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 were once relatively common and fatal to pets easily preventable. There are also vaccines against zoonotic diseases—such as rabies—that help protect your family from very dangerous and difficult to treat illnesses. With each passing year, veterinary science is improving on existent vaccines, thereby increasing our ability to prevent an even wider array of contagious diseases.
Murray Animal Hospital's vaccination protocol is tailored to American Veterinary Medical Association guidelines, the lifestyle of your pet, as well as to the diseases he or she is most likely to encounter in our region of the country. In addition to vaccines for diseases such as rabies, distemper, parvovirus and bordetella, we may also recommend vaccines against lyme disease or leptospirosis for your dog, or feline leukemia for your cat in accordance to their risk level. Vaccination plans will be tailored to meet your pet's needs.
HomeAgain Microchip Lost Pet ID
How would you find your pet if he or she were ever 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, animal shelters, humane societies and animal control facilities 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.
Murray 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. Our HomeAgain microchips are also compatible with international scanners and are at times required for travel into other countries.
Behavior Counseling
Behavior problems are the number one reason that owners surrender or re-home a pet. Murray 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. Oftentimes 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. In some cases we may also include medication-assisted training. If our veterinarians and technical staff members are unable to help with your pet's behavior problem, we can refer you to a board-certified animal behaviorist when necessary.
Flea and Tick Control
External parasites (fleas and ticks) are not only a health threat to your pet, but when inadvertently brought into your home, they can affect your family as well. Additionally, as anyone who has experienced an infestation of fleas in their home can attest, these pests can be difficult and expensive to eradicate.
Therefore, the best means to keep your pet, family and home safe from these pests is through prevention. Murray Animal Hospital will work with you to develop a program that best meets the specific needs of your pet and your own particular environmental situation. We will look at possible exposure points, your pet’s activities and review with you the best ways to control fleas and ticks in your house, yard and on your pet.
With a little prevention, there is no reason why your pet and your family should have reason to fear these pests.
Care for Your Senior Pet
As animals move into their senior years, they experience changes that are very similar to aging humans. Diseases and conditions that are commonly known to affect older people also affect our canine and feline companions, such as kidney, heart, and liver disease, tumors, cancer, diabetes, depression, arthritis, thyroid conditions, hormonal problems, neuroses and loss of sensory perception.
During the early stages of these illnesses, senior pets often appear healthy upon physical examination, but despite outward health may have an underlying disease. Once symptoms appear, the conditions may be more difficult or costly to diagnose or treat. Understanding the changes your pet goes through as he or she ages and how you can provide for your pet's needs are essential to quality of life.
Murray Animal Hospital recommends that dogs and cats in their senior years receive twice-yearly wellness lab screenings and exams tailored specifically to your pet’s health needs. We believe this is the best means to ensure that your pet not only lives a long life, but that these years are filled with good health.
Our Pharmacy
In numerous acute or chronic conditions, medication is required to cure or alleviate symptoms. At Murray Animal Hospital we believe that timely and convenient access to these medications is an important aspect of caring for your pet. For this reason, we maintain a comprehensive pharmacy.
Not only does our pharmacy mean you don’t have to wait for important medicines for your pet, but there is a direct line of communication between the examination room and the pharmacy window. Each medication becomes part of your pet's medical record, which reduces the chance for errors and enhances our ability to monitor its use and the outcome for your pet.
Refills are easily addressed too. Simply give us a call or visit our online pharmacy, and we can either mail them to you or have them ready for you to pickup.