What to Expect at Your Appointment

• Do not bathe your pet or clean its ears 2 days prior to your appointment. Do not apply any ear medications the morning of the recheck appointment.
• Patients that are non-diabetic should not receive food after 10 pm the night before the initial consult visit. Water is allowed up to the morning of the appointment. This is recommended in case bloodwork needs to be obtained or a sedation or anesthetic procedure needs to be performed.
• Diabetic patients should continue to receive insulin as directed by their veterinarian. Pets on thyroid supplements or seizure patients on anti-convulsant medication should continue on their medications as instructed by their veterinarian.
• Please bring or take a picture of all your pet’s medications: including shampoos, sprays, ointments, ear medications, flea and heartworm preventatives. Take a picture of your pet’s food bag so we can see the ingredients.

We ask that you come 15-20 minutes prior to your scheduled appointment to fill out new client information forms as well as a pet questionnaire.

To save time, you can complete the pet questionnaire online by clicking here.

Once the paperwork is filled out, Dr. Rosales’ technician will take you into the examination room and briefly ask you about your pet’s problems. The technician will then review the case with Dr. Rosales, who will ask you additional questions concerning your pet. She will then perform a dermatological exam, obtain diagnostics samples (if deemed necessary) and then will confer with you about your pet’s skin issues. A treatment plan will then be formulated. A letter summarizing the visit, exam findings, test results and treatment plan will be provided to you that same day or sent to you via postal mail or email the next day. Your veterinarian will also receive the same letter, so that he/she is informed about your pet.

The initial consultation visit can take approximately 60-90 minutes.

Follow up consultations are essential in ensuring that your pet is responding to the treatment plan. It is possible your pet can appear better at the time of the recheck exam; however, the primary problem for your pet’s skin condition may not have been fully determined. This is seen quite often in pets with allergies, where the secondary problems are properly addressed, but the primary problem is still not resolved and can lead to a relapse of your pet’s skin condition within a short period.

Follow up exam visits may require repeating diagnostics that were performed at the initial visit in order to make sure that improvement is occurring. Your pet may or may not need to remain on medications.

Depending on the primary condition your pet may have, it may be necessary to see your pet for several follow up visits. For certain conditions or therapies, phone consultation may only be needed. We may also have you follow up with your family veterinarian. Please discuss with Dr. Rosales any concerns you may have with these follow up appointments.

We need to do an initial consultation before scheduling allergy skin testing. We will then discuss what the procedure entails and if any medications need to be withdrawn prior to testing. Sometimes after assessing your pet’s skin condition we find that allergy skin testing may not be necessary.