1525 24th Ave SW Norman, OK

405-364-7793

Pet Wellness Services

Your Pet's Lifetime Wellness Plan

The staff at Park Lane Veterinary Hospital is committed to providing comprehensive and individualized medical care to your pet to enhance his or her well-being and quality of life. We recognize that to provide your pet with a long and happy life and limit the lifetime cost of care, our focus must be on preventive care. This is why when you come Park Lane Veterinary Hospital, we work with you to create a lifetime preventive health care plan for your beloved companion.

The basis of such a plan should be regular wellness examinations that include thorough screenings for a number of common diseases and ailments that could affect your pet's health. As your pet enters his or her senior years, these screenings become even more important, which is why we have developed a customized senior wellness protocol. We also recommend a balanced schedule of vaccines to protect your pet from a range of dangerous, but preventable, diseases. Routine pet dental care is part of the plan as well, because good oral health goes a long way toward protecting overall systemic health. Beyond these standard elements of good preventive care, we also offer microchip identification in case your pet should become lost, nutritional and behavioral counseling, internal medicine services, soft tissue surgery, advanced diagnostic testing, and much more.

Perhaps the most important piece of your pet's care is strong client/doctor communication. It is important that we hear from you about how your pet is doing and voice any concerns you may have in order to continuously adjust and optimize your pet's health care plan. It is also our responsibility to empower you with the information necessary to provide the best and most compassionate home-based care for your pet. We believe that our breadth and depth of medical knowledge is of little use if we do not share it with you.

Please take a look at the services offered at Park Lane Veterinary Hospital and why we believe they are important for the care of your pet. Then feel free to give us a call at (405) 364-7793 to make an appointment or email us for more information.

Your Pet's Comprehensive Annual Exams: The Standard of Lifetime Care

A routine examination provides you and your veterinarian with the opportunity to develop a picture of your pet's overall health as well as to spot potential medical issues before they become serious health concerns. It's also an opportunity for you to ask your veterinarian important questions about your pet's health, habits, and daily care. We also use this time to inform you about home healthcare for your pet and offer important advice and new information on the care of your particular type and breed of animal.

At Park Lane Veterinary Hospital, we recommend a complete nose-to-tail physical examination at least once a year, though more frequent exams are encouraged. During your pet's wellness checkup, we will:

Listen to your pet's heart – Early signs of cardiac disease such as heart murmurs and abnormal heart beat patterns known as arrhythmias can be heard through a stethoscope. Discovering these initial indicators of an underlying condition will lead to treatment before it becomes a more serious health threat.

Listen to your pet's lungs – Health issues such as infections, obstructive diseases, and other problems can be detected by listening to your pet's lungs through a stethoscope. The doctor can also assess the overall pulmonary health of your pet.

Check your pet's teeth and oral cavity – Infections and other forms of dental disease can lead to very serious systemic health issues. We also take the time to discuss proper home dental care with you.

Evaluate your pet's vision – Ocular conditions, such as glaucoma, corneal ulcers and dry eye, can be prevented or better treated through regular care and screenings.

Look into your pet's ears – Ear disease is relatively common in many types of pets. Regular examinations can prevent most forms of ear disease from developing or stop its progression. We also have a video otoscope, making it possible for clients to see what we are seeing and objectively track chronic or long-term ear problems.

Palpate the lymph nodes, abdomen, and skin – By feeling these areas, we are looking for unusual lumps or swellings. The skin is also evaluated for discolorations, lesions or patterns of hair loss or thinning, which could be signs of more complicated health issues.

Palpate joints and muscles – By examining the joints, legs and other areas of the body, we are able to evaluate for swelling, decreased muscle tone, and variations in muscle size that may indicate developing orthopedic issues. In older pets, we look for signs of arthritis, which can be treated if found early.

Lab work – A complete physical exam includes a heartworm test and blood tests. A chemistry panel and blood count can screen for the presence of underlying disease processes and create a baseline should your pet become ill between routine examinations.

Parasite testing – Checking your pet for intestinal parasites is an important component of any preventive care plan for your pet and your family. For example, parasites such as hookworms are considered zoonotic, which means they can affect humans, too.

At home, watch for subtle changes in your pet's body weight, appetite, water intake, urination, and bowel habits, as well as general attitude and activity level. These changes may be signs of medical problems. Lumps and bumps under the skin may seem harmless, but can be cancerous. Ear infections, abscessed teeth, and gum disease are common, painful conditions that may not become obvious until seriously advanced. A comprehensive physical exam is the tool to evaluate your pet's health status and to help you make informed decisions about the care of your special companion.

Vaccinating Your Norman, Oklahoma Pet

Up-to-date vaccinations play a large part in keeping your pet healthy and free from disease. However, not every pet requires the same series or frequency of vaccines. At Park Lane Veterinary Hospital, we tailor a vaccine protocol that is specific to your pet based on his or her lifestyle and recommendations from the American Animal Hospital Association. Vaccine schedules are balanced to provide needed protection while not over-vaccinating your pet.

Core Canine Vaccines

• Rabies (1 year after the first series, then 3 year boosters)
• Distemper-Parvo-Parainfluenza-Hepatitis (DHPP) annually
• Leptospirosis can be added to the annual DHPP in at-risk cases
• Bordetella in at-risk cases (pets who are groomed, go to the dog park, boarded, shown, or otherwise exposed to other dogs) is recommended every 6 months, and is required for boarding at our facility

Core Feline Vaccines

• Rabies (1 year after the first series, then 3 year boosters)
• Feline Viral Rhinotracheitis-Calici-Panleukopenia (FVRCP) annually
• Feline Leukemia (FeLV) annually in at-risk cases
• A yearly in-house FIV/FeLV test is recommended for cats that live or spend time outdoors

Please contact us at (405) 364-7793 for more information about vaccinations.

Puppy and Kitten Care

New puppies and kittens require a little extra attention to ensure they get a good, healthy start at life. This means that comprehensive physical exams at key developmental stages are essential. Any time that you get a new pet, it's important to schedule an appointment right away so that we may review their prior medical records and make timely recommendations for appropriate wellness care. We prefer to start vaccinations as early as 8 weeks of age, and recommend that the first thing pet owners do is schedule a check-up and bring all records from the breeder or adoption agency.

The importance of booster vaccination visits every three to four weeks between the ages of two to four months cannot be emphasized enough for puppies and kittens. We understand the pediatric immune system and take a scientific approach that many breeders or other laypeople do not understand to ensure that the young pet will be well-protected from infectious diseases.

Your first visits with your new puppy or kitten at Park Lane Veterinary Hospital are perhaps the most important. These initial visits are where you, your veterinarian, and your pet first meet and begin to form the relationship that lasts throughout your pet's life.

We take plenty of time with these visits to give your puppy or kitten a thorough examination, talk with you about concerns you may have, offer health care and training advice, and more. This is your new kitten or puppy and we're happy to answer all of your questions.

Some of the issues discussed during your kitten's first visits include:

Some of the issues discussed during your puppy's first visits include:

• Diet, including types of food to feed and guidelines on feeding intervals and quantities
• Housetraining
• Behavior
• Spaying and neutering advice: Is this best for my dog? If I decide to spay/neuter, when is the best time to have this done?
• Formulation of an individualized vaccine protocol
• Pet health insurance: Should I get pet health insurance? What should I look for in a company?
• Heartworms, fleas, and ticks
• Microchipping: Should I get this done? When is the best time to do this?
• Fecal exam and treatment for worms and other intestinal parasites

We also send our pediatric patients home with puppy or kitten wellness care packages that include free doses of heartworm, flea, and tick prevention medication.

Senior Care

Taking a moment to learn more about the special needs of your senior pet is the first step toward providing the best care for your companion in his or her later years. At Park Lane Veterinary Hospital, our special emphasis on senior care, including geriatric medicine and the care of chronic disease, is part of our commitment to provide the right care for your pet at every age and stage.

Pets that are about seven years of age and older begin to go through a gradual reduction of their physical capabilities. This process can be slowed and managed through proper medical care that can provide your pet an extended period of vitality and good health. Preventive care tailored to your pet's age, lifestyle, risk factors, and other elements can help prevent common diseases or detect them at early and easily treatable stages.

The best time to begin your pet's senior care program and recognize the need for a little extra TLC is before age related conditions begin to occur. The veterinary staff at Park Lane Veterinary Hospital recommends regular senior wellness exams, which include screening lab work to detect the early signs of disease processes on a yearly or semi-yearly basis. Dental care at this point in life also becomes even more important. We recommend regular dental exams and cleanings for all pets, but especially those in their senior years. Diet and weight gain are important issues to monitor. When you bring your pet in for a senior wellness visit, we evaluate his or her weight and offer recommendations based on what we observe.

Flea and Tick Prevention

In Norman, Oklahoma our frequent mild winters mean that fleas and ticks can be a problem year-round. Fleas and ticks are more than a nuisance; they carry diseases dangerous to both you and your pet. Fleas can transmit tapeworms, and often you can see segments of the tapeworm in your pet's stool. In our region, ticks can carry a variety of serious illnesses, including Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, ehrlichiosis, anaplasmosis, and babesiosis. Ticks tend to thrive in wooded areas or in high grass. It is often difficult to keep your pets away from tick infested areas, so if they do go exploring, check them when they come inside.

Flea and tick problems can be avoided by using Vectra 3D parasite prevention products that are available at our hospital. We have selected these prescription-strength products due to their proven efficacy and they are available at our in-house pharmacy. Other flea and tick control options are also available via our online pharmacy.

Heartworm Disease

Heartworm disease is a serious, life-threatening disease affecting dogs and, to a lesser extent, cats. Mosquitoes spread the disease by injecting the parasite into your pet at the time of the bite. Clinical symptoms of heartworm disease develop very slowly. Lack of energy and exercise intolerance are early symptoms as are coughing and difficulty breathing. Because heartworm disease is increasing in frequency and is a serious and deadly disease, we recommend that your dog be tested annually.

Heartworm disease prevention is simple and effective. For dogs, we recommend Iverhart Max, a once-a-month chewable heartworm preventive, that is available at our in-house pharmacy. This same chewable medicine prevents not only heartworms from developing, but also kills and prevents most other types of worms that can infect your dog.

If you would like to have your pet tested for heartworm disease, or if you would like additional information on how best to protect your pet from this dangerous parasite, please call Park Lane Veterinary Hospital today at (405) 364-7793 for an appointment.