The gold standard test is the term used in medicine for the test (imaging, blood test, biopsy, etc.) that is felt to be the current best for diagnosis of a particular condition. Gold standard treatment, equally is considered the industry’s absolute best course to manage a disease process. I The gold standard for any specific disease is not set in stone and can change over time. It is against the gold standard that any new test or treatment is compared.

At Animal House Veterinary Hospital, the gold standard is our BASELINE. Some examples of how we are applying the gold standard in ways not noted in other local hospitals is that we do ALL of our surgery with a CO2 laser. We are the ONLY local hospital that has a CO2 laser.

Moreover, we have a therapy laser to help patients recover from surgery, pain and other medical conditions.

We are the ONLY hospital that performs a complete set of dental radiographs with every dental procedure. That is unheard of in our industry other than at the level of a Veterinary Dental Specialist.

Further, all of our surgical procedures require iv catheterization and fluids with any procedure. Each procedure has a dedicated nurse anesthetist that constantly monitors and records a patients blood oxygen saturation, temperature, blood pressure, and other parameters to ensure the safety and comfort of each patient.

Pain control is essential and we use a multimodal approach to ensure every patient is as comfortable as we can make them. Some veterinary hospitals charge extra for pain control. At Animal House, we will NOT perform any procedure unless we control post-operative pain to the best of our ability. For more painful procedures we will use a constant rate infusion of a cocktail of pain control medications given slowly as an iv drip throughout the day. Excellent pain control should not be gold standard, it should be the ONLY standard.