Animal House Calls of North Shore provides in-home veterinary care in the Boston area. Based in Peabody, the practice travels to patients' homes to provide anxiety-free care in the pet's environment. The clinic's care services include vaccinations, diagnostic testing, nutritional management, and euthanasia. The founders of Animal House Calls of North Shore each have more than 30 years of veterinary experience.
At Home Veterinary has been serving pets and pet owners throughout Boston since 2005. It is a full-service veterinary practice specializing in house calls and providing a range of pet care services, including wellness examinations, vaccinations, microchipping, heartworm testing, and flea and tick prevention. The team of veterinarians and assistants also visits sick or injured animal companions, performs diagnostic tests, and prescribes medications. Its founder, Jeremy Gransky, had worked in multi-doctor clinics for eight years before transitioning into in-house veterinary care.
Back Bay Veterinary Clinic provides preventative medicine, emergency medicine, senior care, and behavior training for pets in the Boston area. The pet clinic also provides diagnostic imaging, surgery, dentistry, home care, and euthanasia. The practice has a selection of collars and toys for pet owners to take home with them, and stocks its pet pharmacy with prescription and maintenance diets. The clinic is accredited by the American Animal Hospital Association.
Boston Road Animal Clinic has served the Boston area for more than six years. The veterinary practice, based in Sutton, provides acupuncture, anesthesia, dental care, euthanasia, microchipping, nutritional counseling, and orthopedic surgery. The clinic has received praise for its caring, talented staff and their optimistic attitudes.
Charlestown Veterinary Hospital provides wellness exams, illness exams, allergy relief, anesthesia, dentistry, ear checks, geriatric care, and pain management in the Boston area. The pet clinic has an in-house laboratory and in-house pharmacy for fast diagnostics and care. The owner of the practice has more than 15 years of veterinary experience.
Since 1996, Dedham Veterinary Associates has cared for Boston-area cats and dogs. The pet clinic provides anesthesia, dental care, hospice care, nutritional counseling, pain management, microchipping, and general wellness exams. The practice performs specialty care for senior pets, puppies, and kittens. The clinic has a fully stocked pharmacy with flea, tick, and heartworm prevention products.
Fresh Pond Animal Hospital cares for dogs and cats in the Belmont area. The veterinary clinic is a full-service hospital that provides preventative care, internal medicine, soft tissue surgery, and sick or injured pet care. The practice has Sunday hours for busy clients. The clinic, founded in 1975, exclusively cares for dogs and cats. Pet owners attest to Fresh Pond Animal Hospital's caring, conscientious staff.
Harbor Veterinary House Calls, based in Winthrop, travels to homes in and around the Boston area to care for pets in their home environments. The practice provides general wellness care, annual exams and vaccines, sick patient exams, diagnostic tests, and senior pet care. The clinic also provides end-of-life services, including cremation. Clients have praised Harbor Veterinary House Calls for its caring doctors and reasonable prices.
New England Veterinary Clinic & Pet Resort has served the Salem area since 1963. The pet clinic cares for dogs, cats, and pocket pets and provides preventative care, spaying and neutering, sick and injured pet care, surgical care, dental cleanings, and grooming. The practice also has pet boarding available where pets get playtime and grooming during their stay.
North Shore Animal Hospital has cared for pets since 1982. The clinic, based in Lynn, provides therapeutic laser treatment, surgery, vaccinations, general wellness care, and parasite prevention. The practice has a veterinarian on call six days a week for emergency situations. Clients have praised North Shore Animal Hospital for its friendly staff and superior customer service.
Parkway Veterinary Hospital is a full-service veterinary hospital based in West Roxbury. The pet clinic specializes preventative wellness care, vaccinations, heartworm testing and prevention, surgery such as spaying and neutering, routine labwork, and dietary consultation. The practice has a full pet pharmacy, which includes prescription and specialty diets, as well as in-house x-ray machines and a full surgery suite. The founder of the clinic is accredited by the USDA and is a Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner.
PetMedic Urgent Care Vet Clinic offers urgent veterinary care to cats and dogs near Boston. Nir Ben-Ari founded the veterinary clinic to focus on providing urgent care treatment to pets suffering from conditions that need immediate attention but do not qualify as life-threatening emergencies. He treats allergies, diarrhea, vomiting, discharge, and bite wounds. Ben-Ari also handles wellness visits and preventive care services. His clinic is available after hours and during weekends.
Red Dog Boston provides general preventative care, boarding, and grooming services. The Boston pet clinic performs general surgery, dental care, onsite lab testing, microchipping, and diagnostic care. The practice also has a full pharmacy with prescription medicine, specialty diets, and flea and heartworm prevention medicine. The practice's pet resort has a doggie daycare, day stays, an aquatic center, chiropractic care, behavior training, and pet pickup and delivery.
South Boston Animal Hospital cares for cats, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, gerbils, mice, and hamsters. The clinic provides puppy and kitten care, senior pet exams, spaying and neutering, flea and tick preventative products, and sick pet exams. The lead veterinarian has practiced veterinary care since 2001, and pet owners have praised her for her empathy and intelligence.
Village Veterinary Clinic cares for dogs and cats with surgery, boarding, preventative care, radiology, and grooming. The practice, based in Brookline, won the Best of Boston Award in the Veterinarian category from Boston magazine. The pet clinic's owner has more than 30 years of veterinary experience, while the operator of grooming has more than 20 years of grooming experience. Clients have praised the clinic for its helpful, accommodating staff.
Willard Veterinary Clinic serves pets in Quincy, South Shore, and Milton. The veterinary clinic's lead veterinarian has practiced animal care for more than 25 years. The practice's services include geriatric pet care, diabetes care, cancer treatment, pain management, nutritional consultation, and allergy care. The clinic also microchips pets. Willard Veterinary Clinic is certified by the American Association of Feline Practitioners as a Cat-Friendly Practice and uses the American Animal Hospital Association standards for pain management.
This depends on the age of your pet. Ideally, puppies should have their first vet visit between six to eight weeks old, and kittens should see the vet within one week of bringing them home. Healthy adult animals need a checkup once per year. Vets recommend two exams per year for senior pets (age 10 and up).
Aside from preventing unwanted pregnancy, sterilization has other benefits for pets. Spayed females won't go into heat, and they have a lower risk of developing ovarian cancer and mammary gland tumors. Neutering males reduces aggressive behavior, territorial marking, and roaming urges. It also eliminates the possibility of testicular cancer and can reduce the chance of prostate disease.
Dogs are very commonly affected by heartworm disease, so they should be on medication to prevent it all year long. Heartworm preventatives are available as topical “spot-on” medications, monthly chewable pills, and injections that are given every six to 12 months. Heartworms are less common in cats, but preventative medication is still recommended.
In general, puppies and kittens need several types of vaccines every three to four weeks until they're 16 weeks old. Depending on the vaccine, your pet might need a booster shot every one to three years. Pets that are indoors-only may require fewer and less frequent vaccinations.
Poor oral hygiene can lead to dental disease in animals as young as two to three years of age. To help prevent this, vets recommend that you brush your pet's teeth at least two to three times a week. Dogs and cats should also have a professional dental cleaning once per year.
According to the ASPCA, cats need a diet that's high in protein and taurine, which can only be found in meat and other animal products. They also struggle to digest carbohydrates from plants. Dogs can eat plants, but it's difficult to provide adequate nutrition for them on a vegan diet.
Dogs drag their rear ends on the floor for a number of reasons, including clogged anal sacs, intestinal parasites, and food allergies. Some groomers express a dog's anal glands manually, which is often unnecessary and can cause irritation that leads to scooting. If you notice frequent scooting, contact a veterinarian to figure out the cause.
Brachycephalic animals are prone to obstructive breathing due to the short muzzles and flattened faces they were bred to have. Common brachycephalic breeds are the pug, French and English bulldogs, Boston terrier, Pekingese, shih tzu, boxer, and bull mastiff. Brachycephaly can occur in cats such as the Persian, Himalayan, and Burmese breeds, and in rabbits such as Netherland Dwarfs and Holland Lops.
For puppies, it depends on the dog's breed and size. Generally, dogs are considered ready for adult food around 18-24 months of age. Large breeds take a bit longer to mature. Toy breeds can reach their adult size in as little as 10 months. Cats should be transitioned to adult food when they're around 12 months old.
It can be tempting to declaw a cat to stop it from scratching your furniture, but it's a medically unnecessary procedure that does the animal more harm than good. Declawing can cause paw and back pain, lameness, tissue necrosis, and discomfort when using the litter box. Better alternatives include keeping your pet's nails trimmed and providing scratching posts around your home.
The pet may already belong to someone, so check for a collar and tags, or have it scanned for a microchip at your local animal shelter or veterinary clinic. Many people who lose a pet will look for it at nearby shelters, so consider leaving the animal there to give the owner a better chance of finding it.
Dogs don't see in black and white, but they're unable to recognize many of the colors that humans can. The colors they can see best are blue, yellow, and combinations of these shades. Objects that are green, orange, and red appear to be dull brown or gray through a dog's eyes.
In the United States, vets must obtain a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) or Veterinary Medical Doctor (VMD) degree to practice. Some choose a dual DVM/Ph.D. or DVM/M.S. program, and others opt for specialty training after earning their degree. Becoming a veterinarian takes about four years of undergraduate education and four years to complete a DVM or VMD program.
Veterinary technician requirements vary by state. Most vet technicians must complete an AVMA-accredited two-year associate or four-year bachelor's program and pass the VTME exam. Some states have alternate paths to credentialing, such as passing a certification exam at a specialist academy.
Vet assistants help veterinarians and technicians with their daily tasks, set up equipment, and clean key areas of the clinic, such as kennels and operating rooms. There are certification programs for vet assistants, but most are trained for these tasks on the job.
Vet technicians serve many roles in the clinic. They act as surgical nurses, lab and radiography technicians, and supervisors to veterinary assistants. Technicians also meet with pet owners and usually provide the initial exam of their animal. They can administer vaccines and medications, but are not allowed to write prescriptions or provide a diagnosis without veterinarian approval.
Veterinary assistants typically earn about $13.75 an hour, or $28,590 per year. Vet technicians, on average, make $17 per hour, or $35,320 per year for full-time employment.
