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We've Never Stopped Caring for Pets

 

Number of Days CVRC Closed During COVID or During Bad Weather: 0

Number of Dedicated CVRC Employees Needed to Remain Open 24/7 and Care for Your Pet: 130

 

Compassion Goes Both Ways

We hear your frustrations and want to share some of what goes on behind the scenes.

What You See

  • Long Wait Times
  • Long Telephone On Hold Times

Behind the Scenes

Quality of Life Assessment: Helping Cancer Patients Live Their Best Life

During your pet’s cancer treatment, our goal is for them to live as normal a life as possible, and continue to enjoy simple pleasures, such as playing with other pets, walking through the park, and snuggling with you. We believe strongly that a pet’s cancer treatment should never be worse than the cancer itself. Fortunately, most cancer treatments, including chemotherapy, typically have few side effects in pets.

Two New Treatments Offer Hope for Pets With Cancer

Charleston Veterinary Referral Center is excited to be at the forefront of breakthrough technology, and to be able to offer our patients the best care available. When your pet has cancer, we understand that each day is precious, and the most advanced treatments can mean the difference between losing your best friend, and enjoying more time together.

Emergency and Critical Care Services: A Life and Death Difference for Your Pet

Accidental injuries and unforeseen illnesses affect pets daily, and when your pet’s condition could be serious, only the most advanced, comprehensive veterinary care will do. A pet’s condition can also deteriorate rapidly, and having board-certified veterinary specialists on hand to manage potentially life-threatening complications is invaluable.

Trust Your Gut: Microbiome Basics for Pet Owners

If you keep up with health and science news, you may have heard the concept of the “microbiome,” and its role in overall well-being. When referring to the gut, the microbiome encompasses a vast diversity of billions of microorganisms—chiefly, bacteria—that live in the gastrointestinal tract. Each pet harbors a unique combination of beneficial and undesirable bacteria that, together, affect the body’s various systems. You should not be surprised that gut microbes play a significant role in digestion and metabolism, but did you know that they also aid in vitamin synthesis, immunity, and fighting off harmful pathogens?

puppy eating food

Ventilator Therapy at CVRC

Dog on ventilatorAt Charleston Veterinary Referral Center, our focus and expertise is on stabilizing and treating sick, ill, and critical patients with conditions such as trauma, toxin exposure, gastrointestinal disease, cardiovascular disease, immune-mediated disease, pulmonary disease, neurologic disease, and/or metabolic disease. Among the technology that we use to support the most critical pets is a ventilator. This important piece of equipment allows us to offer the highest level of emergency and critical care, and is required for us to maintain our VECCS Level 1 certification.

Protecting Pets from Snake Bites

As the weather changes, so do the threats to our pets. With warmer weather comes the re-emergence of species that have been dormant during the winter months. South Carolina is home to five of the deadliest snakes in North America, which include the cottonmouth (water moccasin), rattlesnakes (timber rattlesnake, eastern diamondback rattlesnake), copperhead, and coral snake.

Here in the Lowcountry, snakes pose an increasingly more common hazard in the spring and summer months. While found more abundantly in rural communities and undeveloped areas, urban pets are not free of risk. 

Types of Snake Bites & Effects

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What to Expect if Your Pet Needs a Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy

If your pet has injured her cranial cruciate ligament (CCL), your family veterinarian may refer you to our surgery department for a tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO). This complex surgical procedure is considered the gold standard for CCL disease, and although other surgical options exist, our board-certified veterinary surgeons prefer the TPLO procedure, which is supported in veterinary surgical literature as the technique with the most reliable outcome. 

FreeStyle Libre System: A New Way to Perform Glucose Curves for Dogs

If your pet has diabetes, you know that regulating her insulin dose can be challenging. Treating a diabetic pet is not simply administering a set dose your veterinarian has prescribed for the rest of her life. Every pet is different, and one pet’s body will respond to an insulin dose differently than another’s. Veterinarians first prescribe a diabetic pet an insulin dose that is appropriate for her weight and disease severity, but then must assess whether that dose is adequately maintaining blood-glucose levels. 

Is a Grain-Free Diet Dangerous for Your Pet?

There is a lot of buzz about grain-free diets. Many people have eliminated grains from their own diets for a variety of health reasons, and, wanting the best nutrition for their animals, have selected grain-free diets for their pets as well. Pet food shelves are now full of grain-free options, and finding a food that contains the typical ingredients of wheat or corn is not easy. But, is eliminating an entire food group a good idea? Grain-free diets have now been linked to heart disease in dogs, and although it’s too early for long-term studies to demonstrate a causal relationship, evidence suggests you should steer clear of this fad. 

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