Preventive Health Care and Pet Wellness Exams

An annual wellness exam allows us to evaluate your pet’s overall health and detect problems before they turn in to serious illnesses. Because animals can’t tell us how they feel, we must rely on a thorough physical examination and direct observation to determine if your pet is truly healthy.

As part of wellness examinations, routine blood testing, urinalysis, and other tests are generally recommended for all pets to help establish baseline values used for comparison later in your pet’s life. Based on the results of these tests, the physical exam, and pet age, we may recommend further diagnostic tests, such as X-rays of the chest and abdomen. This is what we call our Early Detection Program. The veterinarian evaluates your pet’s heart and lungs, reproductive system, skin, and feels your pet’s abdomen to detect enlarged organs or masses. If any abnormalities are found, we may recommend additional tests to diagnose or confirm a health problem. Your pet may also receive immunizations, as vaccines are one of the best tools of preventive medicine.

Early Detection Program

Early detection is not one test, a series of tests, or a single visit—it is a new way of caring for your pet. Medical advancements enable us to diagnose potential pet diseases before they become a serious problem. Some of these diseases include:

Veterinarians depend on laboratory test results to help them understand the status of your pet’s health. When your pet is sick, the results of laboratory tests can help the veterinarian confirm the presence of some illnesses and rule out others. Your veterinarian may also run tests during the course of your pet’s illness to track the course of the disease and the results of treatment.

When your pet is healthy, we may want to run certain laboratory tests to establish your pet’s “baseline values.” Usually, these tests include a complete blood count (CBC), a blood-chemistry panel, and a urinalysis. Testing for intestinal parasites is done initially and twice annually in most healthy pets. Learn about intestinal parasites and the simple testing procedure to protect your pet when you download our informational handout. We follow the recommendations of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention to protect you, your children, and your pet from intestinal parasites. Visit the CDC website, a terrific source of information for every pet owner.

In addition, your pet will be tested at least annually for heartworm disease. To learn more about testing for this extremely dangerous and potentially deadly disease, download our informational heartworm handout.

The Heartworm Society website is another great resource for information about heartworms.

When your pet is sick, we can more easily determine if your pet’s laboratory test values are abnormal by comparing the baseline values to the current values. If your pet is on a chronic medication, it is extremely important to recheck at appropriate intervals and to have periodic blood evaluations on those animals receiving chronic long-term medications, such as NSAIDS, heart drugs, thyroid medications, and seizure medications.

With current medical testing and technology, you can protect your pets like never before. By following our wellness recommendations according to the age of your pet, many diseases can be caught early. Early Detection can make all the difference, adding years and quality to your pet’s life.

The Pet Wellness Exam

Because your pet ages more quickly than you do, it is essential that your pet visit us for a wellness exam at least once a year, and more frequently as he or she ages. Taking your pet to the veterinarian once a year is the same as if you were to see a physician for a physical exam only once every six years. Because so much can change in such a short amount of time, you can’t afford to have your pet miss even one exam. Just like people, pets need more frequent attention as they get older to prevent and treat illnesses associated with old age.

Prior to your wellness appointment, we ask you to complete a simple health questionnaire. This questionnaire will ask about any unusual behaviors or symptoms such as:

For your convenience, you may download and print our Health Questionnaire to fill out at home and bring with you to your appointment.

Notes will be made on your pet’s diet, any signs of weakness, exercise intolerance, or trouble getting up and down. The doctor will also discuss your pet’s exposure to fleas, ticks, heartworms, and intestinal parasites at some point during the exam.

The veterinary assistant will record your pet’s body weight. Weight loss could indicate early stages of metabolic disease, such as diabetes or kidney disease. An important consideration in pet health, an extra 2 or 3 pounds can mean the difference between being fit or obese.

The doctor will examine ears and eyes, as well as your pet’s gums, teeth, tongue, and palate for tartar build up, dental abnormalities, fractures, loose teeth, tumors, infections, and other problems. Visit our Pet Dental Care page to learn how dental problems affect your pet’s overall health and well being.

The veterinarian evaluates your pet’s heart and lungs, reproductive system, skin, and feels your pet’s abdomen to detect enlarged organs or masses. If any abnormalities are found, we may recommend additional tests to diagnose or confirm a health problem. Your pet may also receive immunizations, as vaccines are one of the best tools of preventive medicine.

Early Detection Blood Screening should be done yearly on healthy adult pets and before any procedure that involves anesthesia, such as spay or neuter, major surgery, or dentistry. After age 6, pet care follows our Senior Wellness protocols.

If detected early, 75% of common diseases in dogs and 63% of common diseases in cats can be prevented by dietary modifications alone over a one-year period. For example:

• Kidney disease is a major cause of illness and death in dogs and cats, but symptoms do not usually appear until 2/3 of the kidney function has been lost. If caught early, your pet could live happily with this condition for many years.
• Hyperthyroidism is diagnosed in 1 in 10 cats over 9 years old. A common cause of death just 20 years ago, now it is treated easily—the earlier, the better.
• A liver problem detected at an early stage of the disease can be administered proper treatment, greatly enhancing the chance of your pet’s recovery.
• Early detection of diabetes is extremely important—an early therapy regime can be more effective and easier on the pet and prevent damage to other organs.

In most instances, we use an outside reference lab for our blood work, fecal exams, and heartworm tests. Studies show that, with a reference lab as compared to an in-house lab, there is improved quality, more tests per panel at the same cost, and error rates three times less that that of an in-house lab. You can be assured that a team of trained, dedicated professionals is performing the test on your pet.

Annual visits for adult pets should include the following:

Semi-annual visits should include:

Additional vaccines for Lyme disease and Leptospirosis may be recommended for dogs traveling to other parts of the country. We do not routinely recommend vaccines for Lyme, Leptosporosis, and Corona virus for dogs and FIP for cats. If you have questions about canine influenza virus, please feel free to ask our staff about current recommendations.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a great place for additional information about canine influenza virus and much more.

To learn more about providing wellness care for your dog or cat, visit these Pfizer websites:

• Canine Wellness
• Feline Wellness