Wellness and Preventative Pet Care: Preventative Approach to Veterinary Care
Looks can be deceiving! Pets can’t tell you if they’re sick. While they may seem healthy on the outside, it’s best to see what’s happening on the inside. Preventative care is an animal’s best defense. Annual exams help by preventing, diagnosing and treating disease in its early stages, often before any noticeable symptoms begin. Seeing your pet regularly means we can address any concerns quickly. The earlier treatment starts, the more effective it is, keeping your pet happy and healthy.
Key Preventive Health Measures for Canines and Felines
Annual Wellness Exams: We recommend annual exams for animals up to 7yrs of age.
Semi-annual exams are recommended for senior animals 8yrs of age and older. Annual exams evaluate:
- Body Condition
- Ear Exam
- Eye Exam
- Dental Exam
- Musculoskeletal Exam
- Reproductive/Urinary System Exam
- Skin and Haircoat Exam
- Lymph nodes/thyroid Exam
- Nose and Throat Exam
- Internal Health Evaluation
- Neurological Evaluation
- Cardiovascular Evaluation
Lung/pulmonary Evaluation
- Nutrition Consultation
- Behavior Counseling
Vaccinations: Updated core, risk-based vaccinations and booster shots are a highly effective way to prevent many common diseases and infections like distemper, rabies, parvo, feline leukemia and others.
Dental Care: Oral health is an important part of your pet’s life; annual teeth cleanings are the best method to maintain and improve dental health. We encourage proactive dental care to protect your pet from dental disease. Pets that receive regular dental care avoid painful oral infections, maintain fresh breath as well as preventing heart, liver and kidney disease.
Parasite Control: Testing for heartworms, tick-borne and zoonotic diseases, and intestinal worms is highly recommended. Prevention with anti-parasitic medication is always the best defense.
Spaying and Neutering: Spaying is a surgical procedure performed on female cats and dogs. The process is called an ovariohysterectomy and involves removing the patient’s uterus, ovaries and fallopian tubes, rendering the animal incapable of reproduction. We recommend spaying your pet at 6 months, depending on your dog’s breed and ideally before the patient’s first heat. Neutering is performed on male cats and dogs. This process castrates the animal, removing their testicles and making them unable to impregnate females. Neutering is advised when your pet is 6 months old but can be performed on older animals as well.
Spaying or neutering your animal has a greater effect on your pet’s health than you might realize.
- The more pets that are spayed and neutered, the fewer unwanted pregnancies there will be.
- It benefits your pet’s health directly by reducing their chances of developing cancer later in life. Females may otherwise be prone to breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Likewise, males that are not neutered have a higher risk for testicular cancer.
- Pyometra is a serious condition that can affect non-spayed female dogs and cats. It is a bacterial infection caused by a hormonal imbalance that can be deadly if it isn’t treated quickly.
- Male and female pets can also show improved behavior after their surgery. Male dogs are less prone to aggression and urine spraying/marking. Both males and females are also less likely to go roaming around outside to find a mating partner.
Proper Nutrition: Proper nutrition supports all your pet’s bodily processes, bolstering their immune system and ensuring normal development.
Behavioral Evaluation: Changes in mood or animals’ behavior are often symptoms of underlying medical issues, recognizing these changes help to identify and treat the root cause.
Exercise: Regular exercise support skeletomuscular and cardiovascular health in dogs of all ages.
Allergy/Dermatology: Cat and dog allergies present themselves in many ways, but itchiness is the most common indication. Itchy skin occurs when the immune system overreacts to certain allergens the body encounters.
When a pet is itchy, these physical signs often appear concurrently or not long after:
- When a pet is itchy, these physical signs often appear concurrently or not long after:
- Skin that appears raw, red and inflamed
- Dry and/or scaly skin
- Hair loss between the toes, under the arms/legs, around the eyes, and occasionally on the belly
- Open sores on the skin, lower legs, caused by licking (lick granulomas)
- Ears and skin give off odor
- Runny eyes/nose
We use the latest testing methods and medications to help us identify and address the allergens that are bothering your pet and manage the allergy itself.
Allergies do not occur without reason. In addition to treating your pet, our goal is to educate you about why allergies occur in pets in the first place, what secondary changes result from the allergies, and how we can support you and your pet through the treatment process.
Boarding
We offer boarding at the clinic. Please call to schedule. We accommodate any medical need for the animal with a licensed veterinarian and veterinary technician.