Small Animal FAQs

We do not offer payment plans. We do accept Care Credit at our office, which offers convenient payment options. Please visit our Payment Options page for more information or to apply.

We do go by appointments only to minimize your wait time. An appointment is typically 30 minutes in duration. This allows the doctor ample time to perform an exam and answer any questions.

We do require a 24-hour notice for any prescription refill in the clinic. If you are requesting a refill from our online pharmacy, Covetrus, we require you to go online and request your medication. The online pharmacy will send us a refill or prescription request to have the doctor approve. Once approved, your medication will be shipped to you by the online pharmacy.

We follow the American Heartworm Society recommendations for yearly heartworm prevention and testing. No medication is 100% effective and drug failure can occur. We use the IDEXX 4DX Plus™ heartworm test which also screens for exposure to tick-borne diseases such as Lyme, Anaplasmosis, and Ehrlichia.

The doctor normally gives the rabies shot at 16 weeks of age.

We recommend starting vaccinations at 8 weeks of age. We give them in a series 3-4 weeks apart so that your pet will have good immunity.

The series of vaccinations helps ensure a high level of protective immunity in a young pet. This is the age when they are most susceptible to many contagious diseases. Once they are grown they will need boosters of their vaccinations yearly but will not need to repeat the series.

Parvovirus is a highly contagious viral disease among young dogs. It causes vomiting and bloody diarrhea. Because we now have a vaccine against this deadly disease, we recommend protecting your dog when it has all of its vaccinations. Like the flu vaccine for people, it does not mean the pet cannot have the disease. However, if the pet does catch the disease it may be less severe.

Some parasites, such as tapeworms, are visible to the naked eye, but others must be detected under the microscope. If you will bring in a stool specimen, we will be glad to examine it microscopically and send it to Idexx to see if your pet has worms.

Heartworms are parasites that live in the animal’s heart or large blood vessels in the lungs. To test for Heartworms, we draw a small blood sample and run a special test. Heartworms can be prevented easily using a medication, but we have to be sure your pet test negative before beginning the prevention.

The gestation period for the female dog is about 62 to 63 days.