Preventative Care For Your Dogs And Cats

From wellness exams and vaccinations to microchipping, help make sure that your pet gets all the preventative care they need to have a long and healthy life. The Animal Clinic can help you with preventative care and treatments.

Pets today can live longer, healthier lives than ever before—in part because of vaccines that help protect them from deadly infectious diseases. Over the years, vaccines against dangerous diseases have saved millions of pets and virtually eliminated some fatal diseases that were once common. Unfortunately, many infectious diseases still pose a significant threat to dogs and cats that are unvaccinated. Although vaccine programs have been highly successful and vaccines are considered routine today, we (as caregivers) and you (as pet parents) cannot afford to become complacent about keeping pets up-to-date on their vaccinations.

Many vaccines are available for dogs and cats, but not every pet needs every available vaccine. Some vaccines are considered core vaccines and should be administered to all pets, whereas other vaccines are optional and may be recommended for pets based on various factors, such as their risk for exposure to disease. Vaccine recommendations can also change throughout a pet’s life as travel habits, and other variables change. We will consider all these factors as we determine which vaccines your pet should have.

We understand that your pet is unique and that no single vaccine program will be ideal for every pet in every situation. Our doctors and other staff members are well-educated about veterinary vaccines, and our goal is to give you the best advice for keeping your pet healthy. Let us develop a vaccination schedule and ongoing booster routine that accounts for your pet’s lifestyle, overall health, the risk for exposure to infectious disease, and other factors.

Vaccines help pets live longer, healthier lives. Protecting your pet is our primary goal, so developing an appropriate vaccine schedule for your pet is important. Call us today to set up an appointment to discuss your pet’s vaccination needs.

Microchipping

Each year, thousands of pets go missing, and many don’t make it back home. Many pets (especially indoor pets) don’t wear collars or tags. Even if your pet wears a collar and identification tag, collars can break off, and tags can become damaged and unreadable, so these forms of identification may not be enough to ensure your pet’s safe return. Your pet needs a form of identification that is reliable and that can’t get lost, stolen, or damaged. A microchip is a safe, simple form of identification that can significantly increase the chance that your pet will return safely.

A microchip is about the size and shape of a grain of rice and is placed underneath your pet's skin between the shoulder blades. Microchip implantation takes only a few minutes and is very safe. Each microchip is unique and carries vital information about your pet—including your name, address, and contact information. When a microchip is implanted, the pet owner is given a registration form to complete. Registering the number on the microchip includes your pet in a national pet recovery database. Veterinary hospitals, animal shelters, and animal control offices across the country are equipped with special electronic scanners that can detect the microchip and read the identification number. If a lost pet is picked up by animal control or found by a good Samaritan and presented to a veterinarian, a quick scan of the microchip reveals the identification number. A toll-free phone call to the pet recovery database alerts the microchip company that a lost pet has been identified. The pet owner can then be contacted and reunited with his or her pet!

Young puppies and kittens can receive microchips, but even if your pet is already an adult, you should consider microchipping. Even indoor pets can get outside accidentally and get lost, so if you’re relying on other forms of identification, you could be placing your pet at risk. Microchipping is a safe, effective way to help ensure your pet’s return if the unthinkable happens.

Your pet can benefit greatly from regular wellness examinations or checkups. Whether your pet is a youngster, a “senior citizen,” or any age in between, wellness examinations provide an excellent opportunity for us to conduct a thorough physical examination and develop a health profile for your pet. This information will help us identify medical problems and any other issues that can affect your pet’s health and quality of life.

A wellness examination includes an evaluation of all of your pet’s major organ systems. We’ll use the wellness visit to ask you questions about your pet’s behavior, appetite, exercise habits, and regular activities at home. This is also an excellent time for us to discuss any routine diagnostic testing that may benefit your pet or to recommend any vaccinations that may be due. If your pet seems healthy, a wellness examination is a good opportunity to note any changes, such as weight gain or loss or other subtle changes that may not be evident at home. Sometimes, information obtained during a wellness examination can help detect early signs of illness and address health issues before they progress.

A wellness examination is also your chance to have us address your questions or concerns about your pet. We welcome your questions. No question is too small or too silly, and it is our pleasure to address your concerns. We strive to help you understand your pet’s health considerations, and we encourage you to be involved in decisions regarding your pet’s health care.

Finally, wellness examinations help us establish a relationship with you and your pet. Through your pet’s physical examinations, other wellness procedures, and our consultations with you, we get to know your pet and learn about his or her lifestyle, personality, health risks, home environment, and other important information. We encourage you to use wellness examinations to take an active role in your pet’s health care.

Nutritional Counseling

From the very first day, you bring a new pet home through the final days of its life. Nutrition plays a critical role in your pet’s overall health and well-being. Many pet owners take nutrition for granted, in part because the availability of so many nutritionally complete commercial diets has taken much of the guesswork out of choosing a suitable diet for a pet. However, did you know that your pet’s nutritional needs change with age and activity level? Did you know that specially formulated diets can assist in the management of various medical conditions, including kidney disease, diabetes, arthritis, and heart disease? Do you know how many calories your pet should have each day and whether you are over or underfeeding? Are you comfortable reading and interpreting pet food labels?



Whether your pet has special dietary needs or needs to shed (or gain) a few pounds, our nutritional counseling services can help you accomplish your goals and keep your pet in good health. We offer counseling in dietary selection and feeding practices for pets during various life stages, such as growth, pregnancy, nursing, and the “golden years.” If your pet has a medical condition, we can help you select the most appropriate diet to suit your pet’s needs.

It can be easy for a pet owner to become overwhelmed by the available selection of pet foods, all of which claim to have specific benefits for pets. We can offer expert advice to help you negotiate the complicated array of choices. Let our nutritional counseling service help you achieve and maintain optimal nutrition for your pet.