Pay attention to their weight. If you notice that they're gaining weight, cut their food back and increase their exercise. If that doesn't work and you have a middle-aged to older pet, then we need to get them in for an exam and run some lab work. Various health issues like diabetes, low thyroid, or elevated cortisol levels can cause weight changes.

Any deviation from their normal behavior can be a signal that something is wrong. If your puppy is sleeping more than usual, doesn't want to eat, has any change in bowel movements or urination, or shows signs of pain like limping, that's a problem. Dogs and cats are very stoic, so we rely on these subtle cues that may mean something isn't right.

Yes. You need to look for behavioral changes, such as changes in appetite, sleeping patterns, and interactions with you and your family. If your dog is getting tired sooner during walks, sleeping more, waking you up in the middle of the night, or going to the bathroom more than normal, those could be signs of issues.

As far as food goes, as long as it has the AAFCO label on the side of the bag and it's labeled for all life stages, that should be a good diet. We definitely have a few diets that we recommend above others, but there are thousands of different pet foods. If you have questions, we can give you our list of recommended foods.

If the surgery is performed correctly, your cat shouldn't be in severe pain. We provide multimodal pain control to manage discomfort post-surgery. They are given pre-surgery medications, medications during surgery, post-op pain medications, and medications to go home. In certain cases, we can use laser therapy to help alleviate pain as well.

We communicate a lot with our clients through text messages and phone calls. We generally don't use email as it's not a fast enough mode of communication.

Yes, ideally, all our patients are intubated for surgery. Intubation means that we place a breathing tube down their trachea and inflate a cuff to make sure that we protect their airway and if they do regurgitate or vomit, nothing gets down into their lungs. We're protecting those lungs. If something does happen,we want to ensure we have control of the pet’s airway. If there is an intubation tube and we need to administer CPR, we know we are getting oxygen directly into the lungs.

Yes, your cat will be under anesthesia during the surgery. Unfortunately, we can't use local anesthetics on pets as we can't ask them to hold still.

You should ask about the length and date of the surgery, the drop-off time, how to decide the pick-up time, and the cost. It's also important to ask for a treatment plan to avoid surprises later on. If there's anything additional that you want done while your cat is under anesthesia, please make sure to communicate that to the technician checking you in in the morning. Keep your phone with you. You'll receive updates about when the patient has been given their pre-meds, when they're in prep, when they're moving into surgery, and when they're in recovery. If anything unexpected happens during the procedure, we need to be able to contact you quickly.