Wellness Care - Vet in Sarasota | Sarasota Animal Medical Center

What Love Deserves

Gold-Standard wellness care.

Longer, Happier Lives

Our doctors feel a thorough history and examination is critical to providing the best care for your best friend. We thoroughly review your records and complete a comprehensive examination of your pet during their visit. We will explain all of our findings with you and answer any questions you may have. We usually schedule 45 minutes to an hour for a first examination in order to go over any issues your pet may have as well as their diet and environment.

The Care They Deserve

While we see many pets with numerous health problems, it is important to seek comprehensive, holistic care for your pet from an early age, before they have multiple health issues. Getting your puppy or kitten off to a good start will provide you with a healthier pet so you can share many years together.

Getting to know pet allergies

There are many different ailments that can affect a companion animal’s skin. Whether it’s a topical problem, like a hot spot or rash, or something deeper like an infection, the symptoms can be unpleasant. You don’t want to see your furry friend suffer like that, and neither do we! That’s why Sarasota Animal Medical Center offers professional pet allergy and dermatology services as part of our comprehensive system of care. We want to help get your loved one be as healthy on the outside as on the inside.

Diagnosing the Problem

Is your pet’s itchy skin bothering you both at night?

The first step toward helping your pet feel better again is identifying the exact condition he or she is experiencing. Our hospital is outfitted with an in-house laboratory, which allows us to run a number of diagnostic tests quickly and efficiently while you wait. We may be able to tell what’s wrong just by examining your pet, or we may need to investigate further. Blood work, skin scrapings and biopsies help us get the answers we need to move forward with a treatment plan.

Some of the dermatological issues we can assist with include:

Allergies (food and/or environmental)
Infections (acute or chronic)
Parasites
Dermatitis
Hormonal disorders
Autoimmune diseases
Tumors
Skin cancer

Creating a Treatment Plan

In order to best to treat the problem, we will consider a number of unique factors. This allows us to develop a tailor-made approach just for your pet, designed to achieve the best possible results. Depending on the situation, we may recommend something as simple as applying a topical cream, and for more complex conditions we may look at a combination of treatment methods.

Comprehensive allergy care for pets

Allergies require a little more work to manage. Once we understand the cause of your pet’s reactions, we will work toward a solution that will eliminate outbreaks as much as possible. Some allergies can be managed through lifestyle changes, such as switching food products, while others may require a longer-term strategy. Our recommendations will be based on your pet’s specific needs.

Look out for these signs of a possible skin problem:

This is gold-standard veterinary care, reimagined.

Excessive scratching
Scabbing or flaking of the skin
Hot spots
Shedding more than usual
Biting, chewing or licking at the affected area
Bumps or lumps on or under the skin

Titer Testing and Pet Vaccinations

Modern research shows that most of our pets do not need annual immunizations. In fact, there can be potentially life threatening side-effects from over-vaccinating a pet. Current recommendations are to vaccinate for core diseases such as Parvo, Distemper, Adenovirus and Rabies at a maximum of every three years. Instead of automatically vaccinating for core diseases every three years, we recommend the use of an annual blood antibody test called a titer test.

What is a titer test?

A titer test is a simple blood test that measures a dog or cat’s antibodies to vaccine viruses (or other infectious agents).

By testing your pet’s blood we can determine if and when he or she might need vaccinations. If the titer is low, your pet can be vaccinated; if the titer is normal, no vaccine is needed. This approach allow us to administer only those vaccines that are absolutely necessary when needed and results in your pet avoiding needless and potentially harmful booster vaccinations.

That’s a huge benefit from a simple blood test!

What is a titer test?

A titer test is a simple blood test that measures a dog or cat’s antibodies to vaccine viruses (or other infectious agents).

By testing your pet’s blood we can determine if and when he or she might need vaccinations. If the titer is low, your pet can be vaccinated; if the titer is normal, no vaccine is needed. This approach allow us to administer only those vaccines that are absolutely necessary when needed and results in your pet avoiding needless and potentially harmful booster vaccinations.

That’s a huge benefit from a simple blood test!