Wellness and Preventive Care

A Lifetime of Wellness

because love deserves the best.

Appropriate wellness and preventive care can prolong your pet’s life and help optimize their quality of life. Your pet should visit our veterinary team at least once a year to detect issues that may compromise their health and receive preventive care to help them avoid infectious diseases and parasitic infections.

Wellness and Preventive Care

Wellness and annual exams

Pets tend to hide health issues to avoid exhibiting vulnerabilities, and many pet owners don’t realize their pet is sick until their condition is advanced. Regular veterinary wellness exams help our team recognize issues in the early stages when they are easier to manage. A typical wellness exam includes:

Physical examination — A thorough physical examination helps our team detect issues such as dental disease, heart abnormalities, and abdominal masses which can significantly affect your pet’s life.
Screening blood work — Blood work including a complete blood count (CBC) and biochemistry profile can identify health issues including anemia, infection, diabetes, and kidney and liver disease.

Urinalysis — Evaluating your pet’s urine allows our team to detect conditions such as urinary tract infection, urinary stones, diabetes, and kidney failure.
Fecal analysis — Parasites frequently target pets, and regular fecal checks help determine if your pet is infected.

Physical examination — A thorough physical examination helps our team detect issues such as dental disease, heart abnormalities, and abdominal masses which can significantly affect your pet’s life.
Screening blood work — Blood work including a complete blood count (CBC) and biochemistry profile can identify health issues including anemia, infection, diabetes, and kidney and liver disease.
Urinalysis — Evaluating your pet’s urine allows our team to detect conditions such as urinary tract infection, urinary stones, diabetes, and kidney failure.
Fecal analysis — Parasites frequently target pets, and regular fecal checks help determine if your pet is infected.

Puppies and kittens should start receiving vaccines at 6 to 8 weeks of age, with boosters every three to four weeks until they reach 16 weeks of age. These shots help protect your pet from serious diseases, such as rabies, parvovirus, distemper, and feline leukemia virus. To stay up to date on their vaccines, adult pets should receive boosters every one to three years, depending on the vaccine. Our veterinary team evaluates your pet’s age, lifestyle, and disease risk to develop an individualized vaccine schedule for your four-legged friend. Not every pet needs every available vaccine, and we will devise a protocol to ensure your pet is well protected from the diseases to which they are most likely exposed.

Vaccinations

Parasite control

All pets, including those who live solely indoors, should receive year-round, lifelong parasite prevention to protect them from dangerous parasites such as:

Ticks — Ticks transmit debilitating diseases, such as Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and anaplasmosis. In addition, certain female ticks produce a toxin that attacks the nervous system, resulting in progressive paralysis.

Heartworms — An infected mosquito can transmit heartworms when they take a blood meal from your pet. These parasites travel to your pet’s heart and lungs where they can cause extensive, irreversible damage.
Fleas — Many pets are allergic to flea saliva, causing excessive itching and skin infections. Fleas can also transmit certain diseases and parasites.

Heartworms — An infected mosquito can transmit heartworms when they take a blood meal from your pet. These parasites travel to your pet’s heart and lungs where they can cause extensive, irreversible damage.
Ticks — Ticks transmit debilitating diseases, such as Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and anaplasmosis. In addition, certain female ticks produce a toxin that attacks the nervous system, resulting in progressive paralysis.
Fleas — Many pets are allergic to flea saliva, causing excessive itching and skin infections. Fleas can also transmit certain diseases and parasites.

Nutritional Counseling

Proper nutrition is important to ensure your pet remains healthy and energetic, but determining the appropriate diet for your pet can be confusing when you must choose from the array of pet foods on the market. Additionally, your pet’s nutritional needs change as they age, and special considerations must be made for pets who are affected by conditions such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and kidney failure. Our veterinary team is available to offer nutritional counseling to help you navigate this complicated matter and ensure your pet gets the diet best suited for their nutritional needs.

Microchipping

Many pets go missing every year, and without proper identification, they can’t be returned to their owner. Microchipping your pet is the best way to provide permanent identification that can’t be lost or removed. This simple, relatively painless procedure can easily be performed at your pet’s next wellness visit. Once the chip is in place, you need only keep your contact information updated in the microchip registry database to improve your chances of a happy reunion should your pet get lost. We recommend this service for all pets, in addition to ensuring they always wear a collar and identification tags with your current contact information.

Pain Management

Pain can be subjective and difficult to measure, and pets instinctively hide pain, making determining their comfort level difficult. Our veterinary professionals are trained and experienced in recognizing pain in pets, so we can prescribe the appropriate medications to help prevent and relieve any pain your pet may experience. We assess your pet’s health status, condition, and pain level during every visit or hospitalization to determine whether they are in pain. We then formulate an appropriate pain management protocol to ensure they are as comfortable as possible, and make adjustments as needed as your pet’s condition changes.

Pain Management

Pain can be subjective and difficult to measure, and pets instinctively hide pain, making determining their comfort level difficult. Our veterinary professionals are trained and experienced in recognizing pain in pets, so we can prescribe the appropriate medications to help prevent and relieve any pain your pet may experience. We assess your pet’s health status, condition, and pain level during every visit or hospitalization to determine whether they are in pain. We then formulate an appropriate pain management protocol to ensure they are as comfortable as possible, and make adjustments as needed as your pet’s condition changes.