Wellness Exams
At Dogwood Veterinary Clinic, serving Prospect, Louisville, and Crestwood, KY, we strive to keep your pets as healthy as possible with routine pet wellness exams. As we monitor your pet’s health, we keep an eye out for various conditions to ensure prompt, successful treatment.
Pets age comparatively much faster than we do, in one year an animal generally ages 5-7 “pet years”. For this reason, we recommend bi-annual examinations. Our recommendations for testing will change based on the age of your pet, but basic testing recommended annually are a fecal test to look for intestinal parasitism, a heartworm test for dogs, and a triple screen (heartworm, FeLV, FIV) for outdoor cats. Vaccinations will be taken care of during the wellness examination, an individualized vaccine protocol will be determined based on the age, lifestyle, and risk level of your pet. During the wellness examination is a great time to talk about nutrition, dentistry, weight management and steps you can take to help your pet live as long and healthy of a life as possible.
Puppy and Kitten Visits
When you welcome a new puppy or kitten into your home, pet vaccination is a critical element in keeping them healthy. We provide the routine vaccinations your pet needs. Puppies and kittens are dependent upon anti-bodies from their mothers in the early life stages. We booster their immunity with a series of vaccinations until your pet is immunologically mature, 16 weeks.
Diagnostic Visits
We specialize in pet diagnostics and treatments to catch problems early and restore your pet’s health. Count on our team to determine what’s wrong with your pet and provide a reliable treatment that gets results.
When your pet is showing any signs of illness, lethargy, not acting like themselves, itchy ears or skin, etc. this is when you come to see us for a diagnostic exam. We will evaluate your pet, get a complete history from you, and discuss diagnostics and treatments and come up with a plan that works for both you and your pet.
Dentistry
Just like humans, your pets need pet dental services to stay healthy and happy. Our pet dentistry services reduce problems associated with poor dental health and address any issues that can harm your pet. Maintaining your pet’s oral health can add years to their life.
Did you know that periodontal disease is a leading cause of cardiovascular disease in our pets? Bacterial plaques (calculi) colonizing close to the gum line are frequently spread into the bloodstream leading to increased risk of cardiovascular plaques. Periodontal disease is extremely common in dogs and cats, the buildup of plaque affects the alveolar bone surrounding the tooth below the gum line and the periodontal ligament (which anchors the teeth).
Periodontal disease cannot be diagnosed with out oral radiology; therefore, a full set of dental radiographs are highly recommended with every dental cleaning. This can allow us to pull diseased teeth prior to obvious superficial abnormalities, preventing unnecessary pain, discomfort, and ongoing bone loss. In addition, a complete and thorough oral examination and cleaning cannot be performed on animal that is not under general anesthesia. When your pet comes in for a dental prophylaxis, they will be under general anesthesia with anesthetic monitoring so that their teeth are thoroughly cleaned, and any diseased teeth or gingiva is discovered and treated.
Regular wellness exams help us to monitor for any external signs of dental disease and allow us to recommend dental prophylactic cleaning as needed based on your pet’s breed and needs, however for all pets over 3 years of age a minimum of annual cleaning is recommended.
Surgical Services
At Dogwood Veterinary Clinic we feel strongly that while although spays and neuters are frequently performed procedures, we don’t refer to them as “routine”.
A spay is an intra-abdominal surgery and although a neuter does not require entry into the abdominal cavity this procedure also requires the removal of an organ and ligation of significant blood vessels. We treat these surgical procedures with as much care as any other procedure. We perform a wide variety of soft tissue surgical procedures as well as many orthopedic procedures. Whether you need a cat or dog surgeon for spaying or neutering or any other surgical procedure, you can count on our experienced team to handle the situation with ease.
Orthopedic Surgery
At Dogwood Veterinary Clinic we are pleased to offer many orthopedic surgical options here in Louisville, Kentucky.
Dr. Chris Franklin has undergone extra training courses and personal mentorship to refine his orthopedic surgical skills. Some of the frequently performed procedures at Dogwood Veterinary Clinic are: treatment for cranial cruciate rupture by MMP and lateral suture, fracture repair, and luxating patella repair. Rupture of the cranial cruciate ligament is an extremely common orthopedic injury we see in dogs which can be caused by genetic predisposition, physical injury, and conformational abnormalities. The MMP procedure has a relatively quick recovery, many patients can walk on the affected limb within 24-48 hours of the surgery. The MMP is recommended for patients greater than 35 lbs, for smaller pets the lateral suture procedure is recommended. Dr. Chris will guide you through post operative rehabilitation and get your pet back to feeling happy and comfortable. We also offer medical treatment options for orthopedic injury such as PRP and stem cell therapy.
Diagnostic Imaging
Diagnostic imaging is an essential tool in finding out what’s bothering your pet and how to fix it.
Regenerative Medicine
Regenerative medicine refers to therapies that aim to restore orthopedic function and alleviate pain using the body’s own tools, such as stem cells and blood products. Regenerative medicine has come a long way for humans and pets. Our veterinary clinic offers stem cell therapy and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy to ensure giving your pets the best life.
Bloodwork and Urinalysis
You can count on our in-house diagnostic lab to complete bloodwork and urinalysis quickly and efficiently. We’ll get you the results as soon as possible to ensure your pet gets prompt treatment if required. We have in house capabilities to run complete blood count, chemistry panels and urinalysis as well as other diagnostics blood tests and snap tests, which are quick screens for particular diseases. For tests that we do not require immediate results or for more advanced diagnostics we work with a diagnostic lab, this lab is in Louisville and returns results quickly. Our in-house capabilities are great for evaluating sick patients for which we need fast results.
We recommend pre-anesthetic bloodwork for all our patients to look for any signs of anemia, organ dysfunction, congenital abnormalities, or indications that your pet may not handle anesthesia or a surgical procedure well. We may also recommend bloodwork and urinalysis as an adult wellness screening, for senior pets, or as a way of monitoring pets with previously diagnosed conditions.
Endoscopy
Endoscopy is a minimally invasive way for a veterinarian to evaluate a pet's internal organs such as the stomach, esophagus, intestines, trachea, lungs, and nasal cavity. Services will include, gastric and esophageal foreign body removal, gastric and duodenal biopsies, bronchoalveolar lavage, retropharyngeal exams & more!
Endoscopy Service will be coming to Dogwood Veterinary Clinic in Louisville, Kentucky in Summer 2022.
Emergency Care
Veterinary care isn’t something you can always plan for. If you need emergency pet care, you can count on our team to work fast to get your pet back to good health.
Emergency Care is only offered during our normal office hours. If you would like to see a Dogwood Veterinarian that has a relationship with you and your pet for after-hours emergency care, please read about our concierge service and contact our hospital about signing up.
If you do not wish to sign up for our concierge service, in the event of an emergency we recommend you go to BluePearl Veterinary Partners, a 24-hour emergency and specialty hospital. The hospital is located on Magisterial Drive, just 15 minutes from our hospital.
Concierge Medicine
Dogwood Veterinary Clinic is offering an industry groundbreaking solution for a limited number of clients. For our clients that want to have access to their personal veterinarian for emergency situations, questions, or concerns we are offering a Concierge Service for an annual membership fee.
This exclusive membership will give you a direct line by which you can text or call Dr. Chris or Dr. Pelfrey. You will be able to call DVC at any time with questions, concerns, or emergencies. These calls are designed to discuss directly with your veterinarian what your pet is experiencing, if they need to be seen immediately, or if the issues can wait until normal business hours. You also may call us to ask general questions about your pet’s nutritional needs, overall health, or any other matter you’d like to discuss with a veterinarian. This is an exclusive membership. We will only see after hours emergencies for our clients that have elected to sign up for this concierge service. This is an optional service; membership is not required to be a patient at DVC.
Please call our hospital for additional details and to sign up for our concierge service. If you do not wish to sign up for our concierge service, in the event of an emergency we recommend you go to BluePearl Veterinary Partners, a 24-hour emergency and specialty hospital. The hospital is located on Magisterial Drive, just 15 minutes from our hospital.