Retail Area

While you wait for your appointment, be sure to browse our retail section - we carry a variety of pet food products, as well as leashes, Halties, grooming supplies and toys. As well, we have a special section on pet loss and bereavement.

Reception Area

When you first walk into our clinic, you will find yourself in the reception area, the first stop of our tour. This is where our clients wait to be seen by the veterinarian. Sit back and relax by watching our fish tank or read a magazine while you wait for your appointment!

Appointment Rooms

At our clinic, we have four appointment rooms. Each room is equipped with everything the veterinarian needs to examine and treat an animal during their visit to our hospital. One of our exam rooms is even equipped with Ultrasound, which is often used to determine if a cat or dog is pregnant (on your next visit you may want to ask about our ultrasound services!).

I used to notice how sometimes animals are afraid to go into
the appointment rooms...but I can't blame them, since
sometimes they have to get needles, which can be scary.
But the veterinarians here are so nice, there really isn't any reason
to be afraid!

Diagnostic Laboratory

This is where our RVT (Registered Veterinary Technician) Tonya and Patsy work. This was one of the places in the clinic that I really didn't understand that well. Some of the machines in the above picture are called (I think!) a microscope (for looking at slides of gross things, like stool, urine and even stuff from animal's ears! Yuck!), a blood machine (this one is for looking at animal's blood to make sure everything is normal, like if there is enough white blood cells and how their internal organs are working), and a centrifuge (used to spin tubes with samples really fast, so that the sample separates into various components).

I used to like to sit in the chair by the microscope and watch our technicians run lots of neat tests, like heartworm tests, feline leukemia tests, and analyze blood samples. I often get in trouble for sitting in their chair though!

Next to the lab station is our next visit on the tour, the clinic pharmacy!

Pharmacy

Our clinic pharmacy is really neat...it is where all the medication is kept that makes animals feel better! What's really cool is that I've heard from a couple of the veterinarians that some of the medication that we use for cats and dogs is the same as the medication that humans use! But one thing I know that I'm not allowed to have (or any cat) is Tylenol...it would kill me!

I spent a lot of my time in the pharmacy. I liked to sit in the sink and catch drops from the faucet. When I was feeling really mischievous, I would knock empty pill bottles onto the floor and chase them!

Preparation/Treatment Area

Just behind the pharmacy is the preparation (or 'prep') area. This is where the veterinarian's get animals ready for surgery. After an animal is finished in surgery, it is brought back to the preparation area for recovery. While the veterinarians and assistants wait for the animals to wake up from their snooze (thanks to the anaesthetic!), they often clip the animal's nails, spray them for fleas, and brush their coat! When the animals wake up again, they are moved to a comfy kennel to fully recover from the surgery.

In the morning when the veterinarians are in surgery, this area is very, very busy! I tried to avoid it as much as possible! But I had a front row seat to what goes on there since my bed sat on top of the dryer which is just next to the prep area. Sometimes it was so noisy there, I could barely have my nap!

Radiology

Just off from the prep area is the radiology. This is where the veterinarians and assistants take various x-rays of animals, to see what they look like on the inside! Sometimes they need to see if a dog or cat has a broken leg, or if something is wrong with their internal organs. Whoever holds the animal on the table has to make sure they wear a protective vest and gloves. These contain lead, and keep the person safe from x-rays! People often stand behind that wall next to the table to be protected from the x-rays too. Taking x-rays can sometimes be very difficult, since the settings on the machine have to be just right so that the x-ray turns out clear and precise.

After taking the x-ray, someone goes into the developing room to develop the x-ray. The room has to be almost completely dark so that the light doesn't expose the film before it is developed! The only light in the developing room is a red light (for some reason red light doesn't expose film and ruin it, but I'm not really sure why!). It takes about two minutes to develop an x-ray - it goes inside an automatic processor where is travels through a developer and a finished fluid, thus allowing us to see what is on the x-ray!

Surgery Area

The surgery area is located just off the treatment area. This is where animals get operated on! The surgery area has two beds and oxygen/anaesthetic machines. These machines make sure an animal breathes, and stays sleeping while being operated upon. It is very important that everything is kept very sterile during surgery. That means that the area of the animal that will be operated upon has to be cleaned with a soap called hibitane, then with alcohol, and finally with something called betadine which will help clean and sterilize the surgical area free of bad organisms. That also means that all instruments have to be autoclaved (heated to a very high temperature so that any bacteria will die) and stored in kits before they are used during surgery. As well, the veterinarian has to wear sterile gloves (they can't touch anything but the animal and their instruments or they will contaminate themselves and will have to put on a new pair of sterile gloves!). This helps to protect the animal from infection from bacteria. While the animals are under anesthetic, we monitor them very closely using machines which measure respiration, heart rate and the percentage of oxygen in the tissues.

Sometimes the veterinarian will look at an x-ray while operating to help them find a bladder stone, or even something an animal ate (like a telephone cord!). Speaking of telephone cords, the veterinarians here have removed lots of weird things from animal's stomachs, including a telephone cord, a needle and thread, rocks, golf balls, barbie shoes, pantyhose, fish hooks, condoms, and even turkey bones! You really have to watch your animal, or they may eat just about anything they can find!

Dentistry Area

The dentistry area is just located next to the prep area. This is where animals have their teeth cleaned, pulled, etc. Of course, they need to be hooked up to the oxygen/anaesthetic machine to make sure they don't feel a thing while being operated upon. It is important to keep an animal's teeth nice and clean, since if not, they can get the same kind of problems humans can: gum disease, tartar, and rotten teeth! As well, rotten teeth can be an entry point for bacteria which could travel to animal's organs, such as their heart (causing heart disease!) You can keep your animal's teeth nice and clean by brushing them with special toothpaste, feeding special foods, and not feeding them table scraps! We have a dental x-ray machine in here too, which allows the veterinarians to take pictures of an animal's teeth. This helps them tell which teeth are OK, and which ones need to be pulled.