Animal Hospital

We provide a broad spectrum of diagnostic procedures through in-house testing and the use of external laboratories. The Animal Hospital of South Gorham maintains a variety of diagnostic tools to aid our doctors in treating your pets.  These services include blood panels, stool exams, radiographs (x-rays), and echocardiograms.

Advances in veterinary dentistry allow us to keep your pets healthier.  It has been well established that oral infections lead to liver, kidney and lung infections.  Recent studies have linked chronic gingivitis (infected gums) to pancreatic cancer in people.  

Most dogs and cats need to start routine dental cleanings at between 4 and 8 years of age.  These can be earlier in some breeds (particularly toy dogs and purebred cats).  Dentistries are usually performed annually, but good home dental hygiene practices can help to decrease the frequency to every two years.  A thorough dental cleaning is done under general anesthesia.  Awake procedures rarely address the disease, as subgingival cleaning cannot be thorough.  Often scaling alone leads to further advanced disease unbeknownst to the owner.

Our staff perform careful anesthesia under constant veterinary supervision.  We routinely anesthetize cats over fifteen years of age and dogs over twelve years.  Owners often report a return of appetite, vigor and well being that they haven't seen for years.  Your pet should be returned to you with fresh breath and clean, healthy teeth.  We use radiographs (x-rays) to assess questionable teeth.  Please ask our staff to demonstrate home care techniques and products.

Dr.s Niedermeyer and Mulski have a particular interest in exotic animals and their care.  Rabbits, guinea pigs and chinchillas can have overgrown molars and/or incisors which can adversely affect their health.  Our veterinarians regularly attend conferences to ensure that we offer you the best possible care.  Specialized dental instruments facilitate and speed dental trims.  We are experienced with catheter placement, intubation and general anesthesia of many exotic species.

No matter what the surgical need of your pet, all patients are monitored by EKG.  Our staff assesses pukse quality,  blood oxygenation, and respiration. Your animal may receive fluid therapy through an IV catheter.  Pain  injections are standard. We perform routine pre-anesthetic testing (CBC and chemistry panel). A trained hospital/surgical technician will remain with your pet until they are fully awake, and you will receive a phone call after surgery.  Our veterinarians are extremely conscientious about updating owners regarding their pets status. All surgeries are performed aseptically, antibiotics are rarely necessary.   

Spay or Neuter: Patients admitted for spay or neuter are placed under general anesthesia for surgery and are hospitalized over night. They are provided with adequate pain management as well as the monitoring and treatments listed above. While sedated, we recommend an x-ray of your dog’s hips for evaluation of conformation. This will identify candidates for corrective procedures, and make owners aware of their dog’s potential for future problems with hip dysplasia.

Feline Declaw: All patients admitted for declaw receive general anesthesia. Monitoring and fluid therapy is as listed above. Adequate pain medications are provided.  We hospitalize our patients for two days to limit postoperative activity.  All cats are sent home with a pelletted paper litter that minimizes the risk of postoperative problems. 

Mass Removal: A variety of growths/masses can be removed from skin, eyelids, lips, etc. as needed. Owners may opt to send samples for pathological diagnosis. Monitoring and fluid therapy is as listed above.

Exploratory Surgery: Should it be deemed necessary, we offer exploratory surgery for the purpose of biopsies, foreign body removal, evaluation of internal organs, removal of certain cancers, and several other conditions. Monitoring and treatments are as listed above. Adequate pain and antibiotic medications are provided.

 

Each year more pets are relinquished or euthanized for behavior related problems than for all medical causes combined.  Behavior problems are extremely frustrating for owners and cause the bond between owners and pets to quickly deteriorate.  Many owners do not know where to turn for help and receive multiple conflicting ideas about how to best solve the problem.  The area of animal behavior counseling has recently evolved to give these pet owners somewhere to turn.  There is hope for these pets, but we need to accurately identify the cause of their behavior and then examine how it affects them and their family.  A logical plan can then be developed to modify the behavior based on how animals learn.

At Animal Hospital of South Gorham our goal is to keep pets a valuable member of their family by providing professional services and educating owners about animal behavior.  Once an owner understands why their pet exhibits a certain behavior, the treatment plan begins to make sense and the bond between pet and owner can be restored.

Some example of behavior issues we address are:

Dogs: Jumping, Lack of training, Aggression, Separation anxiety, Fear, nervousness, Excessive barking, Excitability, House soiling, marking, Acral lick dermatitis, Spinning/tail chasing, Fear of thunder.

Cats: Fear, Repetitive behavior, Aggression, Spraying/elimination problems.

Birds: Screaming, Aggression, Feather plucking, Self-mutilation, Stereotypic behaviors.

Pet owners must be responsible to provide the proper environmental conditions for their exotic pets. Considering that their habitat is different from the normal pets, these owners must be updated and in-the-know of the right housing and diet for these creatures. If they don't have enough information about taking care of animals that are already in captivity, they might endanger them even more.

Proper housing may be difficult to attain because it might be expensive. The correct environment to put the creature in is also dependent on the specific temperature and the amount of sunlight the creature would get. Above all, giving the exotic pet the right food and the correct diet isn't only difficult, it could also be impossible.