An Animal Hospital Serving Maryland

Veterinary medicine pre World War I was focused solely upon caring for the domesticated farm and work animals that provided our livelihood and our transportation. Not so today. Our pets are taking a central position in our families and so is caring for them. As human medicine capitalizes on the many technological advances being made daily, so too does the medicine associated with veterinary care.

The application of medical, surgical, dental, diagnostic, public health, and therapeutic principles to non-human animals, including wildlife and domesticated animals, including livestock, working animals, and companion animals, is collectively termer, "veterinary medicine". Veterinarians practice their craft in a wide range of facilities including veterinary clinics, hospitals and animal shelters. Their "craft" which can include ultrasonography, radiographs and phytomedicine, is getting better by the day. As a result, pets are living longer and are enjoying a better quality of life.

While these new technologies bring hope, they often come with a high price tag. The concern is that as these advances are being made, the science will gravitate away from the very thing that it has built a reputation as representing, i.e., "the compassionate profession". Has there been a tradeoff?

Just a scant twenty years ago, the scalpel was the main tool in the veterinary surgery operating room. Today, laser technology is standard because it reduces bleeding, pain and time in surgery. A feline ultrasound is as common as a human diagnostic ultrasound. Dental radiology is as routine as teeth cleaning for dogs and veterinary surgeons belong to a real specialty of veterinary medicine.

Advances in diagnostics such as veterinary ultrasound, veterinary radiology, echocardiography, and even MRI's are transforming veterinary medicine and disease detection. Cancer in pets is now considered treatable and often with a good outcome. Tendon and bone problems in equine and canine athletes can be diagnosed much sooner, often before the animal has any pain and with very good results for the animals and their owners.

If these positive results are considered "trade offs", then we are almost positive that most pet owners don't feel that way. Perspective, as usual, always cloud judgment. And that's just our opinion.

Now, how about the progress being made in the emergency veterinary clinics and hospitals? There is no doubt that the range of services that pet clinics are able to provide has expanded immensely. Clinics are capable of handling procedures such as an ultrasound guided core biopsy, that only hospitals handled a decade ago. They may even have on-board pharmacies to dispense veterinary drugs and medicines that previously had to be filled elsewhere.

A 24 hour emergency vet may be so well prepared to handle animal emergencies that the need for intensive aftercare following a major trauma may not even be an issue to worry about, all thanks to the reduced pain management and surgical efficiency of the veterinary laser.

Sure, the study of veterinary medicine has evolved with time and the associated costs have out-paced the treatments at times, but as our pets are seen as family members more and more, just like our two-legged ones, who's to say how much is too much in an effort to save or improve the quality of their lives?