Doctors, Staff Use Latest Technology to Treat Animals

By Keith Giordano

Nothing breaks one's heart faster than looking into the sad eyes of a sick cat or dog, unable to let them know that everything is going to be all right.

But if they could understand you, they would perk up hearing their owner say, "It's OK. We're going to see Dr. Fong."

The Irving Street Veterinary Hospital at 14th Avenue has been a fixture in the Sunset community for years. The faces have changed over time, but its dedication to the well-being of neighborhood pets remains as strong as ever.

While the staff members are not able to speak directly to their patients (yet), they are more than happy to treat, heal and bring comfort to any four-legged, winged or reptilian friends.

Fong has been the medical director at the hospital since May 2007. A Sunset District native, he was pleased when asked to practice medicine in his old neighborhood.

"The philosophy of the practice now is every animal that comes into this place has to be treated as if they were our own," Fong said.

Knowing that a trip to the vet can be as mentally taxing on the pet owner as the patient, Fong sees it as his duty to provide support for the owner.

"Now, animals are really considered part of the family and the emotional ties or the bond people have with their animals is really important. It is something that I need to foster as well," he said.

Fong is well aware of the common hazards that local pets face daily living in the Bay Area. One of the biggest of these is the presence of foxtails.

Plentiful, harmful and barbed, a foxtail plant seed can cause real problems. If unchecked, they are able to migrate their way into a pet's body.

"For any dog that has been running in a field and is sneezing or rubbing their nose acutely, the owner needs to be aware that there could be a foxtail in there," the pet doc said.

Sometimes surgery is required in order to find and remove the foxtail once it has worked its way inside the body.

Yet, it does not have to be such a major medical issue to receive a doctor's full attention at the Irving Street Veterinary Hospital.

"Any concern that a client has is a concern," Fong said.

The facilities at the hospital enable the staff of doctors and medical technicians to diagnose and treat most of the ailments that a pet will experience. With the ability to do in-house blood testing, high-tech dental work and soft-tissue surgery, diagnosing and fixing what is bothering Fido, Kitty or Polly is much easier and quicker than it was just a few years ago.

Though educating their clients is just one of the jobs the doctors at the Irving Street Veterinary Hospital charge themselves with, Dr. Patricia Lowe sees it as one of the most important, especially for prospective pet owners.

According to Lowe, many problems can be avoided by choosing the right type of pet. Her advice is: "Evaluate your lifestyle and get a pet which will fit into it."

For those considering dogs, Lowe recommends researching the experience by either borrowing a friend's dog or volunteering to walk dogs at a local shelter.

A typical day at the Irving pet hospital involves the usual assortment of cute, healthy puppies, yearly vaccinations and dentistry. However, the odd case does come through on occasion, sometimes requiring emergency surgery.

One instance Fong recalled involved a dog that had eaten some pennies. With stomach acid eating away at the coins, surgery was the only option.

The doctors successfully operated to remove the coins, but three weeks later the same dog came in with more coins in its belly. After yet another surgery, the dog was once again deemed healthy.

But the bad luck for the poor pooch did not end there. Later that same year, the dog was hit by a car and suffered a fractured hip.

What struck Fong the most about this dog was its great disposition throughout all of the troubles.

"The biggest thing for me was the resilience of this little dog," he said. "Everything it went through, and it was still a happy dog."

As much as with human patients, a proactive attitude about the wellness of pets can make all the difference. And with procedures that used to be reserved for human patients now being used in the treatment of animals, early diagnosis is easier than ever.

"The sooner we detect a problem, the better we can treat it" Fong urged.

A proactive attitude does wonders for a pet, and gives the owner the peace of mind that comes from a clean bill of health.