When you think of your local vet, you probably have a vague idea about what they do day-to-day. You probably think of someone in scrubs giving puppies vaccinations, or fixing up broken bones, or helping native wildlife that have been hit with cars.

You’re not wrong, we do all of these things regularly. However, we also do a lot that you may not have considered. At Girraween Veterinary Hospital, animals are our passion. We take our jobs very seriously and we do everything we can to make sure the experience is a positive one for you and your pet.

Our vet services are pretty varied and comprehensive, so here are just a few of the things we do every day to provide Darwin pet-owners with the very best services.

Provide advice

One thing we find ourselves doing every single day is providing advice to our customers. This advice spans several topics from medical, dental, and nutritional through to which brand of pet toys we recommend. Girraween vets and nurses treat customers like family and we treat their pets as though they are our own, so every piece of advice we give is personalised and tailored to that particular animal.

More often than not, we give our recommendations to customers during check-ups or appointments. However, sometimes our customers only have a quick question for us between visits. If this happens, we encourage people to come on into the clinic to speak with a nurse or a vet. Darwin-pet owners are important to us, so when these quick questions come up, we offer free advice.

If there’s ever anything to do with your pet that is beyond the capacity of our clinic, we have a huge network of animal health professionals through which to refer you and your pet. We’ll make sure we’re there to support you each step of the way.

Perform check-ups

Check-ups are so important to maintaining your pet’s health and wellbeing. Health check-ups and dental check-ups are a crucial part of our vet services as they allow us to provide guidance and support to our pet owners on their animal’s care.

In the first 4 months of your pet’s life, they’ll need to go to the vet every 3-4 weeks to maintain their vaccination and worming schedule and to organise to have them neutered or spayed. After this, you’ll only need to bring your pet in once a year for check-ups. As your pet ages, however, you may need to start bringing them into the veterinary hospital more regularly. At Girraween Vet Hospital, we’re very transparent with our customers on the health of their pets. So, you’ll have a very good idea of how often your pet needs to visit us.

Administer treatments and perform surgeries

Often we’ll have a pet owner rush their animal into the clinic for an emergency or we’ll have good samaritans bring in injured Australian wildlife. These animals need more than just a worming tablet, and will often require surgery and longer-term treatment in our veterinary clinic. In these instances, our veterinarians and vet nurses act quickly to provide the best possible treatment and care.

Rehabilitation

Girraween Veterinary Hospital are the only clinic in Darwin offering rehabilitation services. Our rehabilitative vet services include laser therapy and hydrotherapy. Our veterinarians and vet nurses are qualified to offer the best-quality rehabilitation services that will help your pet to manage their pain and recover from surgery.

Laser therapy is a non-invasive, drug-free rehabilitation method proven to reduce post-surgery healing time and treat acute and chronic conditions. The benefits of laser therapy include;

• Reduction in spasms
• Pain relief
• Increased circulation
• Improved flexibility and function
• Reduced osteoarthritis symptoms
• Reduced swelling and inflammation
• Accelerated tissue repair and cell growth
• Increased metabolic activity
• Increased quality of life.

Hydrotherapy is another form of rehabilitation, involving water-based treatments such as an underwater treadmill. Benefits of hydrotherapy include;

• Earlier improvements in rehabilitation recovery
• Accelerated strengthening and growth of muscles
• Improved weight-bearing
• Re-education of normal gait
• Shorter recovery times
• Faster returns to full-function
• Improved fitness and weight-loss

Pet care

At-home pet care is so important to us, so we offer several services to help you best look after your animal. Our puppy preschool helps new dog-owners learn essential skills for life-long dog training and care. The 4-week course teaches puppies aged 8-15 weeks basic obedience and socialisation skills as well as providing owners with a ton of information on pet care, dog nutrition, and separation anxiety management.

Girraween Vet Hospital also offer a free weight loss program for all pets. Our vet nurses are always ready to assist with a weigh-in and develop a tailored Hill’s Pet Fit program to suit your animal’s needs. We provide regular weigh-ins and online support to keep track of your pet’s progress.

Human-support

Of all the things our Girraween vets do every day, supporting our many wonderful customers is amongst the most important. This includes practical support which we provide by giving advice and treating their animals. It includes financial support, as we accept ZipMoney and Vetpay to make visits less straining on families. Finally, it includes emotional support. Not every trip to the vet ends in relief, treatment, or a solution. On those days, we are there to help our customers say goodbye and to handle the grief that follows.

Girraween Veterinary Hospital strive to give every customer our full support every single time. When you bring your pet to us, you can rest assured they are in the very best, most compassionate hands in Darwin.

Come in and pay us a visit

If your pet is overdue for a vet visit, there’s no time like the present to bring them down to the vet hospital. So, book online or give us a call on (08) 8983 1183 to enquire about our vet services.