Penobscot Veterinary Services, LLC

09/04/2026

Reminder!! Please get all your requests in ASAP before we close at 5:30pm tomorrow!

Gentle reminder that we will be closed this coming Monday, September 7th for the Labor Day holiday.

We will reopen on Tuesday, September 8th at 8am.

❗️Please get your medication, prescription food and preventative refills into us ASAP so our staff can process and have ready for you before end of day on Friday, September 4th.

-Team PVS

09/03/2026

In light of the news of a large-scale exposure at a petting zoo in North Carolina, it’s a good time to talk about rabies.

The rabies virus can infect any warm-blooded animal (yes, including opossums, whose lower body temperature makes them less susceptible but not immune to rabies) although it does not affect all species equally. Depending on how it’s transmitted the incubation time, or how long it takes to show symptoms, is highly variable. The most obvious signs are unexplained behavioral and neurological changes. Rabies, once symptoms arise, is nearly always fatal and there is no reliable treatment.

In Maine some of the common species we worry about are raccoons, foxes, skunks, and bats. Bats especially can pose issues because their bites can be very tiny and can go unnoticed. If you find a bat in your house, it’s best to treat it as a possible rabies exposure for your pet and to avoid making direct contact with it yourself.

If your pet has any possible exposure, either because of an encounter with wildlife or with another unvaccinated pet, it’s best to get them a rabies booster as soon as possible regardless of when their last vaccine was, in order to increase the amount of circulating antibodies to fight the virus. You should also contact the game warden to report the incident and, if there’s any possibility you yourself have been exposed, contact your health provider.

For more information the Maine Department of Health and Human Services is a great resource: https://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/diseases-conditions/animal-borne-diseases/rabies

[A map from the CDC showing confirmed animal rabies cases from 2019-2023.]

09/02/2026

Gentle reminder that we will be closed this coming Monday, September 7th for the Labor Day holiday.

We will reopen on Tuesday, September 8th at 8am.

❗️Please get your medication, prescription food and preventative refills into us ASAP so our staff can process and have ready for you before end of day on Friday, September 4th.

-Team PVS

08/28/2026

🌈🐾 Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day 🐾🌈

Today, we take a moment to remember the beloved pets who have crossed the Rainbow Bridge. Though they may no longer be by our side, the love they gave us, the memories we made, and the paw prints they left on our hearts will remain forever. ❤️

For those missing a cherished dog, cat, or other special companion today, we hope you find comfort in remembering the joy, laughter, and unconditional love they brought into your life.

They were here. They were loved. They mattered. And they will never be forgotten. 🐾🌈
— Penobscot Veterinary Services 🐾

08/19/2026

Friendly Reminder:

Today is our Monthly Staff Meeting! This means we will be closing at 12:30pm and will reopen at 2pm.

If you have an emergency during this time, please call 947-6783 and press our emergency line or please CALL ahead to one of the following emergency facilities.

PetMedic Urgent Care Veterinary Clinic
200 Lower Main St., Freeport, ME 04032
(207) 805-5398
(opens at 12pm)

Portland Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Care
739 Warren Ave
Westbrook, ME
(207) 878-3121
(24 hr)

Maine Veterinary Medical Center
1500 Technology Way
Scarborough, ME
(207) 885-1290
(24 hr)

08/18/2026

At PVS we have a fun new toy to help our patients: PulseVet Shockwave Therapy!

Our PulseVet administers focused, high-energy sound waves at the area of injury. These waves stimulate the cells and the blood vessels there to stimulate bone and soft tissue healing as well as new capillaries in the area to increase blood flow all to help improve both the time and quality of the healing process. It works best on injuries where the area of concern can be pinpointed, as opposed to generalized aches and pains, because the therapy is targeted to the specific area. We typically do three rounds of treatment to see the best results. It’s a little loud, as you might imagine from a machine that makes sound waves, but non-invasive and most pets seem to tolerate it well, especially when we add some delicious bribes like treats and cheese to the mix!

We’re in the process of integrating PulseVet into the normal recovery process for all of our orthopedic surgeries to give your pet the most success possible in recovery. It’s also another tool in our belts when your pet comes in for a regular appointment for issues with wounds or mobility. If you’d like to know if this is an option for your pet, please reach out to us by phone or email and we’d love to look into the best options for your pet.

[This video shows Wyatt, our practice manager’s dog, receiving shockwave treatment with one of our technicians following a hip flexor injury. The machine does make some noise, you might want to turn your volume down a bit.]

08/13/2026

Not many places are happy to see you walk in holding a bag of p**p, but we welcome it with open arms!

(Closed noses though.)

Doing an annual f***l exam is the best way to check your pet for any intestinal parasites. All of our heartworm preventatives also cover several common worms, but there are some less common ones pets in our area can still contract. The most common modes of transmission for most are contaminated sources outside, places like contaminated soil, other animals’ f***s, or hunting small animals, but things like sneaking a bit of raw meat off the counter is a possible vector. Some parasites are even transmitted through other hosts, like those tapeworms that love to hop a ride on fleas!

In some cases you can see evidence of worms, like little segments that look like grains of rice around the re**um that indicate tapeworms, but usually the only evidence they leave are microscopic eggs in the f***s. Those are what we’re searching for in the samples you bring us. Even pets without diarrhea can be carrying a few extra guests, so a regular f***l exam is good not only to protect them but also to make sure they can’t pass anything on to you!

So the next time you bring your #1 furbaby in for their annual exam, don’t forget to bring a little of their #2 along with you!

[Some of the eggs are almost pretty if you don't think about what they're growing inside!]

07/31/2026

When a furry family member of one of our staff members came in for a routine visit this year she surprised us by testing positive for heartworm. It wasn’t that long ago that the thought of dogs who had lived in Maine all their lives testing positive for heartworm would have raised more than a few eyebrows, but such cases have been on the rise over the last decade.

Heartworm is exactly what it sounds like: parasitic worms that live in your pets’ circulatory system that are spread by those pesky mosquitos we all hate. They cause all kinds of respiratory and heart problems, some which can leave irreversible changes even after treatment. Worst of all, it can have fatal outcomes with very little warning. The treatment process is no cakewalk either, involving three rounds of injections and overnight hospitalization as well as several follow up tests.

So you can probably guess we’re going to recommend your dog be on a monthly heartworm preventative like Credelio Quattro or Interceptor Plus, because you’ve been reading these posts and have great pattern recognition. And if you’ve already picked up a dose of preventative with us you might also know we test your dog for heartworm before starting preventatives. It may seem a little strange to test for something you’re preventing, but if a dog is positive for heartworm and the preventative kills off the worms too quickly it can have deadly consequences and it only takes a small lapse in dosing to make your pet vulnerable. So when we recommend a year 4DX test we’re not only screening for 3 increasingly common tick borne diseases, but making sure it’s safe to give your dog their heartworm prevention. Not bad for a test that only takes 3 drops of blood!

[This video by one of our technicians shows microfilaria, baby heartworms, swimming through a patient’s blood sample. Sorry about the shakiness; we’ve told them not to quit their day job!]

07/24/2026

We have a confession to make: Penobscot Vet is kinda scary! It’s a strange building most pets only see once a year that’s full of the smells and sounds of strange animals where strange people do a bunch of weird poking and prodding and stick them with needles. Any sane animal would be freaked out by that, so we work hard to make things as pleasant as possible: minimizing contact between patients, offering several kinds of high-value treats as distractions, and closely observing and documenting behavioral signals at each visit so we have a note of what things work for your pet.

When those steps aren’t enough, we recommend mild sedatives and anti-anxiety medications before their appointment. This allows many patients not only a more pleasant visit, but also a more productive one where we’re able to get a more accurate and thorough assessment. For patients whose anxiety is too much for oral medication alone or who require more involved diagnostics we also offer varying levels of injectable sedation and anesthesia. Every pet and situation has different needs and we always take those into consideration in our recommendations.

Reducing fear and stress is important for your pet’s comfort and safety, but it also affects their physiological health. Stress can inhibit the immune system, alter exam findings and labwork, and even affect the GI system and cause a short bout of diarrhea in the days following the exam.

The staff here at PVS works hard to make every experience as positive as possible for our patients. Many of our staff members go to conferences or take continuing education courses to stay up to date on the latest recommendations from the experts. If you’d like to look into options for your pet’s unique needs please reach out to us and see what options are available to take some of the jitters out of your critters!

[Pictured is Nutmeg, one of our first patients to start taking Gabapentin before her visits. Her owner, our office manager Rachel, says it’s been a game changer. As a senior cat Nutmeg requires more frequent visits to check her thyroid levels and receive injections for arthritis so keeping these visits stress-free is extra important!]

07/23/2026

Good morning clients and friends of PVS. We are unexpectedly working with a small but mighty team today. We are still here to help but we anticipate longer than normal wait times for responses to phone and email questions. There may also be delays to appointments. We are sorry for any inconvenience and we are thankful for your understanding.

Team PVS 🐾🐾