Services

Hillside Animal Hospital is a state of the art facility with a staff that provides individual attention to the wants and needs of its clients. We provide services to dogs and cats as well as rabbits, pocket pets, birds, and exotics.

Some of the services we provide include:

Wellness Examinations and Vaccinations

Annual to biannual wellness examinations are the cornerstone to healthy pets. These invaluable visits allow our doctors to pick up on subtle changes before they become major problems. Each pet receives a comprehensive physical examination prior to any service. At that time, current health issues are discussed and a tailored vaccination plan is initiated or followed.

Digital Radiography

Hillside Animal Hospital is proud to introduce our state of the art digital radiography system. This system cuts back on time involved and allows our doctors to view a crisper, more accurate image of your pet. This, in conjunction with our other diagnostics, translates into a more accurate diagnosis and in turn a better treatment plan for your pet.

Ultrasound Imaging

Ultrasound scanning, also known as ultrasound imaging, uses high frequency sound waves to obtain images from inside the body. The reflected sound wave echoes are recorded and displayed as a real-time visual image. This gives us the ability to look at internal organs in a very non-invasive way. From the heart and major blood vessels to the liver and kidneys, the information provided can be very beneficial in making a diagnosis and helping to maintain long-term health for you pet. We are proud to announce that we have recently acquired a Biosound Esaote My Lab 40 machine. This machine is top of the line in the veterinary field and has greatly enhanced our ultrasound imaging abilities.

Laboratory Diagnostics

Our complete in-house laboratory suite allows our doctors to provide you with results of bloodwork and urine testing within minutes of obtaining the samples. At Hillside, we use state of the art equipment from Idexx laboratories to provide reliable and efficient results. Some exapmles of the testing provided are liver and kidney tests, panacreas tests, comlete blood counts, microscopic urine examination, coagulation profiles, and electrolyte panels, just to name a few. If the doctor determines that a patient may benfit from addtional testing that is not offered by our laboratory, there are several reference laboratories that we utilize and usually receive resulsts within days.

Endoscopy

Endoscopy is the utilization of a long flexible tube containing a light, camera, and a port for suction, water and instruments. This piece of equipment allows our doctors to look into an animal's gastrointestinal or respiratory tract without actually making an incision into the body. It is very non-invasive and can provide a large amount of diagnostic information as well as assist in some treaments such as removing foreign objects from the stomach.

Surgery and Pain Management

Our hospital boasts a large, completely stocked state of the art surgery suite that can accomodate two surgeries simultaneously. We have very extensive monitoring equipment that allows us to track each patients blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, carbon dioxide level, blood oxygen concentration, and temperature. Some of the common procedures performed include ovariohysterectomies (spays), castrations (neuters), lumpectomies, declawing, cystotomies, fractured bone repairs (plates, screws, pins and wire), ACL repairs, biopsies of various organs, and foreign body removal among many others.

When it comes to pain control, we believe in multi-modal pre-, intra-, and post-operative pain control. This means we try to prevent the pain from occurring from the very begining, preventing the need for high levels of anesthetic during the procedure and providing comfort while healing occurs. This could mean that your pet could receive multiple medications for pain, depending on the situation.

Hospitalization and Intensive Care

While some of the conditions that your pets acquire can be treated on an outpatient basis, some conditions are too severe to treat with medications at home. Many of the more complicated and serious problems require intravenous fluids and medications and more intense monitoring. At Hillside, we have separate accomodations for cats and dogs. The canine ward has a section of

large runs designed for our larger breed patients and multiple cage sizes for various sized doggies. The feline ward is separated from the canine ward by a very thick concrete wall and two insulated doors preventing ,much of the noise from the canine ward from ever entering the feline ward. Both wards are individually temperature controlled and easily monitored by staff throughout the day.

Medical Isolation

Some of the conditions that our furry companions acquire are extremely contagious to other animals. For this reason, we have a separate isolation ward. This area has very strict guidelines on how to enter and exit from the general population as to prevent contamination to the rest of the hospital.

Dental Prophylaxis and Surgery

Hillside Animal Hospital offers a variety of dental services and oral surgery. From routine dental cleanings and polishing to surgical tooth extraction, we are knowledgeable and equipped to handle almost any dental situation. We recommend dental evaluations every 6-12 months. Please ask our staff for details.

Microchipping

Microchipping is a fast and easy form of permanent identification for your pet. It consists of a very small chip encoded with an identification number which is injected under the skin in a matter of seconds. The number is then registered by the pet owner. The number can be read by a scanner that most veterinary hospitals and shelters have. If a pet is lost or stolen and the pet is scanned, his or her correct owner can be identified. Our hospital uses Home Again microchips.

Nutrition Counseling

Correct and adequate nutrition are essential in the fight to keeping our pets healthy. Certain diets can also be the cornerstone of fighting certain chronic diseases such as kidney, heart, and liver disease as well as diabetes and arthritis. The staff and doctors of Hillside are very well trained in the variety of maintenance and prescription diets that we carry. Please feel free to ask about our line of food products and how they may benefit your pet.

24 Hour Emergency Services

As we all know, medical emergencies do not always occur between the hours of 7am-7pm. For that reason, Hillside Animal Hospital does offer after hours emergency services. If you have a medical emergency, call the office at 301-689-2782, and follow the instructions on the recording. There is a veterinarian and technician on call at all times. Either the doctor or the technician will return your call as soon as possible.