Welcome to Middle River Veterinary Hospital,

On this page, you will find valuable information about our hospital and services. At Middle River Veterinary Hospital, we strive to provide the best possible medical and surgical care for your companion pets in a compassionate and caring environment. We seek to enhance the bonds between you and your animal companions by helping you to keep your pets healthy. We offer assistance with all aspects of pet behavior and training, so that you can teach your pet the skills it needs to be a valued and respected member of the family. 

When your pet stays with us for elective or emergency procedures, our highly trained staff will provide the professional care that your pet needs. We also take the extra steps that keep your pet content and comfortable during the hospital stay. We promise to give your pet the royal treatment that your very special friend deserves. We welcome your comments and questions and look forward to a long and rewarding relationship as your pet health care provider. 

Kathryn A. Cash, DVM and staff

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Wellness Program:

At Middle River Veterinary Hospital, we believe in helping pet owners to give their pets the best possible health care and to strengthen the bonds between owners and their pets. We know there is much more to a successful pet-owner relationship than vaccines and heartworm prevention. Therefore, we provide a multi-faceted approach to pet health care to help you provide the very best for your pets.

Socialization, Obedience and Behavior Training:

Each year animal shelters and veterinarians across the country must destroy thousands of animals due to behavior problems. While retraining, conditioning and psychotropic medications may be useful in correcting some established behavior problems, these behavior problems can be prevented through appropriate socialization and training of young puppies and kittens.

Our staff is trained to offer advice to prospective pet owners on the species and breeds best suited to an individual’s lifestyle, since many behavior problems stem from a specific breed choice that is inappropriate for the individual owner.  Once a new pet has been chosen, our staff will teach the new puppy and kitten owners how to interact with their new family members to prevent such common problems as aggression, separation anxiety, inappropriate elimination and destructive behavior.

We also provide advice on introducing a new adult dog or cat to a household, since in many cases, a busy lifestyle makes it difficult to spend the necessary time training a young puppy or kitten. We offer an extensive lending library of books and videos that have been screened and approved by our staff. 

Nutrition and Exercise:

The advent of premium pet nutrition has contributed significantly to an increased life expectancy of our companion pets. At Middle River Veterinary Hospital, we advocate feeding premium diets as an essential aspect of maintaining excellent pet health. While it is a challenge for many people to eat a healthy diet, pet food companies have made it easy and convenient to feed our pets well. The combination of a healthy diet and proper exercise can keep our pets active and healthy well into their “golden years”.

At Middle River Veterinary Hospital, our staff is trained to help you choose the best diet for your pet and to plan an appropriate exercise program. We provide a comprehensive weight loss program for obese pets, including strict dietary management, appropriate exercise and regular weight checks. The staff at Middle River Veterinary Hospital can also counsel owners of pets with chronically painful conditions, such as arthritis, on appropriate exercise programs and medications to help keep these pets active and comfortable.

Annual Wellness Testing:

Many disease processes begin insidiously and may not be detectable in the early stages even with a thorough physical examination. Since most diseases can be treated most successfully when detected early, we advocate annual wellness testing for all adult pets. As part of the annual comprehensive wellness examination, we will test your pet’s blood, urine and feces for evidence of disease, infection or parasitism. These tests also serve as a valuable reference guide to your pet’s normal values, should your pet become ill. If we detect abnormalities in your pet’s diagnostic profiles, we can perform additional diagnostic testing and develop a treatment plan to correct or manage any problems.

We recommend scheduling your pet’s wellness testing in conjunction with a professional dental cleaning. More than 80% of companion pets exhibit some degree of dental disease by age two. Routinely scheduled professional dental care throughout your pet’s lifetime helps to prevent oral pain, infection, tooth loss and systemic illnesses such as heart disease and kidney disease that can result from chronic untreated dental infections.

Senior and Geriatric Pet Programs:

Just like humans, our companion pets are living longer and healthier lives. They are also suffering from more age-related chronic conditions. At the age of seven, your pet will be eligible to join our senior pet health management program. This program involves more frequent comprehensive physical examinations and more extensive diagnostic testing. You will be advised on an appropriate diet and exercise program for you aging pet.

We advocate aggressive pain management for pets with chronically painful conditions and offer counseling to owners on age-related behavior changes. We train owners to monitor their pets and notify us of any changes that may signal a problem. We provide specialized individual care based on an individual pet and owner’s needs and assist owners in keeping their pets comfortable and healthy as long as possible. 

Surgical Procedures:

Middle River Veterinary Hospital offers a wide range of dental and soft-tissue surgical services, including the common elective procedures. Since surgery is never “routine”, our staff takes pride in providing the very best in patient risk assessment and monitoring. We understand that leaving your beloved pet for anesthesia and surgery is a stressful experience, so our staff strives to answer your questions and keep you informed about your pet’s condition throughout the day. For most elective procedures, your pet will be discharged from the hospital the day of surgery, although we will be happy to keep your pet in the hospital overnight if you prefer.

When your pet is admitted for surgery, a staff member will explain the procedure to be performed and answer your questions about the consent forms and estimate. After admission, pre-anesthetic blood tests will be performed. Immediately prior to your pet’s scheduled dental or surgical procedure, your pet will be anesthetized with a carefully chosen combination of anesthetics. The exact type of anesthesia used will depend on your pet’s breed, age and general health status. In all cases, we will use the safest and most effective anesthesia for your individual pet. During anesthesia and the recovery period, your pet will be monitored with equipment that measures cardiac and respiratory function.  Following completion of the surgical or dental procedure, your pet will be given medication to promote a pain-free recovery. After surgery, a staff member will call you to report on your pet’s status during recovery. At discharge, a staff member will review pre-aesthetic test results and post-operative instructions.

At Middle River Veterinary Hospital, we work hard to make anesthesia and surgery as minimally traumatic as possible for both you and your pet.

Emergencies:

Despite the best management, pet health emergencies do occur. Middle River Veterinary Hospital is equipped to handle most companion animal emergencies. If your pet should need emergency care during regular business hours, please call immediately to inform our staff of your pet’s condition and estimated time of arrival. Emergencies always take precedence over regularly scheduled appointments, and your pet’s condition will be assessed immediately upon arrival. In most cases, your pet will be hospitalized for testing and treatment. You will be notified as soon as test results are available or your pet’s condition has stabilized. Critical cases that require overnight monitoring will be referred to the Animal Emergency Clinic at the close of our business hours.

Common indications of a pet health emergency include:

• Vehicular trauma (hit-by-car)
• Sudden onset of pain, lameness or weakness
• Persistent vomiting and/or diarrhea
• Bloody diarrhea or vomiting
• Distended abdomen
• Labored breathing
• Severe depression / unresponsiveness
• Blue, brown, yellow or white gums
• Bleeding wounds
• Seizures

Also, pets should be promptly examined if there is possible or known ingestion of any of the following:

• Rodent poison
• Any herbicide or insecticide
• Acetaminophen (Tylenol)
• Ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil)
• Baking chocolate
• Alcohol
• Antifreeze
• Any human prescription medication
• Any veterinary prescription medication prescribed for another pet

Please bring with you the package for the ingested material, if possible!