Veterinary Services

Your pet’s nutrition plays a vital role in their general health and well-being. Because of the availability of many nutritionally complete commercial diets, many pet owners don’t realize how important their best friend’s diet is. It’s crucial to know that as your pet ages and their activity level decreases, their nutritional needs will change. Also, specially formulated diets can help your pet’s body manage several medical conditions, including:

• Diabetes
• Arthritis
• Kidney disease
• Heart disease

At Touhy Animal Hospital, our nutritional services can help you manage your pet’s diet. Also, if your pet has a medical condition, we will help you determine the most appropriate diet for their needs. We provide dietary planning, and if appropriate, we offer prescription foods through our online store.

Have questions or concerns about what your pet is eating? Call us at (847) 698-3123.

Consider it the non-cutting edge of veterinary science! Laser therapy is an innovative technology used to treat acute and chronic injuries. This painless, non-invasive treatment stimulates cell regeneration by increasing blood flow to the targeted area, which accelerates the healing process. It has been successfully used to accelerate the healing process after surgery, alleviate joint pain, and treat degenerative diseases.

How it works:

Low-level or cold laser therapy focuses red and infrared light on tissue at and below the surface of the skin. The light energizes the cells, producing a structural protein called collagen, which is used to repair tissue. Lasers continue the healing process by supporting vascular dilation and synthesis, increasing blood circulation to the affected region. The stimulation also releases the body’s own pain-relieving hormones.

The process generally takes between 5-10 minutes, with most patients seeing positive effects after 3-5 uses. The treatment continues to relieve pain and fight inflammation for up to 24 hours following the session.

Conditions improved with laser therapy:

• Hip dysplasia
• Post-surgical incisions and soft-tissue trauma
• Arthritis and degenerative joint disease
• Musculoskeletal injuries
• Neuromuscular disease

Laser therapy is normally combined with other types of veterinary medicine, including pharmaceutical regimens and alternative treatments. The broad biochemical benefits and lack of adverse side effects have made laser therapy the preferred post-operative rehab method in veterinary medicine.

If you would like to know more about laser therapy and if it could benefit your pet, call or text us at (847) 698-3123.

At Touhy Animal Hospital, we are passionate about pet grooming. In addition to cosmetic benefits, grooming is good for your pet, too!

Health benefits include:

• Lower the possibility of skin conditions or allergies
• Prevention and elimination of parasites
• Seasonal hair removal to prevent matting
• Cleanliness of genital areas

We offer full-service grooming for pets, including bathing, haircuts, nail clipping, medicated baths, and ear cleanings. We highly recommend introducing puppies to these procedures early so they will be accustomed to them later in life. We also offer a sedated grooming option. Please note that your pet has to be current on the rabies vaccine. Our grooming services book up fast, so don’t delay scheduling. We highly recommend booking your next appointment before leaving our hospital.

For more information about our grooming services or to make an appointment, call or text us at (847) 698-3123.

At Touhy Animal Hospital, we’re able to perform a variety of tests on your pet using our external laboratory so you can get the most precise and accurate results.

Testing provided in the hospital includes:

• Bloodwork
• Biopsies
• Heartworm tests
• Parvovirus testing
• Fecal testing
• Blood sugar measurement
• Blood pressure measurement
• EKG and ECG
• Urinalysis
• Allergy testing
• DNA testing

Veterinary X-ray and Ultrasound

X-rays and ultrasounds are great diagnostic tools in veterinary care. We use them at Touhy Animal Hospital to find out what’s happening inside your pet’s body in a non-invasive way. Radiography allows us to visualize bone, cartilage, foreign objects, and some kinds of tumors. Ultrasound is more useful in seeing the inside of the organs and detecting soft tissue pathologies such as tumors, liver and gall bladder disease, kidney disease, cancer, and other degenerative disease of the organs.

Certain kinds of pet kidney and urinary bladder stones do not show up with X-rays but are very evident with ultrasounds. As is commonly known, ultrasound is a very accurate diagnostic tool in determining pregnancy at as early as 18 to 21 days after conception. Later in pregnancy, ultrasound can be used to monitor the viability of fetuses prior to parturition. Ultrasound can also be used to guide a needle into a diseased organ or a tumor to get a small sample of tissue. This helps us diagnose the disease that is affecting the patient.

While we do offer an extensive range of onsite testing, it is possible that your pet may need laboratory work beyond our scope. For those cases, we are happy to send blood work or other testing to an outside lab that will send the results back to us.

To schedule a diagnostic consultation for your pet, call or text us at (847) 698-3123.

If you are thinking about traveling with your pet to a foreign country, you will need an international health certificate for your animal. Depending on the country, they may require:

• Import permits or other pre-travel approval
• Pre-travel waiting periods
• Proof of vaccines, tests, or treatments

At Touhy Animal Hospital, we are pleased to offer international health certificates for your pets. Please have all your travel information prepared ahead of time, including destination, length of stay, how you plan to board your pet, etc. For new clients, an exam is required to establish care prior to the international health exam. This is to review the travel plans and to assess the pet’s health. Please bring all necessary documentation and health records. You may find more information here.