When Jake Zaidel and his wife, Heather, decided to open their own veterinary practice, they knew they wanted it to have a family-run atmosphere that treated the pet and owner equally special.
That’s been our goal from the beginning; a personal touch practice that focuses on client education, getting to know the patient and clients, said Jake Zaidel. `It’s not a matter of seeing the most patients in a day; it’s about empowering and educating clients so they can make decisions to take care of their pets better.`
Since 2004, Malta Animal Hospital has been growing structurally and gaining several thousands of patients, all while keeping within the values the Zaidels launched it with.
On Saturday, June 4, the hospital held a pet celebration and open house to give the public a chance to meet all the doctors and staff and see the newest facilities and equipment.
`The structure itself isn’t new but we recently added digital x-ray equipment, new operating room equipment including state of the art monitor for measuring things like carbon dioxide while under anesthesia, blood pressure, upgraded anesthesia equipment, extra office space,` said Zaidel. `We want to give people a chance to meet us and say ‘thank you’ to the people that already know us.`
Nancy Wicker is someone who knows the Zaidels quite well. She made her first visit to Malta Animal Hospital when it was only a folding table and a carpet of sawdust.
`I was surprised by how he approached the animals the very first time. Many people are focused on the owners primarily but Jake has this quiet way with animals,` said Wicker.
Wicker drives 45 minutes from Pittstown to bring her 10 cats and two rabbits to Malta Animal Hospital. All her animals are rescues (four of her cats were dumped at the end of her driveway and the rabbits were ditched in a parking lot) and she said she was looking for a veterinarian with an open-minded approach to care.
`I was looking for a vet that seemed to share some of my ideas about animal medicine, which are a little offbeat,` said Wicker.
Besides a comfortable bedside manner, Wicker said Zaidel takes an individualized approach to each pet, catering treatment and care on a case-to-case basis and discussing openly with pet owners every option.
One area of pet care that doesn’t always give the pet owners much freedom or options is vaccination. Zaidel said Malta Animal Hospital said aside from state mandated vaccines like distemper and rabies, the doctors all lay out the pros and cons of `optional` vaccines in light of side effects like allergic reactions or the development of certain cancers.
`For booster shots, a lot of clients are accepting rather than every year going for them, we spread them out based on well established information that vaccines last longer than originally thought,` said Zaidel. `We always distribute them in different locations in the body to ensure we know where we give a particular vaccine.`
That’s a preventative measure, said Zaidel, so should an unlikely complication occur, doctors know which vaccine caused it.
`We have a standard plan of where each vaccine goes in the body,` said Zaidel.
It’s also Malta Animal Hospital protocol to spread out the time between vaccines, something Zaidel said isn’t done everywhere.
`When it comes to vaccine safety, it’s important to not just spread them out in terms of regions of the body, but over time especially in smaller breeds of dogs and cats, we see a lot fewer vaccine reactions when they’re spread out over time. It minimizes risk so we’re not over stimulating at any one time.`
Zaidel’s personal experience with his practice’s one and only case of vaccine induced sarcoma is what helped drive the vaccine philosophy.
`I had to treat vaccine induced sarcoma once, in my own cat, and it was successful; that’s the one and only time I’ve had to treat [it] and I feel thankful for that because it helped to guide decisions we make,` said Zaidel. `We focus our attention on not just finding the vaccine that may be appropriate but the safest vaccine.`
Along those lines, Zaidel said not all animal hospitals offer the safest form of a vaccine.
`There are a lot of different manufacturers so for rabies shots, we use a pure rabies vaccine that doesn’t have chemical adjuvant in it. The same with the female leukemia one, which is lower cancer risk associated because of its design,` said Zaidel. `We’re very particular in the types we offer.`
The careful approach to vaccination is something that Wicker said stood out to her.
`It had never been offered to me before, the choice of having the pure rabies vaccine,` said Wicker. `When one of my cats had feline leukemia, they use an air compressor that moves the vaccine without even having a shot.`
Malta Animal Hospital treats cats, dogs, ferrets, rabbits and other small mammals for preventative care, dental care, cancer treatment, allergies and has an in-house lab with equipment to run chemical analysis on urine and blood samples. It also does nail trimming and ear cleanings.
Existing or interested clients were invited to stop by and see what Malta Animal Hospital was all about on June 4 at 604 Route 67 right off Exit 12 of the Northway.
There was a barbecue, free goodies and raffles, adoptions from Greyhound Rescue, a bouncy-bounce, face painting, games, pet photography, a teddy bear clinic and Frontline-Plus sale.
For more information visit www.maltavet.com or call 885-2550.
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