Preventative Health Care

Wellness Examination: We recommend that your pet receives at least an annual examination every year. Because your pets do not communicate verbally and do not always show signs of disease until late in the disease process, an examination allows your veterinarian to look for signs of disease at a time where prevention or treatment is most effective.

Wellness Blood Profiling: We recommend that all of our senior pets (6-8 years of age and above) receive wellness blood profiling. As our pets age, we begin to see some common diseases such as chronic kidney disease, liver disease, and thyroid disease. 20% of dogs and cats 7 years and older with a normal physical exam and no clinical signs of disease seen by owners will have disease that is present on the routine blood screening. Many of these can be treated with nutrition alone to try to help prevent further disease.

Routine Dental Care: Periodontal disease is the most common disease that is seen in both the dog and the cat. Not only does the dental disease cause the foul odor that you smell on your pets breath, but it can cause significant disease in other parts of the body. Routine brushing if possible is the best method of prevention. Dry food tends to be better than canned food for the teeth and chewing aids can be beneficial to help keep tartar from building up. There also are concentrates for drinking water or sprays that be applied directly to the teeth. Professional cleaning through your veterinarian is a valuable to tool to remove tartar and correct any dental disease that may be present. The wellness exam is an excellent time to review your dog or cats dental health.