Also, dogs and cats can have painful conditions of which the owner isn’t even aware. Severe dental disease, infected ears, and arthritis–problems that many owners may not know exist–are things we commonly diagnose during routine physical exams. They can make your pet miserable and affect his or her quality of life. Once discovered, most of these problems are fairly easy to solve or control.

Heartworm tests and heartworm prevention are a necessary part of every annual visit. Besides dogs, cats need to be put on heartworm prevention. Dogs and cats that go outdoors also need a stool sample check. Fecal exams will uncover parasitic infections, which can cause loose stools, loss of appetite and can theoretically infect us.

We will also talk to you about flea and tick control, and we can customize a preventive program for your pet to help avoid the misery (for your dog or cat and you) of a flea or tick infestation.

We know you don’t want to neglect your pet’s good health. If he or she hasn’t been examined within the past year, call today for an appointment.

We use the most effective and safe anesthetic possible. The anesthetic gas we use is called Sevoflurane. It is exhaled rather than metabolized, which allows your pet to wake up quickly and helps prevent “hangover”. We monitor your pet’s vital signs during anesthesia (see below). The respiratory rate, heart rate, electrocardiogram, oxygen in the blood, CO2, blood pressure, and temperature are monitored using several different kinds of instruments. This helps us adjust the level of anesthesia so that we don’t give too little or too much.

After surgery, your pet will receive an injection for pain and/or will be sent home with pain medication. Dogs and cats will recover more quickly if they are happy and comfortable.

During surgery, our patients are connected to a VMED Surgical Monitor. This device continuously reads and records the animal’s heart rate, electrocardiogram, respiratory rate, serum oxygen level, CO2 levels at both inspiration and expiration, blood pressure, and temperature. It transmits the data to a flat-screen display using Bluetooth technology so the surgeon can see everything at a glance. This allows us to monitor and adjust the level of anesthesia based on the procedure and the patient’s condition.

The photo below shows the actual readout from an anesthetized patient.

Why use a laser?

• A laser uses a beam of light to cut through tissues. This reduces pain by sealing nerve endings.
• The beam of light also seals blood vessels and lymphatics, which can make surgery virtually bloodless and minimize swelling after surgery.
• Because the beam of light is so concentrated, the dissection of tissues can be more precise. This helps remove the unhealthy tissue and aids in preserving the surrounding healthy tissue.
• The laser beam can actually kill bacteria and tumor cells in the surgical field.

All of these factors decrease swelling, pain, and bleeding, which means your pet will return to his normal activities more quickly.

Most surgical procedures can now be done using the laser. Here are just some examples:

• Spaying and castrating dogs and cats
• Declawing cats
• Eyelid surgery
• Skin growth removal
• Tumors in the mouth
• Invasive tumors
• Bladder and other abdominal surgery
• Removing extra eyelashes
• Treating lick granulomas
• Mastectomy

The scalpel is not obsolete by any means, but we prefer to use the laser for many procedures. Using the laser can decrease surgery time over using a scalpel. Since surgery is priced by the time it takes, it actually doesn’t cost you more if we use the laser. That’s because we spend less time controlling bleeding.

Dr. Sneed has a particular interest in small exotic mammals and has over a decade of experience treating them.

A big part of keeping exotic pets healthy is providing proper housing and nutrition. We are experienced keeping these animals ourselves and have good advice and written handouts on proper care. An important step during each first visit is going over in detail the diet and housing of each pet and recommending improvements whenever possible.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What species of exotics do you treat? Are there any species you don’t treat?

A: We treat small mammals such as rabbits, ferrets, guinea pigs, and rats.

Animals we don’t treat include reptiles, amphibians, birds, hedgehogs, chinchillas, hamsters, mice, sugar gliders, and anything considered illegal to own in Illinois. This list includes wild mammals native to Illinois (raccoons, opossums, skunks and so on), bears, big cats (lions, tigers, ocelots, bobcats), wild members of the dog family (foxes, wolves, coyotes), and venomous reptiles. Animals we don’t treat because they require extensive special equipment and facilities to handle and house include domestic pigs, monkeys, fish, and invertebrates.

Q: What can you do for my exotic pet?

A: We always start with a patient history. We need to know where the patient came from, how it is housed, and what it is fed. We offer advice on recommended housing and diets. We then perform a thorough physical examination and discuss our findings. Often we will recommend blood tests, parasite checks, bacterial cultures, or radiographs (X-rays) to make a more definitive diagnosis. Treatment options, potential benefits, and estimated costs are discussed before the actual treatment is begun. We offer surgery and hospitalization when indicated.

Q: Is it worth it to treat my pet?

A: We believe that every life has value. We recognize that all pets have an emotional value to the owner far beyond the purchase price. We treat every pet, no matter how tiny, common, or inexpensive as if it were our own. We keep pets like these ourselves and know what it feels like when one of our little buddies gets sick. At the same time, we never pressure a client to accept more aggressive treatment than they are comfortable with.

Q: What if the disease is serious or life threatening?

A: We can’t cure every patient, but our goal always is to prevent suffering. In some cases, we can offer palliative treatment to make sick patients as comfortable as possible for as long as possible. When that is no longer an option, we can provide humane euthanasia.

Q: What if I have questions?

A: Please call or contact us, and we will tell you as much as we can over the phone. Some questions are complex, and we may refer you to a book, society, or web page for detailed information. Remember that it is usually impossible to make a diagnosis over the phone. It surprises us how often we expect one disease from the described symptoms, only to find something completely unexpected when we see the patient.

The veterinarian begins the procedure with a thorough oral examination. After this, the veterinary technician removes the tartar using both hand scaling and an ultrasonic cleaner just like the one your human dental technician uses. The gingival pockets (the space between each tooth and the surrounding gum tissue) are then probed, to see if there are any deep pockets. These pockets are scraped using a tiny curette and then flushed. Deep pockets may be filled with an antibiotic gel to help them heal. Finally, the teeth are polished using a high-speed polisher.

Dental patients do not need a deep plane of anesthesia for this procedure. Using local anesthesia for extractions helps us keep the patient comfortable under light anesthesia. We use the safest anesthetic available, a gas called Sevoflurane. Even very old patients tolerate this procedure quite well. We do recommend a pre-op blood panel to evaluate each patient’s health. Your pet can go home the same day, and is alert and ready to greet you when you pick him or her up!

To check out dental before and after photos, click here.
To rate your pet’s dental health, click here.

We do a lot of cytology–looking at stained cells under the microscope. This can tell us what is causing your pet’s ear infection or if that lump on their back needs to be removed. Obtaining the sample may be as simple as using a Q-tip to swab an ear or doing a fine needle aspirate of a lump. Sometimes surgery is required to obtain a sample, and a surgical biopsy is performed. These tissues for histopathology are sent to a board-certified pathologist who examines them and sends us a complete report.

We also do other laboratory tests, such as ECGs, urinalysis, fecal examinations, skin scrapings to look for parasites, bacterial culture and antibiotic sensitivity testing, fungal culture, testing the mineral content of bladder stones, and more.