MEET OUR DOCTORS

TESTIMONIALS

Clinic Hours:
7:30 AM – 7 PM Monday and Tuesday
7:30 AM- 6 PM Wednesday - Friday
Doctors hours by appointment

Need to make an appointment?
Call us at 816-361-4888

 

Comprehensive wellness care –
Teaching you to be the best animal caregiver  you can be.

Did you know that your cat ages 4 years for every one of yours? We know that changes can occur over a short time and we’ve seen how the Twice a year for life program has helped us get on top of problems before they become more difficult to manage. And there is so much information that can help you take the best care of your cat. Twice a year visits help there too. We try to focus on  physical issues at one visit and lifestyle and behavioral issues at another.

 

Drop off services

For your convenience, we also offer drop-off service for current clients when your time is not available for an office visit. We’d like to know that you’re coming, so please call us to schedule your cat’s visit.

Communicating with you is very important to us. We want to make sure that we have the appropriate information and authorization from you when you leave. Please allow yourself a few extra minutes when dropping off your cat. The drop off exam form is very important. (Click here to view form) You might want to consider filling out the forms at home. A complete history will really help us figure out problems, especially all those bodily fluid questions. The  “how longs”, “how often” and “what does it look like” give us clues, so be sure to fill in those blanks!

Because we make sure that our drop-off patients are housed comfortably, there is a ward care charge in addition to the office visit for drop-off appointments.

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Dental Care

Of all the things we do, good dental care is probably the thing that imparts the greatest quality of life for your cat. We hear a lot in the news about the metabolic consequences of infection. This is especially true about gum disease. The body has to deal with all those chemicals released as a result of those red, infected gums. In cats, infection triggers inflammation and inflammation triggers a process that literally eats away at the root of a tooth. Cats are very stoic, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t hurt. Just because we don’t recognize pain in another creature doesn’t mean it’s not there. That’s why we’re always harping about cleaning teeth when we see even a little bit of redness. The lesion that cats get is usually a cavity-like affair that is under the gum line. We often don’t find compromised teeth until we have a kitty asleep so we can evaluate properly.

We know that anesthesia is scary. Lots of people are concerned about dental procedures because of it. We understand that concern and try to take precautions to prevent problems. The risk of having trouble with anesthesia is very low and we try to make it even lower with the steps we take before we start any procedure.  We carefully screen each patient to see what kind of shape their kidneys, liver and other organs are in. Knowing about problems helps us manage the anesthesia the bestway. We carefully monitor blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen and temperature. We keep them comfy warm through out the procedure and watch them very closely.

Just like with you, it’s difficult to assess what kind of dental problem your cat has without x-rays. If we find red gums or teeth with problems, we will take x-rays to determine the best course of action. Unfortunately, by the time a tooth already compromised, we usually have to extract it. Not a bad thing if it’s still hurting or putting kitty at risk for a root abscess. Unlike at some clinics, a doctor performs all extractions. We do not allow anyone other than a veterinarian to extract teeth.

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Behavior Services

There’s a lot of stress being a cat these days. When we don’t understand what makes our cats tick, we are often faced with inappropriate behavior like unwanted bathroom habits or aggression to other cats, or even you! We know that by keeping them inside we are protecting them from the dangers that roaming outside can bring, but we need to recognize their special behavioral traits and needs so that we can avoid behavior problems that come with the stress and frustration of indoor living. We address these behavior problems just as thoroughly as we address a typical medical problem. It’s important to understand that these behaviors result from complex issues that can take some time and energy to deal with. There are rarely quick fixes for these problems, but if you are willing to put some effort into working with them, we can help you develop strategies that can keep everyone in the household happier. Check the Pet Library on our Resources page for links to The Indoor Cat Initiative and other sites that can be of help to you as well.

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Weight management

Over weight cats are time bombs for developing diabetes, arthritis, and other problems that make their lives uncomfortable. We help you develop strategies for weight loss and arm you with the tools to be successful. How many calories are in the cat food that you feed your cat? How much protein is there in those calories? How many calories should your particular cat eat? We give you the answers to those questions and help you formulate a plan to get that weight off.

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Laboratory facilities

Cats don’t show their signs of illness well. Most of the time we just see some loss of activity and vitality. We need to look for footprints of disease in lots of places. We use both the blood analyzers that we have in the clinic as well as an outside laboratory to get the most accurate and timely result. We get lots of footprints from urine samples too and we take the time to do all of our urinalyses in the clinic forfaster, more accurate results. We also look for clues in other places, from tissue samples under the microscope to fungal cultures. But we’re not shy about sending things out to the lab when we think your cat’s diagnosis will benefit from it.

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X-Ray and Ultrasound

Whenever your cat needs x-rays, we are able to get good quality pictures. We have a board certified radiologist review our x-rays to be sure you get the most thorough evaluation. If your cat needs an abdominal ultrasound, we can usually arrange to have it done at the clinic by a radiologist. It’s important to have a trained set of eyes looking at all those fuzzy graylines. Some things are easy to check out, but when it comes to evaluating your cat for significant disease, we think it is important to use a person who has been trained for years to do this very specialized procedure.

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Blood pressure

Lots of older cats have high blood pressure. Some will have severe eye and neurological problems because of it. We regularly monitor every cat with kidney and thyroid disease. We also try to establish base lines for blood pressure by periodically checking your healthy older cat at wellness visits. Just as with you, blood pressure can be variable with a stressful situation. If we have concerns, we’ll want to evaluate several blood pressure readings so we can get a better idea about whether or not there’s really a problem. Medication is easy and effective.

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Surgery

We follow full sterile procedure and monitor carefully. As with the dentals, vital functions are closely watched. There’s lots of equipment helping us make your cat’s surgery as safe as we can. All instruments are cleaned and sterilized before being used on another cat.

We get our anesthesia equipment checked and calibrated regularly. Here’s Dr. Guy Watney, our local anesthesiologist. Click on the image to see who else is helping.

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VIN

All of our doctors are members of the Veterinary Information Network (VIN). VIN is an online community of veterinarians who share information. There are private practitioners, specialists in every field, university faculty and veterinarians from industry. What that means to you is that if there is any question about anything, we check here, along with our other resources, to see if we can offer better recommendations  to help your cat or to help you manage your cat. VeterinaryPartners.com is the client information arm of this wonderful resource. You can find great information here about both your cat’s illness and medications.

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AVID Microchip

We encourage our clients to consider getting a permanent identification chip for their cats. The chip is very tiny and is placed under the skin by the shoulders. If the unexpected occurs and your cat is lost, it can increase the chances that you will be reunited with your kitty.

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