Hazel Dell Animal Hospital

We would love for you to meet our newest Veterinarian here at Hazel Dell Animal Hospital. Her name is Pamela Cross (pictured here with her daughter Scarlett) and she is a wonderful addition to our team. Welcome Dr. Cross!! Dr. Cross was born and raised in Ellicott City, Maryland. Growing up, she spent a lot of time with both horses and dogs. It was in third grade that she decided that she wanted to become a veterinarian. After obtaining her Small Animal Science degree from De laware Valley College in 2003, she attended the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine for her veterinary degree. It was there, on the first day of class that she met her soon to be husband, Randy. After graduating in 2007, Dr. Cross spent 4 years working as an associate veterinarian at a 5 doctor small animal hospital in New Jersey. In 2011, she and her husband (also a Veterinarian) moved to Carmel. She spent 4 years working as an associate veterinarian for VCA before deciding to join the ...

Leptospirosis It is with heavy hearts that we had to say goodbye to one of our patients to a disease called Leptospirosis. This potentially deadly zoonotic disease (meaning that it can be transmitted to people) poses a risk to our canine patients regardless of breed right here in our own back yards. Our patient who passed away lived about 2 minutes from our hospital in a neighboring community. Leptospirosis has always been recommended as part of the annual vaccines for your dog and we will  continue to recommend it in the future. Leptospirosis is spread through the urine of wildlife and lives well in wet environments including puddles, streams, etc.  Your pet can sniff or lick a wet area and get exposed to it, then as they shed Leptospirosis through their urine, humans can pick it up as well. We get more flu like symptoms, while your dogs can suffer from sudden liver/kidney failure or in worst cases, death. Our Leptospirosis vaccines has a 92-94% efficacy. Please read th...

Fleas oh Fleas oh Fleas Have you been noticing your pets scratching themselves lately? So have we here at Hazel Dell. There has been an increase in fleas that have been hanging out on our patients. We can certainly treat them while they are here (and we do!), though we want to make sure that you are keeping up with your Heartworm, Flea and Tick, and Intestinal Parasite Prevention. While some states have the luxury of really hot or really cold seasons, Indiana is considered mild in comparison. We recommend keeping your pets on preventatives all year long. The reason behind all year long prevention is that fleas have 4 stages in the life cycle of a flea: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Depending on the environmental temperature and humidity levels, the toal lide cycle will take anywhere from a couple of weeks to many months. If your pet is not on a flea and tick preventative and you have noticed fleas, it is recommended to start and continue preventatives for 3-6 months to tak...