Pismo Beach Veterinary Clinic offers a wide selection of services to meet your pets’ medical needs.
Anesthesia
Pismo Beach Veterinary Hospital is equipped with the latest technology and pharmaceuticals to help ensure a safe and un-eventful anesthesia for your pet. Prior to any anesthetic event, we perform thorough physical examinations and recommend bloodwork as a pre-anesthetic health screen. Anesthetic monitoring is achieved via indirect blood pressure oscilometry, pulse oximetry, ECG, temperature, and respiratory monitors. Additional patient support is provided through heated surgical pads, intravenous catheterization and fluids, as well as constant supervision by a doctor and veterinary technician.
At Pismo Beach Veterinary Hospital, we take your pets’ health very seriously. Though anesthesia is always a risk, we strive to mitigate and reduce complications through methodical and vigilant patient care.
Boarding Facilities
We offer year-round state of the art boarding facilities for cats. Due to available space, dog boarding is limited to medical patients and must be approved by a doctor. Cats are housed in brand new indoor cages that are customizable to your preference; which includes a private litter box suite! They have roaming time and a TV to keep them occupied. Our dogs are housed in temperature controlled, indoor runs and are walked 3-4 times per day. We have a full-time staff that is dedicated to the care of your loved ones!
CareCredit
Since 2012 , Pismo Beach Vet has been offering Care Credit to our clients. We know that times are tough for a lot of folks but that doesn’t mean your pet’s health needs to suffer.
Care Credit is a credit card specifically for health needs. It can be used for Lasik, Cosmetic, Dental, Veterinary, and other Medical Specialties for both you and your pets!
The great thing about Care Credit is that during the promotional period of 6, 12, or 18 months it is 100% interest free! That means that as long as you make regular payments within the promotional period, there are no charges whatsoever to the card holder.*
It is extremely easy to apply (takes only a few minutes), and in general it is easier to qualify than a normal credit card. If your credit is not great, you can even use a co-signer to improve your chance of success.
Like most small businesses, we are unfortunately unable to personally extend credit. That’s why we are excited to offer this great new service and hope that it will be of great benefit to our clients. Please let us know if you have any questions. For more information, go to: http://www.carecredit.com/
To initiate a payment, go to https://www.carecredit.com/Pay/936PCT/
*certain restrictions apply
Dentistry
Pismo Beach Veterinary Hospital offers a comprehensive dentistry service, from routine prophylactic dental cleanings to bonded sealants to oral surgery. We have state-of-the-art equipment including an ultrasonic scaler, polisher, a variable speed drill, electrocautery, and digital dental radiography.
Dental hygiene is a growing concern in veterinary medicine and we are well equipped to facilitate your pets’ dentistry needs.
Diagnostic Laboratory
Our in-house laboratory services include same-day blood chemistry, complete blood count (CBC), urinalysis, fecal analysis, cytology and several specific diagnostic tests. Additionally, we have an arrangement for regular laboratory pickup through the local Idexx clinical veterinary laboratory and typically receive results within 12-24 hours.
Electrocardiography (ECG)
We are equipped with a modern ECG machine that allows us to diagnose and monitor cardiac arrhythmias and other abnormalities, as well as providing an important support tool for anesthesia and surgery. Our ECG equipment also allows us also to consult directly with a board certified veterinary cardiologist via phone and internet for rapid diagnosis and treatment recommendations.
Emergency and Critical Care
Though Pismo Beach Veterinary Hospital is primarily a general medicine practice, we are equipped to handle emergency and critical care patients. We accept walk-in emergencies during our normal business hours as availability allows. For after-hours emergencies, we recommend that clients contact the nearest veterinary emergency hospital. See our References page for local emergency clinic contact information and resources.
Grooming
H.E.L.P. Fund
The HELP Fund was founded by Pismo Beach Veterinary Clinic to assist people in limited income situations with the care of their animal family members. Services might include anything from physical examination to surgical procedures. The fund is designed for young, otherwise healthy animals that have had a sudden catastrophic illness or injury but that would have a good prognosis with appropriate medical or surgical care.
HELP is funded entirely by the donations of clients and friends of Pismo Beach Veterinary Clinc. HELP will match owner’s funding for their pet’s health care up to $500 on a case by case basis at veterinarian discretion and as funds allow.
Donations can be made in person or by check written out to Pismo Beach Veterinary Clinic and mailed to 990 Price Street, Pismo Beach, CA 93449.
Thank you for your kindness and generosity – every little bit HELPs.
House Call Service
Our place or yours? Pismo Beach Veterinary Clinic is making it easier than ever to give your animal companions the care they deserve by offering our House Call Service! This is a great solution for families in the Five Cities area that have multiple pets or find it difficult getting to the clinic. We also understand that many pets simply prefer to be in the comfort of their own homes!
When you make your appointment, simply let our receptionists know that you are interested in a house call and we will find a time that works for you.
Laser Therapy
We are proud to now offer therapeutic laser treatments for our patients. Therapeutic laser is a pain-free, drug-free, and non-invasive way to reduce pain and speed healing in your companion. Improvements in pain and healing following laser therapy are often felt within hours and it can be used alone or in conjunction with other treatments and medications. Whether your pet has undergone recent surgery, sustained a trauma, has a chronic painful condition like arthritis, or even has something like a skin infection or painful belly, laser can help speed recovery. There are no know side effects and treatments are soothing and enjoyable. For more information, go to our Therapeutic Laser page or follow our laser Blog posts.
LOVE
Known as the LOVE Spay, LOVE is an acronym formed from L for laparoscopy and OVE for ovariectomy. Traditional spay surgery requires an incision of one to four inches on the dog’s abdomen. The LOVE spay procedure involves 2-3 small incisions requiring just one stitch each to close the openings. The small incisions accommodate a camera, a tube to inflate the area, and the surgical instruments. With an estimate of 65% less pain to the animal, the procedure uses a cut and cauterize technique instead of tearing the ovarian ligament. There is virtually no bleeding and less trauma to the dog. You and your dog can be back on the beach in 3 days, instead of the traditional 10-14 day recovery time!
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We are also using this less-invasive technique to perform gastropexy in larger female and male dogs. Gastropexy is a procedure that attaches the stomach to the body wall to prevent the deadly condition known as gastric-dilatation and volvulus, or “bloat”. With assistance from the laparoscopic instruments, this procedure can be performed with a 2-3 inch incision instead of the traditional 10-14 inch incision. Because this procedure requires the stomach to heal to the body wall, it does require a 2 week rest period.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Will my pet need a Elizabethan collar (E-collar, cone of shame, lampshade, etc) after the procedure?
A: Yes, even though the incisions are tiny, it is still an incision. If your pet licks at this small incision it could still become infected and require at minimum antibiotics and at worst a second surgery. Pets are generally less bothered by these incisions, so often only need the cone for 5-7 days, rather than the 14 days for traditional spay. If your pet is having a gastropexy performed, we recommend keeping the E-collar on for 10-14 days as this incision is a bit bigger and is directly connected to the stomach.
Q: How long do I need to keep my crazy dog confined after surgery??
A: This is one of the biggest benefits of a LOVE spay. We only recommend 2-3 days of activity restriction after a LOVE spay versus the 14 days with a traditional spay. The risk of a complication such as a hernia is very low and if it does occur, would not be a life threatening emergency like a hernia could be with a traditional spay. NOTE: Your pet cannot go swimming for 7-14 days. The skin needs to heal to prevent the surgical site from getting infected from potentially contaminated water. Also, if your pet is also having a preventative gastropexy performed at the same time, then they will need to be activity restricted for 3 weeks to allow the stomach time to properly heal.
Q: Is it dangerous to not remove the uterus? Why does my vet remove the uterus?
A: Traditionally in the United States, veterinarians have removed both the ovaries and the uterus when performing a spay. However, there is no real benefit in removing the uterus of a young, otherwise healthy animal. The initial justification came from a belief that it would prevent gynecological problems (such as pyrometers and uterine cancer) later in the dog’s life. Many papers have since been published debunking this rationale backed up by data from our European counterparts who only remove the ovaries. Prior to performing LOVE spay, our clinic performed traditional ovariectomy only for many years with no issues with the uterus as our patients aged. Both pyrometers (uterine infection) and uterine cancer are hormone-driven conditions, therefore, typically do not occur when the ovaries are removed, even when the uterus is still present.
See the following article for more details: VAN GOETHEM, B., SCHAEFERS-OKKENS, A. and KIRPENSTEIJN, J. (2006), Making a Rational Choice Between Ovariectomy and Ovariohysterectomy in the Dog: A Discussion of the Benefits of Either Technique. Veterinary Surgery, 35: 136–143.
Q: My vet told me it’s not worth it because her incisions are so small, if you add up the 2 laparoscopic incisions, they would be the same size.
A: While that may be the case, there are 4 major problems with that: 1) If you are trying to do surgery through a tiny hole traditionally, that means you cannot see what you are doing and blindly hooking and grabbing the organs. 2) Anatomically speaking, the ovaries are up at the level of the ribs and the uterine body is down by the bladder. To get everything outside of the body to do their surgery through 1 tiny hole – they really have to pull and tug on the ovaries and uterus causing soft tissue trauma and pain 3) If the stitches were to come undone (your pet gets their cone off and licks the stitches out), 2 separate smaller incisions are less likely to present a major complication than 1 larger one. Dogs have literally had their intestines fall out of their body after being spayed in this exact scenario. This is not possible with the incisions from a LOVE spay. 4) Small incisions are not the main benefit of the laparoscopic surgery. The pain associated with the spay is mostly derived from the traditional surgeon ripping the ovarian ligament off of the body wall so they can exteriorize the ovary to put their sutures around it. This pain is greatly reduced by use of a specialized cautery device and direct camera visualization, and no ripping or tearing. 5) An added benefit of the LOVE procedure is that we are able to visualize every organ in the belly through a small incision, and can sometimes catch abnormalities that would be missed with the more blind approach of a traditional spay.
Q: My vet is so fast and good at doing traditional spays, that the extra anesthesia time is not worth the benefit of less pain and faster recovery.
A: Anesthetic risk occurs from death of anesthesia more so than time under anesthesia. During a traditional spay, the pain caused from ripping and tearing the ligaments forces the anesthetist to crank up the gas anesthesia to prevent the patient from waking up (yes, it’s that painful!). While many veterinarians are very fast at traditional spay, they still cause much pain and the increased depth of anesthesia is riskier than a few extra minutes of light anesthesia.
Q: My vet told me a high number of laparoscopic procedures get converted to a traditional open surgery, so we should just go straight for the traditional surgery and skip the risk of needing to convert.
A: The risk and rate of conversion is extremely low and a rare case. In many cases, we can still perform an ovariohysterectomy laparoscopically, as well (Ie. If an abnormality is seen on the uterus itself).
Q: My vet performs a “Laser Spay” so I am already getting a less painful spay, right?
A: Unfortunately, no. A laser is only used to make the initial skin incision and this doesn’t contribute to much of the pain associated with a spay. The majority of the pain is from the ripping of the ovaries off of the body wall and pulling on the uterus to remove it through the smallest incision possible. A “Laser spay” is more of a marketing gimmick than true reduction in pain.
Q: Are you competent to be doing this? How many have you done?
A: We don’t take offense to this question! It is a very good question to ask. We have gone through extra training to learn this procedure and we perform multiple surgeries per week. Additionally, we are very familiar and comfortable with the anatomy of the dog, which is very important when performing surgery properly. The camera visualization allows us to perform this procedure even more safely than the traditional spay, that is done partially blinded.
Q: Do you perform laparoscopic spays on cats?
A: While it is possible to perform laparoscopic spays on cats, we do not recommend it. We are still technically performing a “minimally-invasive” surgery on cats – we just don’t need the fancy camera equipment to do it. We perform a traditional ovariectomy (uterus left behind) on cats. Because their ovaries are much more free, we do not have to rip and tear the ligaments much at all to get the ovaries where we need them, causing minimal pain. Cats also have much more flexible chests than dogs and people, making it much harder for them to breathe when the stomach is inflated with CO2, as is needed for laparoscopy. This increases their anesthetic risk. Because their surgery is already less painful, the risk of the CO2 does not outweigh the benefit for cats.
OFA Evaluations
In addition to our basic radiology services, we offer OFA certification evaluation. For more information on OFA Certification, see our References page.
Pharmacy
Pismo Beach Veterinary Hospital offers a comprehensive in-house pharmacy as well as an online pharmacy to meet your pets’ medicinal needs. In addition to prescription medications, we also offer a wide variety of over-the-counter medical products.
Physical Examination and Vaccinations
Here at Pismo Beach Veterinary Hospital, we encourage routine yearly physical exams and vaccinations. Annual examinations are an important part of caring for your pets and will help ensure that they live long, healthy, and happy lives!
Radiology
We offer a comprehensive in-house state-of-the-art digital radiology service, including dental radiography. Our well-trained technical staff and modern equipment allow us to provide radiographic analysis on a same-day or while-you-wait basis.
Reproduction Services
In addition to reproductive examination, counseling and surgery, we also offer pregnancy ultrasound evaluations and radiography. Ultrasound helps us to determine fetal health and stage of development, as well as to facilitate surgical decision making.
Soft Tissue / Orthopedic Surgery
Pismo Beach Veterinary Hospital offers a wide variety of surgical services, ranging from routine spays and neuters to fracture repairs and exploratory surgery.
Ultrasonography
Pismo Beach Veterinary Hospital is equipped with a modern ultrasound machine with color-flow doppler that allows us to perform detailed ultrasonographic studies on dogs and cats, as well as to facilitate fine-needle biopsies of internal organs.
Wellness Plans
Wish your veterinary bill was as predictable as your cell phone bill?
Introducing Easy, Affordable Preventive Care Plans!