Veterinary Services

WELLNESS & PREVENTATIVE CARE

As the old adage goes: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”!

Like people, most pets should see their Veterinarian annually for a complete physical examination, age-appropriate vaccinations, and parasite prevention based on the veterinarian’s recommendations.  We offer these services from that first puppy or kitten appointment through end-of-life care using Fear-Free techniques.  We want your pet to want to come see us!

We also leave a little extra time in those annual appointments when you have concerns that pop up with your pet!  Just let our client care specialists know what your concerns are and we can make sure your pet received the extra attention needed to take care of these cases.

GENERAL SURGERY

We offer a wide array of general surgical services using an individually tailored, multi-modal approach.  Pain mitigation is started before surgery and maintained through recovery so your pet has the best experience possible.  We require pre-surgical blood work for all pets over 6 years of age but recommended this for all pets undergoing general anesthesia.

Our doctors are proficient with spays, neuters, gastropexy surgery, abdominal exploratory surgery, bladder surgery, and many mass removal surgeries.

We do limited orthopedic procedures on a case-by-case basis.  We do work closely with our referral partners and their board-certified Veterinary surgeons for pets needing advanced orthopedic care.

COMPREHENSIVE DENTAL CARE

According to a recent article in Today’s Veterinary Practice, by 2 years of age, 80% of dogs and 70% of cats have some form of periodontal disease. Small- and toy-breed dogs are particularly susceptible.

Our veterinarians perform a Comprehensive Oral Health Assessment including full-mouth dental radiographs and periodontal probing on every dentistry procedure we perform.  We have the capacity for both simple and surgical extractions, dental bonding to repair enamel chipping, and enamel restoration for cosmetic appearance.  We work with regional referral partners for cases where a root canal may be needed.

Oral pain and dental infection can affect all aspects of your pet’s health and shorten life spans.  We recommend starting preventative dentistry within the first 12-24 months of life for most pets but will tailor a treatment plan to your pets’ needs.

SAME-DAY URGENT CARE & DAYTIME EMERGENCIES

Each day we hold a limited number of same-day Urgent Care appointments.  We take requests for these appointments between 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. and our attending veterinarian will triage them by severity.  These appointments are for pets experiencing symptoms like vomiting or diarrhea, porcupine quills, most lacerations, new limping, ear infections, or eye problems.

We have limited ability at this time for true Emergency work.  The most common emergencies we see are wounds resulting in active spurting blood, pet hit or ran over by cars, small dogs or cats attacked by large dogs, male animals straining to urinate without producing urine, sudden collapse, and pets with difficulty breathing.  We take these cases as we are able to and stabilize them the best we can but many require hospitalized 24-hour care.  We do not have the capacity for after-hours monitoring at this time and will usually refer these patients to one of the 24-hour facilities in the Boise area.

There is a point each day when we simply cannot provide an appropriate level of care to additional patients.  If and when we reach capacity all of our patients suffer and our attending veterinarian may elect to not take any additional cases this day.  We have borrowed this from the human emergency medical system and it is called entering “diversion status.”  When this happens it is not because we do not want to take care of your animal it is simply that we do not have the resources or staffing to do so.  Our client care specialists will work with you to help you find emergency care as quickly as possible for your pet.

TELEVET SERVICES

For after-hours service, we have partnered with VetTriage to offer our clients video telehealth sessions with a veterinarian that can give you advice on whether your pet requires an immediate visit to a 24-hour emergency hospital. The closest emergency vet to our area is in or around Boise. They may also give you care instructions at home prior to making an appointment with MCPAWS Veterinary Hospital during normal business hours. Sessions are $50.

Clients may also call VetTriage toll-free at (800) 940-1921

DIAGNOSTICS

In the spring of 2023, MCPAWS Veterinary Hospital updated both our in-house laboratory and x-ray systems.  We now have a state-of-the-art in-house laboratory for most of the commonly performed routine blood and urine testing.  The digital X-ray software has significantly improved staff efficiency, allowing us to see more patients each day.  We are also now working with the industry’s leading reference laboratory when our patients need advanced laboratory testing.

We have an older but still very high-quality ultrasound machine to help our veterinarian assess your pet’s internal organ structure as well.  We are not able to transmit images directly from our ultrasound machine but can capture images on an external camera for collaborative care when needed.

For more advanced diagnostics we work with several referral facilities and specialists to get our patients the advanced care they need.

PHARMACY

In an effort to keep costs down, we have an appropriately stocked fully functional in-house pharmacy.  We keep a limited supply of our most commonly used and critical medications for the prescription to patients with an active Veterinary-Patient-Client relationship.

Sometimes we need to prescribe medications readily available at a human pharmacy that we do not regularly use.  In these cases, we will either provide you with a written prescription or call the prescription directly into the retail pharmacy of your choice.

We also offer an online pharmacy through Vets First Choice for a direct-ship option.  This is great for maintenance medications and custom-compounded medications.  This service links with our record keeping-keeping software so there is no added cost for our staff to enter and approve these prescriptions.  Filling prescriptions for other pharmacies takes our staff considerable time so we do charge a $10 fee for processing outside prescription requests.

We do require at least 24 hours’ notice for most prescription refills.  Please call ahead.

Due to current Idaho pharmacy regulations, we are not able to fill prescriptions, including prescription diets prescribed by another veterinarian for patients that do not have an active Veterinary-Patient-Client relationship.

REPRODUCTION

Due to our organizational mission, we offer very limited reproductive services. 

As veterinary professionals, we want to see healthier pets with fewer inheritable diseases that live longer, happier lives with their families.   We offer education, counseling, and resources on medically ethical breeding practices for those considering breeding their pets.

We can schedule your female dog or cat for post-breeding ultrasound or blood work to confirm pregnancy and x-rays to assess the number and size of the puppies or kittens.  We also have limited appointment availability for post-whelping care.

At this time our veterinarians do not perform elective or emergency caesarian sections without spaying the female at the time of surgery.  We do not perform tail docking or dew claw removal on neonatal puppies, though these procedures may be performed at the time of spay or neuter under general anesthesia if medically indicated.  We do not offer ear cropping in dogs or declaw cats.

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