Category: News

We’re excited to announce that we now carry Bravecto, the only 3-month ORAL flea and tick preventative for dogs!

It is a very safe and effective product, especially for dogs that swim a lot or for folks who prefer not to use a topical product.  The best part is that you only have to give it 4 times a year!

Also, it tastes great (well, we haven’t tried it ourselves, but dogs seem to like it)!

Ask us for more details…

We are excited to announce that we have just enrolled in a killer new Trifexis promo:

Buy 12 months and get a $50 mail in rebate AND 2 doses free!  (about a $93 discount)

Buy 6 months and get a $15 mail in rebate AND 1 dose free! (about a $37 discount)

Trifexis is an FDA-approved medication for DOGS that kills adult fleas, controls roundworms, hookworms, and whipworms and prevents heartworm disease. Roundworms, hookworms, and whipworms are especially troublesome because they can cause serious disease in people, especially young children, seniors, or people with lowered immune systems.  We recommend that it be given monthly, year-round.

Please contact us if you have questions.  We don’t know how long this promo will last so take advantage of it now!

Due to their small mouths and fine bones relative to the size of their teeth, little dogs are at significantly higher risk for serious complications resulting from untreated dental disease.  In fact, there may only be 1mm of bone between the end of the root tip and the outside of the lower jaw!  This means that any bone loss from dental disease can easily weaken the bone and cause a pathological fracture of the jaw.

This case was a good example of why we recommend AGAINST anesthesia free dental cleanings.  It is impossible to appropriately clean an animal’s teeth, especially below the gumline where dental disease occurs, without the aid of anesthesia.  This little guy had been getting regular anesthesia-free cleanings every 3-6 months prior to seeing us.  At the time we examined him, he already had a broken jaw secondary to advanced dental disease.

This is why we believe dental x-ray is so important.  It is estimated that among pets that have had teeth removed, about 80-90% of them have retained roots.  This means that the root of the tooth was broken off during extraction and accidentally left behind.  We know from experience that this is quite easy to do and the only way to verify complete removal of a root tip is by x-raying the area.

Why does this matter?

Well, a small percentage of these retained root tips will abscess, causing pain, bone loss, and possibly even jaw fracture.  Here’s an example of a kitty we worked on a few weeks ago that had severe inflammation in her mouth, in part due to many retained roots:

We are excited to announce that Pismo Beach Vet is more high-tech than ever before. Just before the new year, we installed a brand new, state of the art in-house Idexx Catalyst and LaserCyte laboratory system.  This gives us the ability to perform full blood chemistry, complete blood count (CBC), electrolyte measurement, and coagulation parameters – all digitally and all in less than 10 minutes!  This is especially important during emergencies or on the weekends, when we can’t afford to wait 12-24 hours for send-out laboratory results.

Patient care is our priority and this is just another way we are helping you to help your pet get better!

In keeping with our commitment to provide excellent patient care, we are excited to introduce a New and User Friendly online service, ePetHealth. This technology offers you 24/7 online access to your pet’s medical information. This service allows you to view or print the necessary information needed in an emergency, when traveling, boarding or taking classes.

ePetHealth will REPLACE our current system, Vetstreet Pet Portal.  You may receive duplicate reminders for services due during this transition period.  We understand that this may be an inconvenience but we believe the new system will be much more comprehensive and easy to use.

Here are a few additional benefits:

• My Clinic – Contact the clinic via ePetHealth, even after hours, for appointment requests, medication refill requests, boarding reservations or to ask a general question. We will be notified immediately of your request. Imagine how much time this can save you!
• Update Contact Info 24/7 – Effortlessly keep us up to date on your most recent contact, pet, and personal information.
• Alerts – Allows you to better manage your pet’s important medication doses by setting up email alerts. These alerts will signal it is time for your pet’s next dose and how many are remaining.
• Reminders – An email reminder will be sent to you 30 days prior to any upcoming vaccines, services, and/or examination due dates. Your pet’s health and care is important to us, which is why we want your pet to stay current with examinations and preventative care. This service also sends you reminders when you have an appointment scheduled with our practice, including text reminders!
• Educational Materials – Your ePetHealth portal provides you with a library of educational materials including pet health videos, articles, breed information and interactive features.
• Pet ID Cards – Create custom, printable Pet ID cards including pet info, vaccine dates, and other reminders.
• Smartphone App – Access and manage your pet’s medical records on the go with the ePetHealth App for Android and iOS

We are very happy to announce that we are also offering home delivery to make it easier for you to properly give the medications and preventatives that your pets need.  We have partnered with VetSource to provide the same quality medications and nutritional products that we offer in our hospital from this Vet-VIPPS accredited online store.  All of the products dispensed from VetSource Home Delivery Pharmacy are sourced directly from the manufacturer, so that everything is guaranteed to be authentic and all manufacturer guarantees are in place.  This is different from VetStreet in that there is a much larger line of products available, including veterinary exclusive products like Trifexis, Comfortis, and Vectra, as well as SINGLE DOSE purchasing!  Shipping is generally faster and cheaper (often FREE) than VetStreet.

Our New Home Delivery Program Includes:

• Online Store – Accessed through your pet portal and available 24/7 so you can shop from home at your convenience.
• Remind Me^TM Program – SINGLE DOSES of flea/tick and heartworm preventatives delivered monthly, on the day that they are to be administered.  Program is pay-as-you-go and includes FREE shipping!
• Auto-Refills – Any item from our store can be setup for automatic shipments at regular intervals so your pet’s medication is at your home when you need it.
• Free Shipping – Any orders $49 and over qualify for free shipping (excluding some diets, heavy items, and insulin).
• Great Pricing – Prices are set to match 1-800-PET-MEDS so they will always be competitive with other online pharmacies, but the difference is you will be getting manufacturer guaranteed product.

How Do I Get Started?

To begin using the service simply visit our website, www.pismobeachvet.com, click on “New User?” at the bottom of the page and and follow the link for “‘first-time login?” in the Login section of the ePetHealth website. Next, you will be emailed an activation link and guided through the registration process. You will be asked to create a private password and select a secret question and answer you wish to use. Finally, an email will be sent to you confirming that your account is active and you can begin accessing the great features of your portal.

Will I Lose Anything From VetStreet?

Fortunately, the only things that you will lose are pictures that you may have uploaded for your pet and custom notification settings.  All other medical data, contact information, and reminders will automatically be transferred over to ePetHealth.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact the clinic at (805) 773-0474 or you can contact ePetHealth directly at help@ePetHealth.com

Pismo Beach Veterinary Clinic is a proud sponsor again this year of the 22nd Annual Woods Humane Society Wiggle Waggle Walk. This exciting and important fund-raising event for Woods is this Saturday, October 18th from 8am-12pm at Mitchell Park in San Luis Obispo.

Pismo Beach Veterinary Clinic will have a booth set up. Stop by to win a prize, ask us those questions that have been nagging you, pick up some free stuff, get a tooth-brushing demonstration, or just say “Hi.”

There will be a 1 mile walk, dog costume contests, and live animal demonstrations scheduled throughout the day. For more information, go to Woods information page at:

http://woodshumanesociety.donorpages.com/WiggleWaggle/

See you there!