Welcome to Our New Website!

We are very excited about our new website. It looks great, is easy to navigate, is chock full of features, and has a wealth of educational material, including articles as well as videos. In addition, it is optimized for smartphone display!

To make you familiar with the myriad of features available on our new website, the discussion below will describe many of the areas on our site, all present for easy access on our home page screen.

There is a “New Client” section where new clients are able to register on line, fill out their information before you come into the hospital which saves time upon check in. There are history forms where you can describe your pet’s health issues and why the appointment is being made. There are also forms where you can provide your pet’s vaccination history. In addition, through the website you can request appointment times and we will try to provide you with the preferred times, if available. Another section is the “What to Expect” portion, where we describe what typically happens when you come in with your pet for an appointment. There is also the “Take a Tour” area of the website, where you will be able to take a virtual tour of the hospital, where you can see the various areas and a description of these areas (this is still being worked on at this time).

For existing clients, you can access all the hospital online forms under the “New Client” section or under the “Forms” button at the top of the home page. You can update your information such as, address, phone number, email, and so forth. It would be well appreciated that you keep your information current and updated so we can continue to keep in contact with you, informing you of hospital happenings or specials. In both sections, “New Client” and “Forms,” there is a form so you can request medication/prescription refills as well as order prescription dog food online….how convenient is that!

The “About Us” section has a wealth of information about our hospital in particular. There is a history of Niles Animal Hospital, discussion about our AAHA accreditation and its importance, our location (with a map so you can print out directions), our hours, emergency information (where to take your pet in case of an emergency when our hospital is closed), and a listing of our hospital team, which includes a short bio and photo of each member. Additionally, we have included a “Join Our Team” area where you can contact us and submit a resume to show your interest in becoming part of our staff. Of course, we will contact individuals who have submitted resumes for positions when they are available. Also included in the “About Us” section is veterinary career information, where we have provided articles discussing various career opportunities in veterinary medicine. These include many types of positions in an animal hospital setting, so that you may find one that suits you if you desire to work in this field. Links to career sites are in our “Links” section, including links to the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinary Technician Programs (where you can become a certified veterinary technician), and other professional organizations which may provide further information. We have a question/answer section, whereby you can submit questions which will be answered by one of our veterinarians (the form will also appear on other pages other than the home page as well.) We receive a large number of positive comments which share on our “Testimonial” section so you can view what people are saying. Feel free to provide your input as well through info@nilesanimalhospital.com. The final portion of this section is our FAQ (frequently asked questions) where we address concerns that may arise pertaining to our hospital and policies.

The next section we will discuss is  “Services” where we describe some of the services which we provide at the hospital. They include services under the headings of “Preventive Care,” “Diagnostic/Laboratory Services,” “Exotic Pet Medicine/Surgery,” “Pet Bird Medicine,” “Surgical Services,” and “Additional Services.” Under each of these headings are a number of the services we perform with a brief description of each and you can then click on the service to get more detailed information (in many cases a redirection to an actual article about the topic.) We pride ourselves on client education and providing information like this helps to achieve our goal, as well as providing you with more insight of what is available at Niles Animal Hospital.

Under the “Pet Health” heading is where there is a multitude of educational articles and videos. On our website there are more than 1,250 articles in our client education library, and more than 50+ educational videos. The educational articles cover a wide variety of pet-related issues and are set up in a very organized and easily retrievable manner. The videos include a number of “How To Videos,” such as how to give your pet a pill or brush their teeth, for example. There are also both educational presentations and educational videos. The aforementioned articles are provided by LifeLearn. There is another heading under “Pet Health” called “NAH Articles” which are articles that were created by Niles Animal Hospital. These articles cover the healthcare and nutrition of dogs and cats. There are also a number of articles pertaining at a variety of bird health and husbandry issues. There is a “News” section, where topical animal related items are posted by LifeLearn, and the news items are also visible on the home page itself. Another FAQ section is present here, the questions relating to pet health issues in particular.

A very interesting and useful feature, listed under the “Pet Health” listing is the “Sick Pet Helper.” This is a unique aid where you select you type of pet, input the breed, age, and then the symptoms. As you work though the helper it will ask additional questions to fine tune a response for you as to what action to take for your pet. The helper will also help to indicate how urgent it is for you to obtain veterinary assistance for the condition. Obviously, it is no substitute for speaking with a veterinarian directly, but it can serve as a guide in the evaluation of the seriousness of the condition of your pet.

Continuing along, there is a heading “Avian Articles” which is another location where you can access articles related to birds written by Dr. Sakas, on a wide range of topics. (you can also access them under the “Pet Health” heading, section “NAH Articles” and look for the avian articles).

Under the “Links” heading there are a variety of useful links. The links include sites for general pet health, veterinary career educational sites (veterinary colleges and veterinary technician programs), veterinary professional organization sites, local bird clubs, pet dog/cat rescue organizations, pet bird rescue organizations, pet product recall website (FDA), and wildlife rehabilitation organizations.

The heading “NAH Videos” includes a number of videos created by Dr. Sakas or educational videos featuring the hospital. Dr. Sakas has taken a group of animal photos pertaining to various topics and then produced a slideshow put to the appropriate music. These videos are all posted on youtube but can be accessed directly from our website. There are puppy shows, dogs shows, cat shows, birds shows, shows about various holidays (Christmas, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day), and other topics. They are pretty entertaining and are safe for all ages! We have a youtube channel, “nilesanimalhospital” where these are all posted. There is also a button on our home page where you go directly to our youtube channel. Watch for more videos to appear on our site as they are created!

The heading “My Pet” contains the link to epethealth, where you can access you pet’s medical records, vaccination history, as well as other useful features. You must sign in, set up a user name and password so you can be able to take advantage of this useful site. You can also access epethealth from a button on the home page.

At the top of the home page there are a series of headings including “Contact” (which has the location, hours, and contact information), “Forms” (which includes all the hospital forms which you can fill out online to help ease check in for your appointment), and “News” (which is another way of accessing the news posted by LifeLearn).

The heading “NAH Blog” is the place to watch for frequent postings about what is happening at the hospital and updates as well. Obviously, this first posting on the blog is introducing you to our website. Come back and visit often so you can keep on top of the goings on at the hospital. You will note on the homepage (and other locations on the website) is a link to another blog. This blog was the original blog Dr. Sakas created for the hospital at blog.nilesanimalhospital.com. There have been nearly 130 postings and 17,000 views. Do visit that blog as well, as the topics tend to be less specific about the animal hospital, but many issues of great importance to pet owners (such as food recalls, disease outbreaks) as well as items of general interest. Please visit that site as well and become a follower so you can check out the blog postings as they are put up!

The heading “Poems, Quotes, Stories” is a collection of animal related literature. There are famous quotes from noted historical figures related to animals, poems, heart-warming stories, and a section “Words of Comfort” which are items related to pet loss and can be an aid in coping as you read the stories/poems/quotes.

There are various locations on the webpage and home page where you can access other social media sites related to Niles Animal Hospital. As mentioned above, you can access the Niles Animal Hospital Blog at blog.nilesanimalhospital.com by clicking the blog button. Become a follower! There is a button to access our youtube channel nilesanimalhospital where you will find all the animal related slideshows created by Dr. Sakas. Become a subscriber to our youtube channel! We also have a facebook page “Niles Animal Hospital and Bird Medical Center.” Click the facebook button and you will be taken directly to the page. Videos and interesting photo albums are present on our page as well as all sorts of interesting postings. If you are a facebook member, visit our page and if you do, LIKE US….it would be appreciated! Finally, we also have a twitter account, @nilesanimalhosp which can be accessed by the twitter button. Become a follower so you can receive the wide variety of tweets from Dr. Sakas!

The final feature to be discussed is our ONLINE STORE. You now have the capability to order medication directly from our online store and have it delivered directly to your door! The prices are very competitive with the other online sites, but the advantage to buying from us is the products are top quality and carry a guarantee from the supplier/manufacturer. So instead of purchasing suspect materials of unknown origin, deal with a source you can trust, your veterinarian!

So that is a blow by blow description of our new website. We do hope you do enjoy it and take advantage of all the features available. We appreciate any feedback, positive as well as negative about the site or about the hospital. Please let us know via info@nilesanimalhospital.com.