Veterinary Services

• Blood Transfusions

We have donor pets available for blood transfusion. We maintain a list of veterinary staff members who will allow their pets to donate blood for other pets as needs arise. Major blood type cross matching is performed before a donor’s blood is transfused into a patient.

• Dental Care

Our dental services include teeth cleaning and polishing, tooth extractions and minor oral surgery. All pets receive a complete dental scaling with hand scaling below the gum line, and tooth polishing.

Our doctors perform in-house surgeries and dental procedures using state-of-the-art technology to ensure your pet receives the best veterinary dental care available. Pets with routine dental care typically live longer and healthier lives. Pets with dental disease constantly release bacteria from their mouths into their bloodstream, resulting in inflammatory changes in the heart, liver, and kidney tissue in otherwise healthy animals. This problem may be exacerbated in pets that already have other existing diseases. Periodontal disease is a major health risk for your pet and is one of
the most common diseases in small animals. It is painful, but frequently, pets with oral pain “suffer in silence”. However, periodontal disease is easily preventable. Let us give your pet a complete dental check up and advise you on how to keep your pet’s teeth clean and healthy for a long and pain-free lifetime!

The American Veterinary Dental Society recommends a full dental cleaning every six months for your pet, just the same as your dentist recommends for you. Still, imagine what that cleaning procedure would be like for you if you did not brush your teeth at all between dental visits. Dental home care is the single most important aspect of regular dental care.

With proper home care, your pet may not need that six month dentistry, thus saving you the expense and your pet the extra anesthetic.

• Digital Radiology (X-Ray)

Direct Capture Digital Radiology has many advantages over traditional film radiographs. First, our staff can view your pet’s x-ray in about eight seconds rather than the five minutes it takes to process film. Thus, our staff can quickly determine, without moving your pet, if another x-ray needs to be taken to improve the positioning. Pets receive less radiation as fewer retakes are needed to adjust brightness, contrast and other settings. Digital radiography is particularly beneficial in emergency situations when time can be a matter of life and death. Digital radiology is also a green technology that eliminates the use of heavy metal (silver on the film) and the chemicals to develop and fix the image on film. Radiology, or X-rays, help our veterinarians evaluate musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, cardiopulmonary, gastrointestinal, reproductive, and urinary systems.

• Emergency and Critical Care

In any emergency, seconds count. Our experienced staff is trained in resuscitation and our clinic is stocked and equipped to administer the ABCs of life support – Airway, Breathing, Circulation/Cardiac compressions. Emergency care is offered during regular business hours at our hospital, for after-hours emergency care call 507-454-2600 and you will be redirected to the emergency clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

• Fully Stocked Pharmacy

Pet Medical Center offers a fully stocked pharmacy to be the one-stop shop for your pet’s medications. For your convenience, prescriptions may also be called into commercial pharmacies. We carry both prescription and over-the-counter products in oral, injectable, chewable, and topical forms. Our pharmacy can provide medicines for dogs, cats and exotics including birds, reptiles, and small mammals.

We encourage you purchase your pet’s medications in house when possible because as an AAHA accredited facility, we follow standards that ensure accurate and safe administration for veterinary medication. Our trained staff is here help you learn to medicate your pet, and we prefer to give the first dose with you in the exam room.

You can also check with our staff to find the products right for your pets skin care needs. We offer ear cleaners and shampoos and mousses to prevent or treat various skin troubles. We offer flea, tick, parasite, and heartworm prevention and treatment. For more information on these medications click parasite control.

• Health and Wellness

Since pets age at a much faster rate than people, routine physical exams for wellness along with preventative care is one of the best ways to help them live long and healthy lives. Our goal at Pet Medical Center is to catch medical problems early, which greatly improves our chances for successful treatment.  This preventative approach reduces cost associated with treating established diseases.  We are here to help foster the human animal bond and to create a win-win situation for you and your pet.

Like people, pets need more frequent wellness care as they age since they are at higher risk for developing clinical disease. We recommend an exam every 6 months with periodic diagnostic testing in conjunction with general preventative care for senior pets (7+ years old).

Your veterinarian and certified veterinary technicians act as a resource for you regarding questions and concerns.  The Pet Medical Center Care team will work with you to create a customized preventative care plan for each of your pets.

For juvenile pets, this plan generally involves:

• 3 separate monthly comprehensive nose-to-tail examinations with the veterinarian to screen for problems and assess normal growth and development
• Behavior question and answer session
• Suggestions for safe play and bonding with your pet
• Vaccinations based on lifestyle
• Nutrition optimization for the first year based on breed recommendations
• Intestinal Parasite screening and prevention planning
• Heartworm and tick-born disease risk discussion
• Complimentary flea/tick and heartworm preventative treatments
• At home preventative, Dental Care recommendations

For healthy young adult pets, this plan generally involves:

• A yearly comprehensive nose-to-tail examination with the veterinarian
• Vaccinations based on lifestyle
• Nutritional assessment and recommendations
• Behavioral problem assessment
• Heartworm and Intestinal Parasite testing and treatment
• Tick borne disease testing with flea/tick preventative treatments
• Dental Care and recommendations and assessment of cleaning needs

For senior pets, this plan generally involves:

• A twice yearly comprehensive nose-to-tail examination with the veterinarian
• Vaccinations based on lifestyle
• Nutritional assessment and recommendations
• Cognitive function assessment
• Continued Heartworm and Intestinal Parasite testing and treatment
• Tick borne disease testing with flea/tick preventative treatments
• Professional Dental Cleaning and at home care recommendations
• “Total Health Screening”–bloodwork to assess organ function and blood cell counts
• Imaging such as radiographs or ultrasound may be recommended based on history

• Hospice/Euthanasia Services

Saying goodbye to a long-time friend is painful. We work with our clients to ensure their pet’s comfort and dignity. Services include taking care of the remains as directed by the client. Euthanasia at home is an option.

• Internal Medicine

We cover all areas of internal medicine including cardiology, ophthalmology, neurology, dermatology, gastroenterology, orthopedic and soft tissue surgery, oncology, endocrinology, reproduction, among others.

• Laboratory Service

VETERINARY DIAGNOSTIC TESTING FOR YOUR PET

Laboratory Your pet can’t tell us when they’re sick, but laboratory testing can. Preventative care testing helps your veterinarian establish a baseline of what is normal for your pet, and testing each year allows them to track subtle changes that may otherwise be unnoticeable by your pets’ outward appearance. Early detection is crucial in helping treatment to be more effective, and, in some cases, can prevent illness entirely. When your pet shows signs of illness, minutes matter. Pet Medical Center has a fully equipped in-house laboratory that allows for same day testing of many different types of samples. Common tests performed at the clinic include:

•  CBC
•  Chemistry
•  Urinalysis
•  Heartworm and Tick-borne diseases
•  Microscopic Cytology
•  Intestinal Parasite testing
•  Blood Glucose Monitoring

Send-Out Laboratory Testing For more advanced testing or for routine wellness screening, we may prefer to send your test out to a professional diagnostic laboratory. Pet Medical Center works closely with several different diagnostic labs in the surrounding area to bring you advanced diagnostic testing with fast, accurate results. We routinely submit samples to the Idexx Laboratory, University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan and Marshfield Laboratory. Some areas of send-out testing include:

•  Endocrinology
•  Histopathology
•  Medication Level Monitoring
•  Blood Glucose with Fructosamine Monitoring
•  Bacterial Cultures
•  PCR Screening for pathogen diagnosis

• Laser Surgery

Pet Medical Center now offers the option to use a surgical laser for most surgeries. The advantages of laser surgery are tremendous. The laser seals nerve endings thereby reducing pain. The laser also cauterizes blood vessels, which limits bleeding and gives the surgeon a clearer surgical field. This makes surgery safer and pets tend to recover more rapidly than seen with a traditional scalpel blade.

• Microchipping

Microchips have helped reunite thousands of pets with their families. We offer the most widely used microchip products to increase the chances of a safe recovery.

• Nutritional Counseling

Some pets require special food, and all pets benefit from a balanced diet. Our trained and certified staff is available to help you choose the right diet for your pet to keep him or her happy, healthy and active. We also carry prescription diets for overweight, senior, or ill pets. We recommend a lot of play for pets and their people.

• Pain Management

Veterinary patients feel pain and discomfort under the same circumstances as people do. We know that recognizing and alleviating pain in animals is the essence of good patient care.

• Surgery

We offer the most advanced surgical techniques and technology. The health of all patients is carefully screened to help ensure safe anesthesia. The anesthetic protocol is specifically tailored to your pet. Surgical services and facilities include fully trained veterinary and technical staff, heated surgery tables to maintain the body temperature, advanced sterilization techniques, and oxygen saturation monitors, ekg, blood pressure monitors and intensive care after surgery.

• Ultrasound

This non-invasive, state-of-the-art technology uses sound waves to painlessly examine specific internal organs, primarily the heart and abdominal organs. Pregnancy exams are also available. Dr. Rita Miller, board certified in internal medicine, performs our ultrasound examinations.

• Veterinary Information Network

We subscribe to the online Veterinary Information Network which allows us access to the expertise of 135 board certified veterinary specialists.