Health Maintenance Services
Vaccines
Vaccinations are not only safe and effective; they are an important and fundamental piece of your pet’s preventative healthcare plan. Advances in veterinary immunology have made diseases that once were relatively common and fatal to pets easily preventable. There are also vaccines—such as for rabies and other zoonotic diseases—that help protect your family from very dangerous and difficult to treat illnesses. Additionally, with each passing year, veterinary science is improving on existent vaccines as well as increasing our ability to prevent an even wider array of contagious diseases.
Hillside Animal Hospital believes in protecting our clients’ pets with the safest, most effective vaccines available. We also believe that each pet’s unique health status and lifestyle risks must be taken into account when making recommendations not only about which vaccines are appropriate, but also how frequently they need to be administered. At each pet’s annual exam our veterinarians will help the client determine the level of risk their pet faces from disease and which diseases justify immunization.
We truly believe that our balanced approach to vaccines is the best means to protect your pet from dangerous diseases as well as the risk of a bad reaction to a vaccine.
Senior Care
Dogs and cats in their senior years may be a bit less active, but they are very loving and satisfying companions. They also require additional veterinary care in order to keep them healthy and detect early signs of treatable disease. This is all the more true since their metabolism slows and they are more susceptible to a variety of cancers.
We still recommend yearly wellness exams, vaccination boosters, regular parasite screenings, grooming, Heartworm prevention, and dental exams. However, after your pet reaches seven years of age—a little younger for some and older for some others—we also recommend a geriatric exam. These exams are tailored to your pet’s age and condition and should include a Senior Wellness Laboratory Panel, which screens blood and urine for common diseases such as certain anemia, cancers, diabetes, diseases that affect the kidneys, and others.
When performed at the time of your pet's wellness examination the senior wellness laboratory panel provides a baseline to judge future changes in your pet's health and may find underlying problems that can't be detected from the outside. For more information about what these tests look for and their value, click on “great values and special offers” below.
See more great values and special offers for Senior Pet Care.
Lost Pet Microchip ID
How would you find your pet if he or she ever got lost?
Each year, millions of pets go missing and many don't make it back home. Microchipping your pet is a safe, simple and effective way to prevent this tragedy. About the size of a grain of rice, identification microchips are encoded with your pet’s vital information and implanted beneath your pet’s skin, usually between the shoulder blades.
Veterinary hospitals and animal shelters across the country and around the world are equipped with special scanners capable of reading these microchips. The information in the chip is used to reunite you with your pet.
Hillside Animal Hospital uses the HomeAgain microchip system. HomeAgain provides a number of very useful services to pet owners such as their National Pet Recovery Database, Lost Pet Specialists, Rapid Lost Pet Alerts, Lost Pet Medical Insurance, Travel Assistance for Found Pets, and more.
Cancer Care
We understand that a diagnosis of cancer can be frightening. However, most pets respond very well to cancer treatments and are able to go on to lead healthy lives after treatment. In particular, animals do not experience the same side effects of chemotherapy that humans do and are able to handle these treatments quite well.
Once a diagnosis of cancer is made and additional treatment is desired, Hillside Animal Hospital will refer you to the University of Wisconsin’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital or the University of Minnesota’s College of Veterinary Medicine. These specialists will stage the cancer and will provide you with a realistic prognosis and access to the latest treatment options.
Most will require surgery to remove the cancer and then follow up chemotherapy treatments, which can be performed at Hillside Animal Hospital with backup by our referral veterinary oncology specialists.
Behavioral & Nutritional Counseling
Behavior Counseling
Behavior problems are the number one reason that owners give up a pet. Hillside Animal Hospital offers behavior counseling for many of your pet’s problems including inappropriate urination or defecation, aggression, separation anxiety, inappropriate chewing and barking, scratching, digging, and spraying.
Our veterinarians will work closely with you to understand the source of these behavior issues and in developing a specific plan to help eliminate your pet’s unwanted behavior. Sometimes, the behavior problem, such as inappropriate voiding, can be linked to a medical issue (cystitis, bladder stones, kidney disease, etc.) and can be treated medically. For other behavior issues, the treatment plan often includes behavior modification and may include medication-assisted training. If our veterinarians and technical staff members cannot help with your pet's behavior problem, we can refer you to a board-certified animal behaviorist.
Nutritional Counseling
One of the key factors contributing to the improved health and longevity of companion animals is our expanded knowledge on the important role that proper nutrition plays in overall health. During your pet’s comprehensive physical examination we evaluate his or her body condition and give recommendations based on what we see. However, some pets with nutritional issues or chronic conditions such as diabetes require a little bit more intervention, which may include specialized foods, feeding strategies and even prescription diets.
Hillside Animal Hospital has trained staff available to help you with your pet’s nutritional challenges. We also have a diverse inventory of prescription foods and high-quality nutritional products. If your pet requires a prescription diet we do not carry, we can easily order it for you.
If your pet has a chronic condition, we can also offer advice and provide information about diets that benefit specific medical conditions such as liver disease, bladder and kidney stones, renal failure, food allergies, diabetes and other conditions.
Reproductive Services
Hillside Animal Hospital is also able to offer our clients a full range of reproductive services and counseling. Whether you are an experienced breeder or breeding your pet for the first time, we can help, from initial planning and consultation all the way through birth. In particular, obstetric care and counseling will provide the best chance for maximizing litter size as well as maintaining the health of the mother and litter.
Our reproductive services include:
- Progesterone testing
- Pregnancy monitoring
- Ultrasonography
- Planned Caesarian sections (when appropriate)
- Follow-up nursing care
Limited Avian & Pocket Pets
Hillside Animal Hospital also provides high-quality wellness services for our clients that have pocket pets such as guinea pigs, rabbits, hamsters, rats, mice, ferrets and other small mammals. We also offer nail trims, wing clipping, and beak trims for our bird loving clients.
These animals’ healthcare needs are often quite unique and require a veterinary practice with the experience and expertise to ensure they live long, healthy and happy lives. In the wild, many of these animals have developed strategies to conceal illness or injuries as a survival technique. As a result, their medical problems often go unnoticed by their owners. By the time the owner recognizes that there is a problem with his or her exotic pet, the condition is often extremely serious.
This is why we strongly recommend regular physical examinations to check for health problems as well as annual monitoring to check for nutritional and husbandry-related conditions. With regular veterinary medical examinations—two per year is recommended—problems are often diagnosed before they become serious medical conditions.
After acquiring your new bird or pocket pet, a complete veterinary examination is also strongly recommended. This exam includes a thorough physical examination, nutritional consultation, and disease screening and laboratory testing if necessary.
Our Referral Policy
Hillside Animal Hospital adheres to the standards set by the American Animal Hospital Association. These standards provide for the best prognosis for the patient as well as the best ongoing relationship between the client and their veterinarian.
While we are able to perform a wide range of soft tissue and orthopedic surgeries, for complex cases, especially those requiring specialized equipment, we work with Dr. Steve Timm. A veterinary surgeon who limits his practice to complex surgical cases, Dr. Timm performs procedures at our hospital upon request. This service allows our clients’ pets to be treated in a familiar place without the added expense and stress of travel.
Patients requiring the care of a specialist for a range of medical issues are generally referred to the University of Wisconsin’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital or the University of Minnesota’s College of Veterinary Medicine. We also refer patients with eye problems to Dr. Dennis Olivero, a board certified ophthalmologist.
Hospice & End of Life Care
Even the healthiest of pets reach that time where we must find a way to say goodbye to them. We understand that this is a painful and difficult experience for our clients and is one that we all have been through in our own lives. It is our goal to help ease this time of life for both our patients and clients.
We provide hospice and euthanasia services designed to ensure the comfort and dignity of your pet. These services include private cremation with specialized urns, caring for the remains as directed by our clients and grief counseling from your veterinarian as well as referral to a grief specialist, if necessary.