Welcome to the Small Animal Internal Medicine Service (SAIMU) of the University of Teramo’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital. The Service offers a variety of services providing modern clinical diagnostic capabilities combined with a high level of experience in the management and treatment of a wide variety of internal medicine issues in dogs and cats. The Service carries out clinical consulting services for local veterinary practitioners as well as for pet owners. In addition, the Service also carries out specialized services for “exotic pet medicine” (by appointment only).
Our team is composed of University Professors and Researchers specialized in small animal internal medicine, and other members of Veterinary Teaching Hospital staff (PhDs, internal medicine specialists, PhD candidates, Post-doctoral research fellows). All members of the team are highly specialized in the field of small animal internal medicine, specifically in the areas of gastroenterology, endocrinology, respiratory diseases, infectious and parasitic diseases, immunomediated diseases, renal and lower urinary tract diseases, cardiology, oncology and dermatology.
The Small Animal Internal Medicine Service works together with the other units of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, using modern diagnostics and treatment strategies to diagnose and care for severe progressive and rarely diagnosed diseases.
The Service offers a wide range of diagnostic and treatment procedures including: basic and advanced clinical pathology laboratories; endocrinological testing; cytology and cytochemistry; endoscopic examinations of the digestive and respiratory tracts; joint sampling; blood marrow sampling; skin biopsies; echocardiography; electrocardiography and Holter monitoring.
The Service hosts a Clinical Pathology Laboratory (CPL), a Blood Transfusion Unit (BTU) and a small animal intensive care (ICU). The BTU obtained authorization from the local health authority of Teramo (ASL) (DPF011/172, 21 October 2016) as the veterinary blood bank for the Abruzzo region, thus implementing “the guidelines for implementing healthcare activities related to transfusion medicine in the veterinary field” (agreement n. 226/CSR del 17.12.2015). Currently, the BTU carries out blood transfusion treatments in the veterinary teaching hospital in addition to providing whole blood units to external veterinary structures. The BTU also carries out blood type determinations for dogs and cats as well as cross compatibility tests.
The Small Animal Intensive Care Unit (ICU) operates in close collaboration with the H-24 services to manage critical, infectious and post-surgical patients. The unit manages the patients, giving priority to those considered to be in critical condition both in normal opening hours and after closing (weekends, public holidays, nights). This is carried out in close collaboration with the H-24, as well as the other clinical units of the teaching hospital. The unit, together with the H-24 service manages the recovery wards and the areas designated to patients considered to be at risk for infectious disease. Patients in critical conditions admitted to the intensive care unit are regularly monitored and cared for over their stay at the ICU.
The principal diagnostic and therapeutic procedures carried out in the ICU include but it is not limited to: fluid-therapy, analgesics, nutritional support, oxygen therapy, assisted ventilation, clinical and instrumental monitoring using urgent care ultrasound, electrocardiography, pulse oximetry, capnography, arterial pressure measurement (invasive/non-invasive), central venous pressure monitoring.
The SAIMU-ICU, in collaboration with the H-24 unit, manages the internal medicine and intensive care wards in dedicated areas, maintaining an appropriate separation between dogs and cats. The Services thus guarantee a correct application of diagnostic, treatment and instrumental and clinical monitoring activities in a continuous fashion.
In the framework of the Veterinary Medicine Degree Course, clinical activities are carried out in the Small Animal Internal Medicine Service, offering to second, third, fourth- and fifth-year students the hands-on experience necessary for the education of competent veterinarians.
The clinical caseload carried out by the Small Animal Internal Medicine Service provides the fundamental materials to carry out clinical and applied research.