Preventive Care

• Dental Care
  Enhanced Services: We’re elevating our dental care offerings with three specialty dental tables equipped with state-of-the-art technology and instrumentation to deliver the highest standard of care for pets, ensuring optimal availability and quality of treatment for your pet’s oral health needs.
• Vaccination
  There are three vaccines we generally recommend most cats to be vaccinated with: CPRT, Feline Leukemia, and Rabies.  We often refer to CPRT as the upper respiratory vaccine.  Feline upper respiratory complex is extremely common.  Most cats have been exposed and vaccination with it can protect them from decreasing outward signs.  After an initial series, this vaccine should be administered every 3 years.  Feline Leukemia is a viral infection in cats that suppresses the immune system and is inevitably fatal.  All outdoor cats should be protected by receiving this vaccine every 3 years (after an initial series.)  Rabies is a fatal disease of both people and animals. San Luis Obispo County has the highest Rabies incidence in California.  All outdoor cats should be protected and many indoor cats should be vaccinated.  Your cat’s first Rabies vaccine is good for 1 year and each subsequent vaccine will last 3 years.  There are two primary vaccines that dogs need:  DA2PP and Rabies.  Distemper and parvovirus are both potentially fatal diseases.  Parvovirus is quite common among puppies and young adults on the Central Coast.  Distemper is less common here, but is on the rise on Northern California. After an initial series, the DA2PP vaccine should be administered every 3 years for optimal protection.  You are legally required to keep your dog vaccinated against Rabies Virus.  Rabies is a fatal disease of both people and animals. San Luis Obispo County has the highest Rabies incidence in California.  Your dog’s first Rabies vaccine is good for 1 year and each subsequent vaccine will protect your dog for 3 years.
• Behavioral Counseling
  A great resource for cat behavior and training is Sophia Yin’s website !  She is a veterinarian and extremely well-versed in behavior.  She has an entire section of articles and videos dedicated to cats.  Her information includes everything from kittens and general behavior to behavior problems and training tricks! This site is a great place to start for anything relating to behavior!
• Nutritional Counseling
  Exercise walks are designed to get your dog moving and elevate their heart rate. These walks are typically brisk and aim to provide cardiovascular benefits, muscle strengthening, and weight management. For high-energy breeds or dogs that need to lose weight, exercise walks are essential. Characterized by a fast-paced, consistent movement, these walks generally last between 30 minutes to an hour, using a standard leash, harness, or collar. The goal is clear: physical exertion, endurance building, and calorie burning.
• Comprehensive Examination
  When not doing the physical exams on patients, our doctors can usually be found here. It’s centrally located so they can always be kept updated of ongoing activities in the hospital. The library also is a place to research the current case at hand and read radiographs.

Illness Treatment

• Parasites Treatment and Control
  Fleas and ticks are rampant in our area, but cats rarely become infested with ticks due to their fastidious grooming.  The Central Coast provides an ideal climate for these parasites to thrive year ‘round.  Most dogs and cats will benefit from some level of monthly control.  Fleas can be controlled with either topical or oral products.  Ticks can be controlled with monthly topicals or a prescription tick collar (dogs only).  Many flea control products will also control roundworms, hookworms and heartworms, and can even provide flea “birth control.”  Please get your advice on parasite control from Animal Care Clinic rather than the internet or a pet store employee – you’ll be surprised what you can learn!
• Pain Management
  Dr. Bonnie Markoff is the owner and founder of Animal Care Clinic. She is almost a San Luis Obispo native attending elementary and high school in SLO. Dr. Markoff graduated from Cal Poly with a degree in Animal Science and then went to UC Davis for veterinary school, earning her DVM in 1988. She is a Board Certified specialist in Canine and Feline Practice, a Diplomat of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners and is certified in Veterinary Family Practice & Fear Free Practice. In 2001 she had the special honor of being named a Fellow at UC Davis in small animal abdominal ultrasonography. Dr. Markoff’ s special medical interests include internal medicine, oncology, pain control, diagnostic imaging and figuring out the tricky cases. When asked about why she became a veterinarian she said, “I can’t remember a time when I did not want to be a veterinarian. I was born into a household full of animals – everything from dogs to lizards! I had pet rats, rabbits, tortoises, snakes and tarantulas as a kid, and I thought my dog was my sister! With my love of science and the outdoors, there seemed no other path to follow! I now find myself most intrigued with the human interactions involved in veterinary medicine – how people bond to their pets and manage the emotional difficulties in caring for sick pets, and how to lead and manage teams of people dedicated to caring for people and their pets. I have been so completely blessed by this diverse profession!”
• Skin Condition and Allergy Treatment
  As we age, our internal organs age too.  Animals are not likely to show outward signs of chronic diseases until they become quite advanced.  Regular blood counts, blood chemistry profile and urinalysis can help us to find early changes in kidney & liver function, thyroid disease and much more.  Early intervention in these situations can often be life saving.  We recommend yearly laboratory profiles in our mature pets and twice yearly profiles as they enter their senior years.  In most pets yearly exams are enough to assess dental care, proper nutrition, behavior management, skin care and control of chronic pain.  These needs can change rapidly in our senior patients and so exams by a doctor every 6 months can help protect your pet from chronic disease and help you make any necessary changes in care. Primary hypertension is not as common in dogs as it is in people, but we do see high blood pressure associated with several diseases common in older pets.  Cats can suffer from primary hypertension and also develop high blood pressure associated with many common diseases.  Since cats won’t show outward signs until there are serious secondary problems, we recommend yearly screening in our older, healthy patients.  Senior dogs can also benefit from yearly blood pressure checks.

Infection Treatment

• Leptospirosis Treatment
  In dogs that hunt, backpack, camp or hang out near wetlands or lakes leptospirosis is a third important vaccine.  Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that can be found in California wetlands where wildlife may be present.  It is more common in Northern California.  This potentially fatal disease comes in many forms (called serovars.)  The available vaccine covers 4 of the more common types of leptospirosis and should be repeated annually if there is continued risk of exposure.
• Parvovirus Infection Treatment
• Feline Retro Virus Treatment
• Bacterial and Viral Infection Treatment

Chronic Condition Treatment

• Obesity Treatment
  Pet Obesity has become an epidemic in today’s society.  The Association for Pet Obesity Prevention has a wonderful site that includes weight loss tools and information on the caloric content of many foods and treats.  Purina has a very nice site called Project Pet Slim Down. It is an online program you can use to help track your pet’s weight loss journey, complete with lots of tips, coaches, success stories and other tools to help you and your pet.  You can also see us at Animal Care Clinic, as we have certified pet-nutrition consultants to assist you step-by-step.
• Thyroid Disease Treatment
  At home, Gianna has her “grouchy old lady” 15-year-old cat, Elvira. ACC had the unique opportunity to help Gianna and Elvira through their great experience of radioiodine treatment for Elvira’s hyperthyroidism. If you have any questions about that experience, Gianna is the one to talk to!
• Heart Disease Treatment
  Written by Nicole Gunkel, RVT As a volunteer veterinary technician for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race I primarily help with the ECG and Bloodwork program.  In order to be eligible to race all sled dogs have blood drawn and checked for internal health of the dog and electrocardiograms (ECG for short) run to determine [...]
• Cancer Treatment
  Over the past few decades, the level of medical care that has become available to dogs and cats has grown exponentially.  Major surgery, chemotherapy, MRI’s & even stem cell therapy are becoming common-place.  Pet owners are demanding the best for their beloved family members.  This quality of medicine has come with a price tag.  We know that you do not want to have to settle for less than optimal care for your pets.  That is why we work so hard to provide convenient payment options for you.

Emergency Care

• Wound and Fracture Care
  Feline Leukemia Virus and the Feline Aids Virus are easily transmitted via intimate contact or bite wounds from infected cats to other cats.  Both diseases are incurable and eventually fatal.  All outdoor cats & cats in multi-cat households should be screened yearly. Dogs have a few other diseases we worry about.  Lyme Disease and Ehrlichiosis are both potentially fatal diseases carried by ticks.  Heartworm disease, also potentially fatal, is carried by mosquitoes & thought to be uncommon in SLO County, but 45 cases were diagnosed here in 2012, with over 3,000 cases in California.  All 3 of these diseases can be cured if caught before outward signs begin.  A simple yearly blood test along with excellent parasite control can help you to protect your dog against the effects of these diseases.
• Poisoning Treatment

Surgery

• Dental Surgery
  Dr. Brenna Cherry joined ACC in 2022 after practicing small medicine in Mission Viejo, CA for the previous 5 years. She also worked at Pomona College as the veterinarian for their undergraduate research program. She completed her undergraduate degree in Animal Science at UC Davis, her DVM at Western University and she is Fear Free Certified and earned her Certified Companion Animal Rehabilitation Therapist (CCAT) in 2024. Her veterinary interests are dentistry and oral surgery, dermatology, internal medicine and nutrition.
• Veterinary Surgery
  By Dr. Markoff   We always have troubles with foxtails (grass awns) at this time of year on the Central Coast, but things have been extremely bad this year. In just the past month, Animal Care Clinic has seen 4 dogs develop a condition called pneumothorax and require emergency surgery to remove lung lobes! Foxtails most [...]
• Laser Surgery
• Declawing

Lab and X-Rays

• Laboratory Services
• X-Ray
• Dental Radiology
  The treatment room is by far the most heavily used room. We use this space for doing simpler things like toe nail trims, anal gland expressions, and ear cleanings. On procedure days, it’s not uncommon to see patients under anesthesia on both wet tables for various reasons. We perform many dental cleanings on our canine and feline patients, as well as tooth extractions, dental x-rays, and root canals when need be.
• Microchipping
  Our Healthy Start Plan (HSP) is designed to help you pay for your pets’ first year of life preventive care over time rather than all at once – without interest or service charge fees.  Our basic preventive care plans include unlimited exams, vaccines, infectious disease screening and parasite screens and microchips also.  The HSP allows you to split this total fee into 12 monthly installments with no interest or additional fees.

General Pet Care

• Boarding
• Grooming
• Dog Training
  Phase Two: During the transition to renovating exam room areas, we’ll be shifting our focus. Just like during the COVID era, much of our work will spill out into the parking lot to ensure seamless operations. Additionally, we’ll be establishing indoor exam rooms and treatment spaces at the back of the building, repurposing the current dog training room. Thankfully, our dental and surgical suites will remain fully operational throughout this phase, unaffected by the ongoing changes.