Services

FOR AFTER HOURS EMERGENCY, PLEASE CONTACT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING HOSPITALS:

Silicon Valley Veterinary Specialists- 408-649-7070

Pacific & Santa Cruz Veterinary Specialists- 831-475-5400

Pet Specialists of Monterey- 831-899-4838

Wellness Exams

A wellness visit is a holistic evaluation of your pet that encompasses all aspects of your pet’s well-being.


At San Benito Veterinary Center, we believe that prevention is the best medicine. Even if your pet seems healthy at home, wellness examinations by a skilled veterinarian every 6 to 12 months are crucial to the well being of your pet. Our pets cannot tell us when they are in pain or are uncomfortable, and many animals are naturally inclined to act well when they are feeling sick. Our veterinarians are skilled at detecting subtle clues on physical examination that can give a wealth of insight into the health of your pet. In doing so, many diseases and disorders can be diagnosed earlier, leading to improved quality of life and longevity for your pet. 



During your pet’s wellness visit, some diagnostics and treatments that might be recommended include vaccinations, heartworm testing, flea and heartworm prevention, deworming, senior blood panels, and possibly other diagnostics or treatments based on the findings of the physical examination and the history you provide us. Vaccinations are an integral part of most wellness examinations, however, certain physical exam findings and health concerns may lead us to recommend against vaccinating your pet at that time. 

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Sick Pet Visit

A sick pet visit is any visit that is not a wellness visit. In essence, it is a visit that is geared at addressing a specific medical or behavioral issue your pet might be experiencing.  The veterinarians and staff at San Benito Veterinary Center are skilled and experienced at managing the variety of ailments that may afflict your pet, and we strive to collaborate with you to provide the highest quality medicine to ensure that your pet has the best chance of recovery. 


The following non-exhaustive list includes common problems that we see and how urgently they need to be seen. 


For concerns regarding urgent or emergent cases, please reference the “Urgent Care” and “Emergency and Critical Care” sections. 

Non-urgent problems:

  • Ear infections
  • Itching
  • Occasional or mild limping
  • Dental disease
  • Changes in urination habits
  • Behavioral concerns
  • Internal and external parasites
  • Occasional coughing/sneezing
  • Masses
  • Increased thirst and urination

Urgent problems:

  • Profuse vomiting and diarrhea 
  • Severe or acute limping
  • Frequent coughing/sneezing
  • Exercise intolerance
  • Mild to moderate wounds
  • Lethargy
  • Severe skin infections
  • Mild to moderate back pain
  • Ocular pain

Emergent problems:

  • Trouble breathing
  • Anaphylactic reaction (bee sting)
  • Snake bite
  • Trauma
  • Uncontrolled bleeding
  • Inability to urinate
  • Inappropriate vulvar discharge
  • Severe pain
  • Active seizures
  • Dystocia
  • Acute collapse
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Dental Care

Dental disease is one of the most common diseases affecting animals. In fact, without proper dental care, many dogs and cats will develop severe, painful, and debilitating dental disease as they age. Even so, many animals do not show outward signs of oral discomfort, making it difficult to know when your pet is in pain.


As such, San Benito Veterinary Center places great importance on prophylactic dental care. Even if your pet’s teeth appear healthy to you, yearly or bi yearly dental cleaning is essential to slow down the progression of dental disease. Dental prophylaxis on healthy teeth is much less expensive then dental prophylaxis on unhealthy teeth, since many unhealthy teeth need to be extracted, so being proactive with dental care is more cost effective in the long run.


Although dental prophylaxis involves teeth cleaning and visual inspection of teeth, much of the pain of dental disease occurs due to changes in tooth roots and the bone surrounding them; structures under the gumline that cannot be seen on visual inspection of the mouth. Dental radiographs are an essential element of dental care. Fortunately, San Benito Veterinary Center recently acquired a high-quality digital dental radiology system along with a new dental scaling and polishing unit, allowing us to provide expert care of your pet’s teeth. 


Emergency / Critical Care

We consider an emergency to be a medical condition that, unless addressed immediately, could result in death, extreme suffering, or permanent disability. Examples of medical conditions that fit these criteria include (but are not limited to) the following:


  • Trouble breathing
  • Anaphylactic reaction (bee sting)
  • Snake bite
  • Trauma
  • Uncontrolled bleeding
  • Inability to urinate
  • Inappropriate vulvar discharge
  • Severe pain
  • Active seizures
  • Dystocia
  • Acute collapse


Our philosophy:

Although San Benito Veterinary Center is not an emergency clinic, we understand that the closest emergency clinic to Hollister is 45-60 minutes away. We will make every effort possible to accommodate your pet when they are in need of emergency care. However, because we are a general practice and not an emergency clinic and have no more than 1-2 doctors on staff at any time, we have a full appointment and surgery schedule every day. There may be times when we are treating other animals in need of emergency care on top of our already full schedule and therefore cannot accept another animal in need of emergency care. We highly encourage you to call us immediately if you think your pet is in need of emergency care so we can connect you with the care they need. 

Urgent Care

We consider a case to require urgent care if it is a medical condition that needs to be addressed within 24 hours. We have reserved a set amount of visit time each day for urgent cases. Examples of medical conditions that fit these criteria include (but are not limited to) the following:


  • Profuse vomiting and diarrhea 
  • Severe or acute limping
  • Frequent coughing/sneezing
  • Exercise intolerance
  • Mild to moderate wounds
  • Lethargy
  • Severe skin infections
  • Mild to moderate back pain
  • Ocular pain

Please note that, though we make every effort to accommodate urgent care needs, our reserved time for urgent care fills up quickly and therefore your pet may need to be scheduled to be seen the following day or your pet can be evaluated on an emergency basis at the doctor’s discretion. 


Our Philosophy

At San Benito Veterinary Center, we believe that patients with conditions requiring urgent care should be evaluated by their primary care veterinarian within 24 hours. This is especially important in Hollister due to the lack of nearby emergency clinics available. Because of this constraint, we make every effort possible to see your pet on an urgent basis. 

Advanced Diagnostics

  • Radiographs
  • San Benito Veterinary Center offers full digital radiology. Our state-of-the art digital radiograph system provides us with rapid, high resolution, diagnostic images. As compared to film radiographs, digital radiographs allow us to come to a diagnosis more rapidly, reduce radiation exposure to your pet, and provide a convenient method for us to share radiographs with board certified radiology specialists for difficult cases.  In addition, we have a specialized digital radiology system used for small exotic animals that can’t be imaged adequately using a standard system.


  • Ultrasound 
  • At San Benito Veterinary Center, we feel that ultrasonography is an under-utilized diagnostic modality in the general practice veterinary clinic. Ultrasound uses sound waves at very precise frequencies to create detailed images of internal organs. We have a brand new, exceptionally high-quality ultrasound machine that allows us to diagnose diseases that would otherwise be very difficult or impossible to detect. Ultrasound is especially useful for evaluating the internal organs such as the kidneys, liver, pancreas, gastrointestinal tract, and urinary bladder. 


  • Laboratory 
  • San Benito Veterinary Center is proud to feature a full in-house diagnostic laboratory with all new blood machines, urine machines, and microscopes. Tests that we can perform in-house include complete blood counts, chemistry panels, coagulation profiles, blood gas analysis, urinalysis, thyroid testing, heartworm and tick-borne disease testing, FeLV/FIV testing, and microscopy. Our in-house laboratory allows us to rapidly come to a diagnosis in critical cases where time is of the essence. In cases where more specialized testing is required, we work with Idexx laboratories where we have access to thousands of diagnostic tests and board certified pathologists, internists, and oncologists that can provide the best diagnostic options for your pet. 

Surgery

At San Benito Veterinary Center, we are proud to offer a wide range or surgical services, ranging from routine spays and neuters to many emergency life-saving surgeries. Surgeries we offer include:


o  Spay and neuter for dogs, cats, and rabbits

o  Cryptorchid neuter for dogs and cats

o  Mass removal

o  Skin biopsy

o  Foxtail removal

o  Abscess repair

o  Anal gland abscess repair

o  Laceration repair

o  Entropion

o  Cherry eye

o  Enucleation

o  Cystotomy

o  Splenectomy (both emergency and routine)

o  Thoracic limb, pelvic limb, and tail amputation

o  Digit amputation

o  Gastrotomy and enterotomy

o  Gastropexy

o  Resection anastomosis

o  Liver biopsy

o  GI tract biopsy

o  Foreign body removal

o  Puppy dewclaw removal and tail docking (<7 days of age)

o  Cesarean section

o  Some fracture repairs

o  Perineal urethrostomy

o  Scrotal urethrostomy

o  Chest tube placement

o  Exploratory laparotomy


The above list is not exhaustive, so we encourage you to call us to discuss other procedures so we can either schedule your animal for surgery or refer you to a board-certified surgical specialist who would be better equipped to help your animal.


We do not support declawing of cats or ear cropping for cosmetic purposes as we feel that both procedures are inhumane. We do not offer these services. 

Dermatology

Skin disease is one of the most common reasons for veterinary visits. There are a multitude of skin conditions that your pet might need to be evaluated for, including ear infections, allergic skin disease, skin infections, and ectoparasites such as fleas and ticks to name a few. In the past, most skin conditions in veterinary medicine were managed with steroids and antibiotics. While these medications are definitely still useful in treating certain skin conditions, we now have a wide variety of other treatment options for skin disease, some of which have significantly fewer side-effects than steroids and antibiotics.


In addition, diagnostic tests such as skin scrapings, skin biopsies, Ringworm DNA tests, culture and sensitivity, ear discharge cytology, and others that can help us pinpoint exactly what is causing your pet’s skin disease, allowing us to provide precise therapy tailored specifically to your pet’s condition.

Internal Medicine

Internal medicine is the study of disorders affecting the metabolic system, endocrine system, gastrointestinal system, respiratory system, urinary tract, and liver, and encompasses diseases ranging from auto-immune disease to infection. San Benito Veterinary Center offers a higher level of diagnosis and management of internal medicine cases than most general practices.


Dr. Lindsey Sanders has a special interest in Internal Medicine and devoted a large portion of her clinical year in veterinary school to the study of Internal Medicine. In addition, she has further training in advanced diagnostics such as ultrasonography. We find that, with her skill in this area, we rarely need to refer cases to an Internal Medicine specialist, meaning that you can often have your pet’s complex medical conditions managed in town and not an hour away at a specialty clinic.

Ophthalmology

Ophthalmology is the study of disorders of the eyes. It is said that the eyes are the window to the soul, but they are also a window into the overall health of your pet. Using diagnostic tests such as physical exam, tear production test, fluorescein stain, eye pressure measurement, and retinal exam, we are able to tell a lot about both your pet’s overall health and their ocular health.


Common ophthalmic conditions that we at San Benito Veterinary Center treat include corneal ulcers, dry eye, glaucoma, uveitis, and conjunctivitis. In addition, we offer surgical correction of ophthalmologic defects, such as cherry-eye and entropion.

Behavior

At San Benito Veterinary Center, we understand that behavioral issues such as anxiety and aggression can be just as concerning as medical issues. If your pet has behavioral issues, we welcome your concerns and encourage you to schedule an appointment with us. Some forms of abnormal behavior may be due to medical issues and we may suggest diagnostic tests to determine if there is an underlying disease or condition that may be leading to abnormal behavior.


In other cases, the behavioral issue may be due to environmental factors or innate tendencies of the animal. In these cases, we always first discuss basic behavior modification techniques and environmental changes that may benefit your pet. In more severe cases, we offer behavioral modification drugs that can improve you and your pet’s quality of life. 


Medicinal Leech Therapy

Medicinal leech therapy, otherwise known as Hirudotherapy, is the practice of using leeches to treat a variety of medical conditions. Leech therapy is a well-established practice, dating back to ancient Egypt or even earlier.


While the idea of using a leech as a type of medical therapy might at first seem repulsive, they actually provide a host of medical benefits, so much so that they are now considered to be medical devices regulated by the FDA. Medicinal leeches are useful for treating excessive post-operative swelling, increasing blood flow to congested areas, and reducing inflammation.


San Benito Veterinary Center offers leech therapy to patients with conditions that may benefit from it.

Exotics Care

At San Benito Veterinary Center, we take a special interest in caring for exotic animals, which are companion animals other than dogs, cats, and livestock. This category of animals includes reptiles, amphibians, small mammals such as rabbits and rodents, and birds (including chickens).


Whether your exotic animal has never been to a veterinarian and needs a full checkup or is ill and needs medical intervention, we are here to help. We offer full exotic animal diagnostics including bloodwork, fecal analyses, radiographs, and cytology. For exotic animals who stress easily or who are difficult to restrain safely for diagnostic tests, we are able to offer sedation or general anesthesia to allow us to obtain laboratory samples or administer the therapy that your animal needs.


We also offer full necropsy services which allow us to identify a cause of death in cases where an animal dies, helping you protect your other exotic pets. Dr. Arthur Sanders offers an array of exotic animal surgeries including rabbit spays and neuters, mass removals, lizard tail amputations for necrotic tails, and other procedures on a case-by-case basis. If you have an exotic animal that needs medical attention, please contact us so we can get your animal the help it needs.

Parasite Prevention

Parasites are a major threat to the health and vitality of your pets. Ectoparasites are parasites that live on the outer surfaces of your animal. Common ectoparasites include:

  • Fleas
  • Ticks
  • Mites


Endoparasites are parasites that live on the inside of your animal. Common endoparasites include:

  • Intestinal worms such as roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, and tapeworms
  • Other intestinal parasites such as Giardia and Coccidia
  • Heartworm


Depending on the type of parasite your animal is affected by, it can display an array of clinical signs ranging from itchy skin, to vomiting and diarrhea, to death. In addition, parasites such as ticks can spread other deadly bacterial infections. Some parasites of dogs and cats can infest humans as well, and children and elderly people are at an increased of risk of contracting these parasites.


A common misconception we come across is the notion that keeping an animal indoors is all that is needed to keep it safe from parasites. This couldn’t be further from the truth! Many of the animals we see afflicted by parasites never step a foot outside their owner’s house!

Fortunately, San Benito Veterinary Center offers an array of options for treating and preventing parasite infestations and the secondary problems that can arise from them. With medications in topical, oral, and injectable forms, we have a solution that will work for virtually any owner and pet.


One particular product we offer that is not featured in many other clinics is ProHeart, an injectable medication that protects dogs against the deadly heartworm parasite for 12 months, eliminating the hassle of monthly tablets and the danger of inadvertently missing a dose. Parasite prevention is essential for all dogs and cats, regardless of age or lifestyle. 

Vaccinations

With the advent of modern medicine, vaccinations have become one of the most important defenses against deadly infectious diseases. There are many common diseases in dogs and cats that can be effectively prevented with appropriate vaccinations. Nothing saddens us more than watching an animal suffer and die from a disease that is preventable with a simple, inexpensive vaccination. In addition, beyond the health of your pet, several vaccinations (namely the Leptospirosis and Rabies vaccines) help prevent diseases that are dangerous to humans.


Rabies is nearly 100% fatal in humans once symptoms arise. In addition, even if your animal is not showing signs of rabies, an unvaccinated animal that is bitten by a wild animal or bites a human may be placed in a lengthy quarantine or may be ordered to be euthanized by authorities in certain situations. 


For puppies and kittens, we offer an all-inclusive puppy/kitten package that includes all of the vaccines that your animal needs to avoid many of the terrible infectious diseases they may encounter.


San Benito Veterinary Center also offers the rattlesnake vaccine to clients who request it. The vaccine is purported to slow the effects of Crotalid snake venom after a snake bite. That being said, based on current studies in the scientific literature, we do not believe that this vaccine provides much if any benefit. If your animal is bitten by a rattlesnake, regardless of its vaccination status, it needs emergency medical treatment with antivenin, which is offered here at San Benito Veterinary Center. 


Vaccinations that we offer to dogs include:

  • Distemper virus
  • Adenovirus
  • Parvovirus
  • Parainfluenza virus
  • Influenza virus
  • Rabies
  • Bordetella
  • Leptospirosis


Vaccinations that we offer to cats include:

  • Feline viral rhinotracheitis
  • Calicivirus
  • Panleukopenia 
  • Rabies
  • Feline Leukemia virus

Pain Management

At San Benito Veterinary Center, we believe that evidence-based medicine provides us with the tools we need to manage your pet’s chronic pain as effectively as possible. In the past, there were very few options for pain control. Some of these options have been demonstrated to be almost useless for controlling pain by recent clinical studies.


Based on the data we have, we offer an array of pain control options that include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, opioids, neuropathic pain relievers, steroids, and nutraceuticals, or combinations of these medications. If your pet has chronic pain, we encourage you to schedule an appointment with us to discuss options.

After-Hours Emergency Care

Although we wish we could be open 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year to help your pets whenever they need help, with only two full time and one part time doctor, we simply cannot accomplish this. Fortunately, there are hospitals relatively nearby that not only have many veterinarians to cover all shifts at all times, but also have board certified specialists to manage certain cases that would not be possible to manage at our practice.


If your pet is experiencing a medical emergency after we are closed, please contact one of the following:

  • MedVet Silicon Valley. 7160 Santa Teresa Blvd, San Jose, CA 95139. 408-649-7070
  • SAGE Veterinary Center. 907 Dell Ave, Campbell, CA 95008. 408-343-7243
  • Pet Specialists of Monterey. 451 Canyon Del Rey Blvd., Monterey, CA. 93940. 831-899-4838
  • Pacific and Santa Cruz Veterinary Specialists. 2585 Soquel Dr., Santa Cruz, CA, 95065. 831-475-5400


In many cases, even if you have to visit one of these clinics after hours, care can be transferred back to San Benito Veterinary Center once we are open.

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