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LaboratorySurgeryElectrosurgery unit
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Facility, services and equipmentPlacerville Veterinary Clinic is a full-service animal hospital. Our objective is to provide excellent primary care for dogs and cats, acknowledging when our patients might be better served through the services of a specialist LaboratoryLab work that can be done accurately and economically in our own facility is done here. This includes commonly performed blood chemistries and blood counts. Less common lab tests and chemistry panels that can be done more efficiently by hundred thousand dollar computers, are sent to Idexx labs in Sacramento which serves Northern California including the bay area. We have two pick ups a day and ordinarily get results within a few hours. SurgeryAs in human hospitals, we have piped-in oxygen and nitrous oxide to use for anesthesia, and vacuum systems to exhaust anesthetic fumes out of the building. We use a surgery table and surgical fixtures similar to what you would find in a human hospital. In case of power failure, emergency lighting comes on automatically. We keep a generator ready for use in prolonged power outages. Although a few veterinary clinics continue to use less expensive inhalation anesthetic agents and equipment, we use isoflurane exclusively. There is one isoflurane anesthetic machine in the treatment room where patients are prepared for surgery and another in the surgery room. Each patient has a freshly sterilized surgery pack. Patients are monitored using a pulse oximeter which continuously measures the blood oxygen level. The pulse oximeter sounds an alarm if there is even a small change from normal levels, allowing the veterinarian to respond before serious problems develop Electrosurgery unitWe use a human eye, ear, nose and throat electrosurgery machine, which greatly speeds and simplifies some of our minor surgical procedures. UltrasoundOur ultrasound is a substantial investment of both time and money in the welfare of our patients and the future of our clinic. The technology and equipment are the same as you will find at a human hospital. Doppler blood pressure monitorMeasuring a pet's blood pressure, which is especially important in cats, is much more difficult than you might imagine. It is impossible to hear the pulse in a dog's arm. With Doppler technology (I don't quite know what that means either) the movement of blood beneath the skin can be detected. This means we can put a little bitty blood pressure cuff on your cat's tail, hear the pulse, and get blood pressure readings. IV pumpVeterinarians usually administer IV fluids by estimation . . . "let's see, that's a sixty pound dog and he is about 8% dehydrated, so this looks about right." . . . and try to see that the flow rate doesn't change too drastically as the dog moves around. This works ok, especially if the patient is large enough that accidentally getting the flow rate a little high for a few minutes doesn't really matter. For smaller patients and those with severe dehydration, we use a computer program that does some fancy mathematics for us, calculating accurately the pet's fluid requirements and telling us the number of drops per minute needed to meet those needs. Using an IV pump, which counts the number of drops per minute and makes the drip go faster or slower as needed, we can ensure that our patient gets the right volume of fluids at the correct flow rate. X- Ray equipmentWe use an x-ray machine designed for humans and high speed rare-earth screens to minimized xray exposure to our patients. Our automatic xray processing machine greatly speeds the whole process. Depending on our schedule, we can often take xrays at the time of your pet's initial visit and have a diagnosis before you walk out the door. Weight scalesWalk on digital scale for big dogs Electronic table scale for medium sized pets. Baby scale for smaller patients Digital postal scale for itty-bitty pets Isolation wardWhen hospital care is needed for pets with diseases that can be transmitted easily to other pets, they stay in our isolation ward. It has a separate heating system and air is continually vented directly outdoors, so air from the clinic moves into isolation, not the other way around. Personnel change outerwear on the way into the ward, removing it and disinfecting their hands and harms on the way out. BoardingWe don't do a lot of boarding, and don't have enough space to board large dogs unless they actually require professional attention while their owners are away. We charge a bit more than most boarding kennels. However, if you have a small or medium sized pet, and wish it to have a great deal of attention while you are gone, we are happy to oblige. Most of our regular boarders seem equally happy on their way into the hospital for boarding as on their way home afterwards.
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