Larkmoor
Northwest Portland · Small animal practice since 2009

Unhurried care for the animals A French bulldog waiting on the table of a bright consulting room you live with.

Larkmoor is a full service small animal hospital on Alder Creek Road. Wellness exams, surgery, dentistry, imaging and grooming happen in one building, and the emergency line at night is answered by the same team that saw your pet in the morning.

Book appointmentor call (503) 555-0142 and speak to a nurse, not a call centre
  • AAHA accredited
  • Fear Free certified team
  • Emergency line answered in house
A Larkmoor team member greeting a tabby cat nose to nose before the exam begins4.9 average from 612 owner reviews
Emergency line, answered in house(503) 555-0199

24 hours a day, by a Larkmoor nurse. Call before you drive.

17years on Alder Creek Road
4,800pets under active care
24/7emergency line, answered in house
612owner reviews collected since 2018
Wellness examsVaccinationsSurgeryDentistryUltrasoundDigital X-rayParasite plansGrooming
What we do

One building, one record, one team who knows your animal.

Splitting a pet across a vaccine clinic, a dental practice and a grooming salon means three histories and nobody holding the whole picture. Everything below happens under the same roof and lands on the same chart.

Each service is described the way we would explain it at the consulting room table: who it is for, what we will do, how long it takes and what the days afterwards look like.

  1. A nose to tail exam, a body condition score you can see on the chart, and a vaccine list built on where your pet actually goes rather than a fixed package.

Two veterinarians in scrubs steadying a small dog on the examination table01 · Wellness exams and vaccinations

The annual exam is the only appointment where we get to see your pet well. It is what makes a change obvious later, when the difference is half a kilo or a slightly quieter heart.

Who it is for

  • New puppies and kittens
  • Healthy adults, once a year
  • Pets over eight, twice a year
  • Newly adopted or rescued animals
  • Boarding or travel paperwork

What happens

  1. 01Weight, temperature, heart and lungs, then a hands on exam from nose to tail including lymph nodes and abdomen.
  2. 02Mouth, ears, eyes and skin, plus a body condition score recorded on the chart so next year has something to compare against.
  3. 03Vaccines chosen on lifestyle. An indoor cat and a dog who swims in the Willamette do not need the same list, and we will tell you which ones your pet can skip.
  4. 04Stool screening and a parasite plan for the twelve months ahead, and bloodwork for seniors or before any anaesthetic.
How long
30 minutes, 40 for a first visit
How often
Yearly, or twice yearly from eight years old

Afterwards. You leave with a written summary and the next due date already booked. Vaccine certificates are emailed the same day for boarding kennels and airlines.

Emergencies

Call before you drive.

Two minutes on the phone tells us whether to have oxygen running, a warm cage open or a surgical table prepared before you pull into the car park. It is the difference between waiting at reception and being taken straight through, and it lets us tell you honestly if another hospital is the safer room tonight.

(503) 555-0199

Answered 24 hours a day by a Larkmoor nurse, including Sundays and public holidays. Two urgent slots are held every weekday afternoon for our own clients.

Overnight the line reaches the on call Larkmoor doctor. If your pet needs a room with someone awake beside the cage all night, we will say so and call the 24 hour referral hospital on Barnes Road ourselves before you set off.

Do not wait for a slot, and do not wait until morning.

  • 01Difficulty breathing, or gums that look blue or grey
  • 02A male cat straining in the litter box
  • 03A hard, swollen belly with unproductive retching
  • 04Seizure lasting over two minutes, or two in a row
  • 05Heavy bleeding that will not stop with pressure
  • 06Collapse, or sudden weakness in the hind legs
  • 07Hit by a car, even if they walk away
  • 08Ate chocolate, grapes, xylitol or a pill

A male cat straining in the litter box is an emergency, not a wait and see.

A blocked bladder can become fatal within a day. If you are not sure whether what you are seeing counts, that is exactly what the line is for. Nobody here has ever thought less of an owner for ringing about something that turned out to be nothing, and the reverse costs animals their lives.

The first year

A vaccine schedule you can put on the fridge.

The series matters more than any single dose. Maternal antibodies block early vaccines in a way nobody can predict from the outside, which is why the last one has to land at or after sixteen weeks.

Core vaccine: DAPP: distemper, adenovirus, parainfluenza, parvovirus

A young puppy asleep in the crook of an owner's arm
  1. 6-8weeks

    First DAPP and the first worming dose. This is also the visit where we weigh, microchip if needed, and talk through socialisation windows.

  2. 10-12weeks

    Second DAPP, plus Bordetella and Leptospirosis if the lifestyle calls for them. Kennels, daycare and hiking all change the answer.

  3. 14-16weeks

    Final DAPP and rabies. Parvovirus protection is not reliable until this last dose has been given, so puppy class comes after it.

  4. 12months

    One year boosters, then DAPP every three years and rabies to the interval on the product used.

Adult boosters fall due every one to three years depending on the vaccine and the product used. Oregon law requires a current rabies vaccination for dogs, and we file the certificate with the county on your behalf. Bring any records from a breeder, shelter or previous practice and we will pick the series up where it stopped rather than starting again.

The doctors

Three veterinarians, and you can ask for the one your pet already knows.

Continuity is not a luxury in veterinary medicine. A doctor who examined your dog last spring notices the half kilo they lost since, and that is usually where the diagnosis starts.

Dr. Marisol Vega, a veterinarian in scrubs, standing with her arms foldedMedical director

Dr. Marisol Vega, DVM

Oregon State University, 2008

Internal medicine and feline patients. Reads the in house bloodwork herself, which is why senior wellness results come back the same visit rather than the following week.

  • Senior wellness
  • Feline medicine
  • In house laboratory
Dr. Elias Navarro, a veterinarian in surgical scrubs with a stethoscope around his neckSurgery and dentistry

Dr. Elias Navarro, DVM

Washington State University, 2011

Soft tissue surgery, orthopaedics and full mouth dental radiography. Operates on weekday mornings only, so nothing else is booked against the surgical list.

  • Spay and neuter
  • Dental radiography
  • Orthopaedics
Dr. Clara Bosch, a veterinarian holding a small chihuahua against her shoulderPreventive care and young animals

Dr. Clara Bosch, DVM

University of California, Davis, 2016

Runs the puppy and kitten first year programme and builds the parasite plans. Books new puppies for a longer first visit so nothing has to be rushed.

  • Puppy and kitten care
  • Vaccine planning
  • Nutrition

Every doctor and nurse here is Fear Free certified.

That means handling training, separate waiting areas for cats and dogs, and a note on each chart about what keeps your particular animal settled.

AAHA accredited since 2014.

Roughly one small animal practice in seven holds it, and it is re inspected against about nine hundred standards covering anaesthesia, pain control, surgery and record keeping.

Your first visit

Nobody is in a hurry, including your pet.

Most animals arrive already braced for the visit, usually because of a previous one. We build the appointment around lowering that, which takes longer on the first day and much less time every year after.

A tabby cat held gently on a lap during a calm consultation
  1. 01

    Before you arrive

    Email us your previous records so we are not starting from nothing, and bring a fresh stool sample if you can. Book just before a mealtime: a hungry patient will take treats, and treats are most of how we get through an exam.

  2. 02

    The waiting room, briefly

    Cats and dogs wait in separate rooms. Carriers get a pheromone sprayed towel at the door, and if your pet is already unravelling we take you straight into a consulting room instead of asking you to sit it out.

  3. 03

    The examination

    Forty minutes for a new patient. We examine on the floor, on your lap, or in the bottom half of the carrier if that is where your cat is prepared to be. If your animal says stop, we stop and try a different way.

  4. 04

    The plan and what it costs

    You leave with a written plan and an itemised estimate before anything is booked. If something changes on the day of a procedure, you get a phone call and a new number, never a surprise at the desk.

Before you come in

Four small things that make the appointment better.

  • Bring the paperwork

    Vaccination records from a breeder, shelter or previous practice, and the boxes or labels of anything your pet is taking. A photograph of the label on your phone is enough.

  • Bring a sample if you can

    A fresh stool sample, collected the same morning, saves a second trip for anything digestive. If the problem is urinary, do not try: we would rather collect it here.

  • Arrive hungry

    Book just before a mealtime and hold back part of it. Treats are most of how a nervous animal gets through an exam, and a full patient will not take them.

  • Give yourself ten minutes

    New patients need a short registration at the desk. Cats wait in the cat room, dogs in the dog room, and if either is already struggling we will take you straight through.

What it costs

No price list, and this is the honest reason why.

A fourteen kilo dog and a forty kilo dog are not the same spay. The same dental is a scale and polish for one patient and four extractions for the next, and nobody knows which until the radiographs are on the screen. A published figure would be wrong for most of the animals reading it.

  1. 01An itemised written estimate before anything is booked, with a low and a high figure wherever the plan could reasonably change.
  2. 02A phone call from the room if the plan has to change during a procedure. Nothing is added to the bill without your yes.
  3. 03The estimate honoured. If we underestimated the work, that is our problem rather than yours.
  4. 04Third party payment plans where you need them, and an honest answer about which parts of a plan can safely wait until next month.
An owner laughing as her small terrier leans in against her cheek
4.9average from 612 owner reviews collected since 2018
From the people who bring them in

The part owners tell us about is rarely the medicine.

“Bo swallowed a sock on a Sunday night. I called the emergency line at eleven expecting a recorded message and got a nurse who talked me through what to watch for, then rang back twenty minutes later. Dr. Navarro met us at the door and Bo was in surgery within the hour.”

Priya Raghunathan · Bo, Labrador, seven years
01 / 03

Reviews are collected after the visit by email and published unedited, including the ones that tell us the wait was too long.

Questions owners ask

What people usually ring reception to find out.

If your question is not here, a nurse answers the reception line during opening hours and will tell you honestly whether it needs an appointment.

Reception (503) 555-0142

  1. Yes, always. Two minutes on the phone lets us have oxygen, a warm cage or a surgical table ready before you arrive, and it lets us tell you honestly if the 24 hour referral hospital on Barnes Road is the safer room tonight.

Open morning · first Saturday of every month

Come and see the place before you need it.

Bring your animal, walk through the consulting rooms, meet whoever is on, and leave without an examination or a bill. A carrier that has been somewhere pleasant once is a very different carrier the next time.

Request an appointment

Tell us who is coming and what is going on.

A nurse reads every request and calls back the same working day to agree a time. This form is for booking and questions only. If your animal needs help right now, use the emergency number instead of waiting on a reply.

Reason for the visit *
Preferred time

Fields marked * are required.

Where to find us

218 Alder Creek Road

Northwest Portland, Oregon 97210. The entrance is on the side of the building facing the car park, under the green awning, and it is level all the way from the kerb.

A nurse carrying a grey and white cat through the clinic
Reception(503) 555-0142Answered by a nurse during opening hoursEmailhello@larkmoorvet.comRecords and repeat prescriptions, replied within a day

Opening hours

Monday to Friday
7:30am to 7:00pm
Saturday
8:00am to 4:00pm
Sunday
Closed for routine appointments
Emergency line
24 hours, every day of the year
Out of hours(503) 555-0199

The emergency number reaches the on call Larkmoor doctor at any hour. Call before you drive so we can have the right room ready, and so we can send you somewhere better equipped if that is what tonight needs.

Parking and transport. Fourteen free spaces behind the building, including two wide bays by the door. The number 15 bus stops one block east on Thurman Street, and there is a covered bench outside if you would rather wait outdoors with a nervous dog.