Services
Everything we do, written out in full.
Best Friends is small on purpose, four of us in one building on Scott Court, dogs and cats only. Below is the complete record of what happens here: wellness care and vaccinations, medical and dental care, surgical care, and Class IV laser therapy that runs alongside both the surgery table and the dental chair. Where something is better handled by a specialist, we say so and refer it out rather than attempt it.
Wellness
A wellness plan built around your pet's actual age, not a standard schedule.
Best Friends recommends a full exam once a year for a healthy adult dog or cat, and more often for puppies, kittens, seniors and any pet already carrying a health issue. The vaccination series for both species starts at six to eight weeks, and the protocol from there is built around your pet's own life rather than a printed schedule that treats every patient the same way.
A senior baseline, run at eight years old for cats and seven for dogs, adds bloodwork, a fecal test and a urine test, and sometimes X-rays, then repeats twice a year once that status is reached. It exists to catch arthritis, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, hormone disorders and kidney or liver problems while there is still something to do about them.
- Puppy & kitten wellness, vaccination series starting at 6-8 weeks
- Adult pet wellness, annual exam and diagnostics as needed
- Senior wellness care, baseline at 7-8 years, then twice a year
- Microchip identification
- Free exam within two weeks of any shelter or rescue adoption
Medical & dental
Diagnostics run in-house, and the number in every dog's mouth by age three.
In-house diagnostics cover the physical exam itself, eyes, ears, skin, cardiovascular, respiratory, neurological, GI and skeletal systems, plus blood and urine testing for kidney, liver, thyroid and adrenal function. When a case needs an ultrasound, an endoscopy or a biopsy, we refer it out to a specialist rather than attempt it here.
The American Veterinary Dental Society puts dental disease in more than eighty percent of dogs and seventy percent of cats by age three. We look for tartar, red or bleeding gums, bad breath, drooling, a change in eating, facial swelling, loose teeth and lethargy, then clean with ultrasonic equipment, polish, and apply fluoride.
- In-house diagnostics for kidney, liver, thyroid and adrenal function
- Ultrasonic dental cleaning, polish and fluoride
- Referral for ultrasound, endoscopy and biopsy
- End-of-life care, discussed plainly, when it is time
Surgical
Spay and neuter, timed by size, and the lump that is almost always benign.
Dr. Vercande performs routine and several advanced soft tissue procedures herself, with pre-anesthetic testing and a physical exam beforehand and vital signs monitored throughout. Spaying is recommended at six months for small breeds and cats, four to five months for medium and large dogs; neutering at six months for small and medium breeds, five to six months for large ones.
The most common soft tissue procedure is a mass or lump removal, and most of what comes off comes back benign on pathology. Pain medication is given before, during and after every procedure, with medication that goes home with you, and anything orthopedic or otherwise complex goes to a board-certified surgeon.
- Spay and neuter, timed by size and species
- Soft tissue surgery, mass removal, wound repair, eyelid surgery
- Pain control before, during and after
- Referral to a board-certified surgeon for complex cases
Laser
A Class IV laser on every surgical site and every dental gum line, standard, not an upsell.
Class IV laser therapy has been FDA-cleared for veterinary use since 2005. It is drug free and pain free, and here it is standard rather than an add-on: every surgical site gets treated after the procedure, and so does the gum line after every dental cleaning.
Sessions run two to ten minutes per area. Acute conditions, wounds, fractures, abscesses, sprains, strains and insect bites, respond quickly; chronic conditions run through induction, transition and maintenance phases, tapering down to a treatment every three to six weeks. The studies behind it put healing time at a third to a half less than without it.
- Standard after every surgery and every dental cleaning
- Acute conditions: wounds, fractures, sprains, insect bites
- Chronic conditions: induction, transition, maintenance
- 2-10 minutes per treatment area
Scott Court, Iowa City
If yours is not on this list, just call and ask.
Ring the clinic on (319) 341-7111, or leave a message and we will call you back. Free parking on site.