Follow Sangre de Cristo Animal Hospital

Sangre de Cristo Animal Hospital strives to provide complete and comprehensive family pet care for dogs, cats, and exotics by practicing integrative medicine – combining traditional Western medicine with more holistic or alternative therapies when indicated. Our traditional services include yearly wellness exams, routine vaccinations, wellness blood screening, microchipping, and spay & neuter surgery. We are also a fully equipped veterinary facility should your pet need to come in on an emergency basis. For those clients seeking holistic or alternative therapies, we offer acupuncture, chiropractic, and work closely with Critters & Me, who provides biofeedback therapy, homeopathy, and nutritional support.

Dentistry and Digital Dental X-Ray

We offer advanced dental care using state of the art equipment similar to that used in human dental practices. All dental patients undergo general anesthesia while their vital signs are monitored electronically. They are kept on a warmed table and receive IV fluids to help support their cardiovascular system while under anesthesia. We utilize a human grade ultrasonic scaler to clean their teeth. Following cleaning, we apply polish with a low-speed handpiece. A combination water/air handpiece is used to flush and clean the mouth. Finally, a high-speed drill is available should we need to extract any teeth. Extractions are a surgical procedure involving careful manipulation and suturing of gum tissue, local anesthetics, hemostatic (stops bleeding) agents, antibiotics, and synthetic bone grafting material, if needed. We use a digital dental x-ray machine to look for disease below the gum line. Digital x-rays require less time than conventional x-rays, meaning your pet spends less time under anesthesia. Digital x-rays allow us to see abscesses, fractures and other disease processes that are not always apparent above the gum line. They also allow your veterinarian to see any tooth root abnormalities that can complicate a tooth extraction, and to ensure that all root fragments were properly removed following an extraction. Full mouth x-rays give us a wonderful reference for future cleanings.