Services

We treat Dogs, cats, rabbits, mice, rats, and guinea pigs. We treat the simpler problems of birds and reptiles, bats, and wildlife.

Nurse Based Services

• Hydrobaths - medicated washes and flea rinses available
• Dog and cat nail trims
• Weight control clinics
• Puppy preschool
• Cat Clipping with sedation available
• Flea and worm control advice

Wellness Care

• Wellness check ups
• Vaccinations
• Microchipping
• After Hours Emergency Care
• Puppy and Kitten Care
• Senior Care
• Desexing
• Diagnostic Care
• Internal Medicine
• Surgical Services

Wellness check ups

Para Hills Veterinary Clinic recommends regular check ups or wellness exams every 6 -12 months. During these consultations we will check the health of your pet including eyes, ears, mouth and teeth, lymph nodes, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, bladder, reproductive tract, anal glands and anus. We palpate or look at all these areas and will make any suggestions if further investigations are needed. Joints are palpated for signs of arthritis or other problems and skin is looked at for health and parasites. We will assess your pets weight and answer any questions you may have regarding your pet’s health.

Vaccinations

Vaccinations are essential to guard against common deadly diseases such as distemper, parvovirus and hepatitis. They also help guard against other common diseases such as canine cough (both the bacterial and the viral form), cat influenza, and feline aids. Every animal is unique in what type of vaccination is recommended and each vet will be happy to work put the best for your pet. In Dogs it is generally recommended that a 5-in-1 vaccination is used and in cats both a 3-in-1 and a feline aids vaccination is recommended. At Para Hills Veterinary Clinic we take vaccines seriously and recommend yearly boosters of vaccinations. Parvovirus still occurs in outbreaks, especially in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, causing much heartbreak to those effected and is so easily prevented by vaccinating yearly. Feline AIDS runs rampant amongst outdoor cats and causes many unnecessary deaths. The infection rates are over 40% in unprotected undersexed males. We are lucky enough to have a new feline aids vaccine that is able to help prevent the tragedies associated with feline aids. If your cat is not covered against feline aids then please book your cat in now to begin their feline aids (FIV) vaccine course.

Microchipping

Pet identification is an essential part of owning a pet, and microchipping is the only way of permanently identifying your pet, a way that can’t fall off, or be lost like a collar or tag. Microchipping is a safe, easy, cheap way of permanently identifying your pet. A micrcohip is about the size of a grain of rice and is implanted under the skin between your pets shoulder blades. It can be done at the same time as your pets vaccination and does not require an anaesthetic. The chip is encoded with a special number that is linked to a national database containing all yours and your pets details. If your pet should ever become found and presented at the RSPCA, Animal Welfare League, Local Council or at the local vet’s it will automatically be scanned and the number used to reunite you with your pet. It costs less than $50 to microchip and register your pet for life.

After Hours Emergency Care

If your pet is injured or sick outside of our opening hours we recommend that your pet be taken to the:
Adelaide veterinary after Hours Emergency Centre pH 8362 1722

Puppy and Kitten Care

Para Hills Veterinary Care loves to help welcome new pets into their homes! Puppyhood and kittenhood are extremely important times in your pets life and we can help make these times a pleasure. We can give advice on an appropriate vaccination schedule, on microchipping, desexing, starting heartworm and flea control, and starting a dental care regime. We are proud to offer a special puppy or kitten pack filled with health care information, vouchers and samples. We would especially love to see you and your pet attend our puppy preschools where we will help give you the basics on socialisation and health care.

Senior Care

The more senior years of your pets life should be a time of contented old age. Let us help you allow your pet to enjoy a pain-free and extended old age. We can give your pet a full physical examination and suggest further tests as necessary. In this way we can pick up problems early and manage them. We know that diseases such as kidney disease, when picked up early, can be managed to allow a longer, more comfortable life. Conditions like arthritis can be managed by lots of techniques to allow more comfort for your senior pet. Talk to us now about ways we can improve the life of your senior pet.

Desexing

All pets should be desexed unless you have put a lot of time and thought into breeding prior to starting. We desex animals for many reasons. The first and foremost is that unfortunately these are not enough homes in Australia for all the pets that we have currently- this results in about 50 dogs and about 50 cats being put to sleep in Adelaide alone -each and every day. Every puppy or kitten that you choose to breed will use up one more home that could have saved a puppy or kitten already alive. We also desex for behavioural reasons- undesexed male dogs tend to be more prone to fight, urinate on things, show aggression, and wander. Undesexed female dogs are more prone to wander and show unusual or out of character aggression at time of seasons. Cats are also more likely to spray urine, and to fight and wander when left undesexed. Veterinary visits and Veterinary bills are considerably higher in undesexed animals due to injuries from wandering and fighting. Lastly we desex for health reasons such as preventing testicular and prostate problems in males and uterine infections and mammary cancers in undesexed females. If you are still unsure then please refer to the following websites:

• www.ndn.org.au
• www.rspca.org.au/how-you-can-help/ .../.html

Diagnostic Care

Para Hills Veterinary Clinic has its own in house diagnostic laboratory with a High quality microscope, blood analysis machine, centrifuge, urine analysis strips, and x ray machine. These facilities enable us to get the best picture of your animals health and some or all of these may be used to diagnose your pet.

Para Hills Veterinary Clinic uses modern radiology facilities to provide high quality radiographs (x-rays). Radiographs are an extremely important diagnostic tool that allows us to see “inside” your pet. It helps us to diagnose things like masses or tumours in the abdomen or chest, it allows us to look at bones and joints, it helps us evaluate the urinary , digestive and reproductive tracts. Our radiographs may be viewed and evaluated by our team of veterinarians or sent to a specialist for a second opinion if needed.
When indicated we can arrange for an ultrasound of your pet.

Para Hills Veterinary Clinic has in house blood machines that are capable of analysing a basic blood sample and giving us results in less than half an hour. For more complicated results we often send blood to Gribbles or Idexx Veterinary Laboratories. In this way we are able to check the internal health of your pet including your pet's kidneys, liver, sugar and protein levels. When a lump is removed we also send it to the laboratory where they can tell us what it is and what is the likelihood of it regrowing. Urine and faeces may also be examined at our inhouse laboratory or sent to away to a laboratory.

Internal Medicine

Para Hills Veterinary Clinic is a full service facility capable of providing treatment for your pet in a number of different areas. We cover all aspects of internal medicine including:

• Cardiology
• Neurology
• Dermatology
• Dental care
• Gastroenterology
• Oncology
• Endocrinology
• Opthalmology

Surgical Services

Para Hills Veterinary Clinic prides itself on providing a high class surgical services. We have vets trained and competent at providing a wide range of surgical services including:

• Orthopaedic surgery
• Soft tissue surgery
• Gastrointestinal surgery
• Reproductive surgery
• Dental and oral surgery
• Ear and Eye Surgery

We believe that the way we do our surgery is what makes it so successful and minimizes side effects and complications. We ensure that most patients receive perioperative fluids to maintain their circulation and blood pressure. If possible we put your pet onto intravenous fluids prior to the surgery and leave the fluids running for the surgery for as much of the day as possible. We ensure that only skilled surgeons are performing the operations. We ensure that your pet is given good levels of analgesia. Analgesia may involve narcotic drugs, anti-inflammatories, epidurals, local anaesthetic blocks or intra articular injections of narcotics. Lastly we ensure that your pet is fully monitored during all of its anaesthetic through to the time that it is fully awake. To ensure safety of the anaesthetic we get the surgeon to check the patients health on the morning of the surgery and we recommend a blood test to check their internal health prior to giving an anaesthetic.