By Jennifer Rico and Karla Tran
Staff Writers
When you arrive at the VCA Blossom Hill Animal Hospital, located on the south side of San Jose, you see a small animal hospital with calming trees surrounding the area, a large mall behind the building and a small one-story building painted blue and white in front of you. Inside there are animal pictures and posters all around the room, making you and your pet feel comforted.
Once you are greeted with a simple hello, staff employees are there to answer any of your questions and help your needs. They do this on a daily basis, making sure that their service benefits both you and your pet.
If your pet gets injured or sick, what do you do? You take them to an animal hospital or clinic. There you will be greeted by friendly employees who are ready to assist your needs.
See the video below to learn more about your local animal hospitals:
It is important to take care of our animals because they are a vital part of our community. Pets mean a lot to most people, and they bring the most joy to their owners, so keeping them in good health can provide the most comforting life possible to both your pet and you. Bringing them to an animal hospital can help maintain your pet’s long-term health.
Out of all of the animal hospitals we tried to contact, VCA Blossom Hill Animal Hospital was the only who responded to our interview request. However, there are many other options around the community that are available for you. For example, Alum Rock Animal Hospital, VCA Crocker Animal Hospital and San Jose Animal Hospital.
On VCA’s website, they regularly post about events to inform pet owners what to do if their pet ever gets an injury or needs a checkup. They do this to make sure all types of animals can get the care they need.
Bringing your pet to the vet soon after getting them or soon after they are injured is very important, as introducing your new pet to a vet and establishing a relationship is key to maintaining your pet’s lifelong health. Plus, any injury should be further investigated in case it is a major situation.
Animal hospitals are ready for any task that comes to face them with a calm and composed manner. Veterinarians and other employees are the people who make sure that not only your pet is safe but also that you’re taken care of as well. In other non-emergency situations, they are ready to treat you and your pet with the best possible care.
When we arrived, we asked to see if there were any patients available to be shown, and we were shown a sick kitten who suffered from ring worms. It was surrendered by its previous owner and was given to VCA Blossom Hill Animal Hospital. This is just a small example of how the animal shelter helps out the community.
Both humans and animals can get ringworms by either having skin-to-skin contact or by touching an infected animal or object. This usually looks like a typical rash in the form of a circle around the infected area.
If not treated, the skin can become irritated and painful. Worse, it can spread throughout the body, leading to more irritation and pain. This can make the treatment plan last longer and become highly dangerous for doctors and employees to cope with; hence, it is a highly contagious skin disease.
The kitten was surrendered by its previous owner due to the fact that it had this highly contagious fungal infection which the owner did not want to pay for. This led to the arrival of the kitten at the animal hospital for a treatment plan for its ringworms. The animal hospital hopes that the kitten finds a new home with loving and caring owners where it can thrive freely.
Although it was surrendered, it is still doing well with its treatment as of today. It is recovering with the help of friendly employees and doctors on site to make sure that it will recover quickly provided with medication and a temporary place to call home before discovering a place the kitten can permanently call home.
“At VCA, your pet’s health is our top priority and excellent service is our goal. We strive to provide the very best in medical care, and our hospitals provide a full range of general, surgical and specialized care. This is how our veterinarians would treat their own pets. And we offer nothing less than that to you,” stated the VCA website.
Dr. Catarina Steele, an animal doctor at VCA Blossom Hill, spends her time taking care of animals in need of assistance. “Dr. Catarina Steele earned both her undergraduate degree and her Masters in Animal Science from the University of Florida. She went on to earn her DVM from the Western University of Health Sciences. Originally from Florida, Dr. Steele joined the VCA Blossom Hill team in May of 2014. She has a special interest in feline medicine, and her favorite part of her job is getting to help animals,” stated her VCA online biography.
In about a month and a half, VCA Blossom Hill Animal Hospital is going to move to a different location. They’re doing so because the current building has been there for a long time and is too small for the staff there. They want to move to a bigger space to further help meet their customers’ concerns and to establish a new and fresh beginning, according to Dr. Steele.
“If it comes in as an emergency, we look at the animal; the technicians look at it first to make sure if they’re stable or not, heart rate, we check their respiratory rate, temperature, things like that to assess how serious it is and then go from there,” Dr. Steele explained.
Animal hospitals take all types of animals in, from rabbits to dogs, and their veterinarians dedicate their time to make sure your pet comes out better than before. From minimal to extensive injuries to routine checkups, they make sure that your pet friend is cared for.
Treatment can take from as little as a couple days to weeks and months depending on the pet’s treatment plan. They diagnose and control animal diseases and treat sick and injured animals.
Checksups include general examinations of body, heart rate monitoring, vaccines if needed and tests to see if your pet is healthy. Animal hospitals are important because they save many animals’ lives every day. They are not only heroes to animals, but they are also heroes to people too. When they help out a animal friend, the owner feels sympathy and relief knowing that their pet will come home healthier.
With specialized care, pet owners can rely on animal hospitals to provide the fullest care in order to help animals get better by giving them medicine or performing surgery on them. One of the greatest benefits of bringing your pet friend into a animal hospital is the chance to promote the health and welfare of your pet. You also have the ability to relieve the suffering of animals that have experienced traumatic injuries or chronic illnesses.
Protecting the health of our pets should always be important. No one loves your pet more than yourself, and it is important that you make a difference in the quality of life you and your pet experience together. Thus, we must take care of our animal friends and bring them to a nearby animal hospital when they are in need of care.
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