocardiogram EKG
• Diabetic monitoring Blood Glucose testing

Emergency Care

Cabrillo Pet Hospital is a full service pet hospital. We provide normal wellness visits and emergency care during normal business hours. Our new state-of-the-art clinic is equipped with a surgical suite and many sophisticated diagnostic capabilities. No appointment is required for emergency cases. If possible we ask that you call us on your way so we can be more prepared to treat your pet and triage the situation.

Emergencies will be given appropriate precedence based on the severity of the problem. If you have a regularly scheduled appointment, there may be a delay in seeing your doctor. Please, understand that we give all our patient’s the same courtesy.

Signs of a pet emergency:

• Eye injuries
• Excessive bleeding
• Difficulty breathing/ choking
• Pain
• Seizures
• Severe vomiting or diarrhea
• Severe wounds
• Trauma or fracture
• Toxin ingestion

After Hours Emergencies

All after-hours emergencies should be taken to:

VCA Emergency Animal Hospital & Referral Crt. 2317 Hotel Circle South, San Diego, CA, 92108 Tel: 619-299-2400

Permanent ID

Microchipping: is a small chip (size grain of rice) that is injected under the skin between the shoulder blades that contains a unique number when scanned.

Microchip numbers are used for travel but also more important for lost pets. If your pet gets lost and is taken to a shelter or veterinarians office, your pet will be scanned for a chip. Giving them the ability to then contact the company that will have all your information to contact you.

It is very important as a pet owner to know your microchip number and company and to keep them updated of any changes of address or telephone numbers.

Individualized Flea Control Programs

We offer the latest in Flea control and prevention. In Ocean beach and Pt loma we have a big problem with fleas ! So monthly prevention and home / environmental care is key.

What we sell:

• Advantix
• Advantage
• Nexgard
• Comfortis
• Trifexis
• Vectra
• Cheristin
• Flea buster powder

Dietary Counseling

Cabrillo Pet Hospital offers for your convenience, a specialty pet store that offers a wide range of products for specialty diets.

Our staff are knowledgeable about most major brands and can help you decide on which diets you pet needs following the veterinarians instructions.

Brands carried:

• Hills Prescription diets
• Royal Canine
• Purina Prescription diets

De-Worming

Intestinal parasites can be very dangerous for your pet and some are even zoonotic (which means transmitted to people). We treat Hook worm, Whip worms, Round worms, Coccidia, Giardia and Tape worms. Running yearly internal parasite screens also known as Fecal analysis is an important part of preventive medicine and can help catch internal parasite exposure. Most treatments for worms are given by oral medications.

Your pet can be exposed to worms as puppies from their mother, dog parks, standing water and any poop that they sniff on their daily walks.

We treat:

• Hook worm
• Whip worms
• Round worms
• Coccidia
• Giardia
• Tape worms

Behavioral Counseling

Unfortunately, not all are pets are perfect. Some have some behavior issues. We are here for you to help you navigate those issues and try to come up with the right solutions for you and your pet.

Issues we help with:

• Aggression
• Barking
• Dstructive chewing
• Food Guarding
• Nipping biting
• Separation anxiety
• Inappropriate urination

Bathing & Grooming

We are happy to have a new grooming building. Much thought went into providing your pet a comfortable and stress free grooming experience. We have comfortable suites for them to wait in.

We feel the Veterinarian approach to pet hygiene is one of the most important parts of your pets health. Therefore our spa process was developed to include monitoring the health of your pet’s skin, ears and teeth.

Boarding

Cabrillo Pet Hospital offers an exceptional boarding facility. Our staff provides loving attention to your pet while you are traveling.

We offer personalized activities such as:

• Park walks
• Play Pal programs
• TV entertainment
• Doggie day camps

Pharmacy

We have a full pharmacy to help with the convenience of filling your pets prescriptions. If you prefer prescriptions or food sent to your house we have an online pharmacy click here.

Pet Travel International and National Health Certificates

USDA Pet Health Certificates for International & Domestic Travel

Cabrillo Pet hospital has USDA certified veterinarians. We have helped hundreds of our clients and pet owners travel domestically and abroad. We are experts in helping pet owners navigate though complicated processes of travel or moving abroad. Please fill out the our Pre Appointment worksheet before your appointment and if you can email or fax it to us several days prior so we can start any paper work needed.

Download: Pre-Appointment Worksheet L

Domestic Travel Certificates

Many states require an up-to-date Certificate of Veterinary Inspection from a licensed, accredited veterinarian when traveling. Your pet must be examined by a veterinarian in order for a health certificate to be issued. This certificate indicates that your pet is healthy for travel and that he or she is not showing signs of disease. This certificate is required by most airlines in order for your pet to travel within the continental United States. We strongly recommend contacting your individual airline to understand their specific travel requirements. Oftentimes airlines require that your pet be examined by a veterinarian and a health certificate issued within 10 days of travel. Check with your airline to ensure that your paperwork will be in order.

If necessary we are able to add a certificate of acclimation to your pet’s travel papers. This certificate is written at the discretion of our veterinarians and is based upon our vet’s assessment of your pet’s health allowing him or her to travel above or below certain temperatures.

Certificate of acclimation: This certificate is written at the discretion of the veterinarians based upon the assessment of your pet’s health, allowing him or her to travel above or below certain temperatures.

International Travel Certificates

International pet health certificates are required when traveling with your pet outside of the United States. Many countries have their own pet health certificates and travel requirements. This process can be a long and confusing process for pet owners, but we are here to help you navigate through the paper work and requirements. Please note: some countries take months of preparations as they require vaccines and laboratory test that have to be done months prior.

ISO microchips and signed Rabies certificates are often also required. It is important as the pet owner to familiarize yourself with the international pet travel requirements specific to your destination.

If you have any questions, our staff at Cabrillo Pet Hospital are happy to help you navigate all the paper work.

Here is the official web site with USDA requirements and forms: Aphis Pet Travel

Allergies

The most common symptom associated with allergies is itching of the skin, either localized (one area) or generalized (all over the body). Another group of symptoms involves the respiratory system with coughing, sneezing, and/or wheezing. Sometimes, there may be runny discharge from eyes or nose. The third manifestation involves the digestive system, and the dog may vomit or have diarrhea.

We have helped hundreds of our clients and pet owners travel domestically and abroad. We are experts in helping pet owners navigate though complicated processes of travel or moving abroad.

There are at least five common types of allergy in the dog:

• Flea: Flea allergy is the exaggerated inflammatory response to a flea bite. Flea saliva is the allergen.
• Food: Food allergy can develop to almost any protein or carbohydrate component of food.
• Contact: It results from direct contact to allergens contained in flea collars or bedding, such as pyrethrins or wool.
• Inhalant: The main causative inhaled allergens are tree pollens, grass pollens, weed pollens, molds, mildew, and house dust mites.
• Bacterial Hypersensitivity

The manifestations of allergies can be confused with other disorders, or concurrent with them. Therefore, do not attempt to diagnose your dog without professional assistance. Be prepared for your pet to receive a full diagnostic work up by your veterinarian.