Preventive Care

• Dental Care
  February is Pet Dental Month!! Proper dental care is extremely important for your pet. It can reduce tartar build up, prevent gum inflammation and irritation, and protect your pet against various gum and dental diseases. Please visit our "Dental Care" page under the tab above labeled "Services" for more information on how to keep your pet's teeth clean and healthy!
• Vaccination
  Alpine Animal Hospital offers a multipet discount of 10% when 3 or more pets are brought in for routine vaccinations and examinations.
• Veterinary Ophthalmology
  Originally from Colorado, Breanna comes to us most recently from Helena, Montana where she received a BA in Anthrozoology from Carroll College in 2018 before pursing her AAS in Veterinary Technology from San Juan College in 2021. Breanna is a certified veterinary technician, passing the VTNE in April 2022. She has been in the veterinary field since 2017 where she worked as a technician at a small animal hospital in Montana. She has an interest in internal medicine, ophthalmology, and wound care. Breanna’s love for animals started at a young age when she helped her grandpa pull a calf at 4 years old. She grew up around cats, dogs, horses, and cows. She currently has 2 cats, Maeve and Ethel, with her husband James. Outside of working with animals, Breanna enjoys attending University of Wyoming football and basketball games, Irish dancing, and spending time with friends and family.
• Behavioral Counseling
  Amazon parrots are highly intelligent, very outgoing, and renowned talkers. They adapt well to captivity, adjusting easily to their cage or aviary (enclosure). However, Amazon parrots require a great deal of mental stimulation. Without the proper attention, social interaction, and toys, Amazon parrots can develop behavioral problems. People who are willing to devote a considerable amount of time to their parrot will have a delightful companion pet for many decades. Read More
• Nutritional Counseling
  Canine hip dysplasia is a painful disease that affects millions of dogs each year. It is an inherited developmental disorder of the hip joint and can lead to debilitating arthritis. Its progression can be influenced by environmental factors, such as weight gain, nutrition, and exercise. Certain breeds, especially larger ones, are particularly prone to hip dysplasia, but the disease can affect dogs of any size and breed. Read More
• Comprehensive Examination
  Blood testing is commonly used to help diagnose disease or pinpoint injury in animals. It can also help determine the state of your pet’s health during regular physical exam visits. Although a CBC or a chemistry profile can be performed separately, these tests are frequently done at the same time; when the results are interpreted together, they provide a good overview of many of the body’s functions. As with any other diagnostic test, results of a CBC and chemistry profile are not interpreted in a vacuum. Your veterinarian will combine this information with physical exam findings, medical history, and other information to assess your pet’s health status and determine if additional testing should be recommended. Read More

Illness Treatment

• Parasites Treatment and Control
  "News" What you should know about protecting your pet from Heartworm Disease and Intestinal Paracites. (read more)
• Behavioral Disorder Treatment
  Canine distemper is a serious contagious disease caused by canine distemper virus (CDV), which attacks the respiratory, stomach/intestinal, and brain/nervous systems of dogs. It can also infect ferrets and many wild animals, including raccoons, skunks, minks, weasels, foxes, and coyotes. The death rate can reach 50%, and animals that do recover are often left with permanent disabilities. There is no effective treatment, but virus-associated disease is largely preventable through vaccination. Read More
• Pain Management
  Aspirin has been considered a safe and reliable over-the-counter fever and pain medication for decades. Because aspirin is considered very safe, some pet owners give aspirin to their pets. There are also aspirin formulations specifically for dogs. However, high doses of aspirin can be dangerous for dogs and even more hazardous for cats. Aspirin toxicosis occurs when a cat or dog swallows enough of the drug to cause damaging effects in the body. Read More
• Skin Condition and Allergy Treatment
  Fleas are blood-feeding parasites that can infest many species of birds and mammals. Although fleas on dogs and cats don’t infest people, fleas may bite people if an area is heavily infested. Flea infestation is one of the most common medical problems veterinarians see, and pets suffer greatly from this condition. Flea bites can trigger severe allergic reactions in some pets. The intense itching caused by flea infestation causes pets to scratch and bite themselves. This can lead to skin wounds, skin infections, and general misery for your pet. Even if your pet is not allergic to flea bites, fleas can transmit serious diseases, such as bartonellosis (the bacteria that causes “cat scratch disease” in people), and other parasites, like tapeworms. Read More
• Upper Respiratory Illness Treatment
  Canine adenovirus type 2 (CAV-2) causes respiratory disease in dogs and is one of the infectious agents commonly associated with canine infectious tracheobronchitis, which is also known as

Infection Treatment

• Parvovirus Infection Treatment
  Canine parvovirus is a deadly disease that is caused by the canine parvovirus type 2 (CPV-2) virus. The virus attacks the gastrointestinal tract and immune system of puppies and dogs. It can also attack the heart of very young puppies. Read More
• Bacterial and Viral Infection Treatment
• Ear Infection Treatment
  Some animals may have several of these clinical signs, whereas others may have only one—perhaps an ear infection. Read More
• Anal Gland Infection Treatment

Chronic Condition Treatment

• Arthritis Treatment
  Cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) rupture is one of the most common orthopedic problems in dogs. A dog’s stifle joint corresponds to the human knee joint, and the CCL is comparable to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in humans. Just as in humans, a partial or complete rupture of this ligament is debilitating and extremely painful, resulting in lameness and joint instability. Untreated, CCL rupture results in additional degenerative changes in the joint and, eventually, osteoarthritis. CCL rupture can occur in any dog. Risk factors include obesity, existing osteoarthritis or instability in the knee, and a lack of proper conditioning for the activity taking place, such as a normally sedentary dog that suddenly begins vigorous play. Read More
• Hip Dysplasia Treatment
• Diabetes Treatment
  Diabetes mellitus is an illness caused by the body’s inability to either make or use insulin, which is a hormone produced and released by specialized cells in the pancreas. Insulin permits the body’s cells to take sugar (glucose) from the blood and use it for their metabolism and other functions. Diabetes mellitus develops when the pancreas doesn’t make enough insulin or when the body’s cells are unable to use available insulin to take glucose from the blood. Read More
• Heart Disease Treatment
  Congestive heart failure is a broad medical term that means that a cat’s heart cannot deliver sufficient blood to its body. This condition can be caused by a failure of the left side, the right side, or both sides of the heart. Read More
• Kidney Disease Treatment
  Kidney disease is a very general term used to describe several conditions that can affect the kidneys or damage kidney cells. If kidney disease progresses, it can eventually lead to kidney failure and death. Read More
• Periodontal Disease Treatment
  Bad breath in pets may be a sign of periodontal disease that could lead to other health problems. Periodontal disease starts when plaque (a bacterial film) coats the tooth. Plaque hardens (calcifies) into tartar, a thick yellow or brown layer on the teeth. Tartar can irritate the gums, creating an environment where bacteria thrive. As the disease progresses, the gums become tender, red, and swollen and the bacteria continue to multiply. Eventually, the inflamed gums pull away from the teeth, creating pockets that trap more bacteria and food particles. The gums bleed, the roots of the teeth may become exposed, teeth may become loose, and your pet may feel pain when eating. If the bacteria enter the bloodstream, they can create problems for organs such as the heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys. Read More

Emergency Care

• Seizure Treatment
  Anesthesia is the use of medication to induce the loss of consciousness, a decreased sense of anxiety, or the loss of sensation of a specific part of the body. General anesthetics are medications that are used to prevent the awareness of painful or stressful procedures. Sedatives are used to calm a patient during a procedure. Local anesthetics are used to achieve decreased sensation in an area of the body where a procedure may induce pain. Birds, reptiles, and small mammals differ from other pets in that their metabolic rates vary from one species to the next and specific precautions need to be taken when administering anesthesia to these animals. Your veterinarian knows that some of these animals eliminate medications at different rates depending upon the size of the animal or its body temperature, thus, doses vary significantly among species. In addition, due to their small size or unique methods of maintaining normal body temperature (thermoregulation), some avian and exotic animals may have difficulty maintaining their body heat under anesthesia; therefore, steps must be taken to keep them at optimal body temperature. Read More
• Wound and Fracture Care
  An abscess is a pocket of pus that is formed when the body’s immune system is unable to quickly clear a site of infection. Pus is a liquid collection of inflammatory cells, bacteria, and damaged tissue. Abscesses can form in any part of the body and often result from bacterial infections in bite wounds, tooth roots, and anal glands. Abscesses just under the skin are quite common in indoor/outdoor cats. This article focuses on abscesses that form when a cat is bitten by another cat or a wild animal. Read More

Surgery

• Veterinary Surgery
  Dr. Petersen received her Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from Kansas State University in 1997. She also has a bachelors degree in Animal Science from KSU in 1995. She is originally from Dannebrog, Neb., a small town of 325 people in central Nebraska. Her and her husband, Dr. David Evertson, found and later bought Alpine Animal Hospital just 12 days after her graduating vet school. Dr. Petersen has wanted to be a vet ever since she could remember. Her most vivid memory of that goal was when her fathers' black lab had a lump on his neck that was further diagnosed to be an absess. Dr. Peterson and Dr. Evertson have three sons: Dawson, Devon, and Dax. They also have a border collie, Rigby. In her free time Dr. Petersen enjoys quilting, scrapbooking, and reading. Her professional interests are small animal soft tissue surgery, puppy training, and rehabilitation/physical therapy.
• Laser Surgery
• Spaying and Neutering
  Adrenal gland disease is, unfortunately, a common disease of pet ferrets in the United States. Most affected ferrets are older than 2 years. While the exact cause of this condition has not been determined, it is believed that spaying and neutering ferrets at an early age plays a role. This is problematic because failing to spay females can result in life-threatening illness, while neutering males reduces odor and aggression. Removal of the testes or ovaries removes hormonal influences that appear to affect the adrenal gland. In the absence of these influences, the adrenal glands may overproduce several sex hormones, causing a variety of clinical signs. In some cases, the overactive gland can eventually become cancerous. Genetics may also play a role in the development of adrenal gland disease. Read More

Lab and X-Rays

• X-Ray
• Dental Radiology
  Radiography. Dental radiography involves obtaining x-ray images of the mouth, teeth, and jaws. Radiography is painless, safe, and completely noninvasive. Read More

General Pet Care

• Dog Training