Bringing your pet in for an annual physical exam can help reassure you that your dog or cat is healthy, or help us detect hidden diseases or conditions early. Early detection can improve the prognosis of many diseases, keep medical costs down, and help your pet live longer. Many dogs and cats are good at hiding signs that something is wrong, so subtle changes in their health or behaviour might be easy to overlook. And, depending on the disease, some pets don’t show any symptoms until it may be to late for medical intervention.
Dogs and cats age quicker than humans, so it is even more crucial for our companion animals to receive once annual exams. In addition, the risks of arthritis, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, hormone disorders, and kidney and liver problems all increase with age.
During your pet’s annual exam, we will perform a physical assessment, checking your dog or cat from nose to tail. We will also make sure your pet receives appropriate vaccinations and preventives such as a dewormer. We will discuss and possibly perform a diagnostic workup, which may include blood, fecal, and urine tests to check for parasites and underlying diseases. We may also recommend that your pet receive dental care.
When your pet is nearing his or her senior years, we will recommend a baseline exam and diagnostic workup so we’ll know what’s normal for your pet. This will enable us to keep track of any changes.
Please let us know if you’ve noticed any physical or behavioural changes in your pet, as well as any other concerns you might have.
We at Northwestern Veterinary Hospital have adopted one price for an annual physical exam and vaccines, this is regardless of how many vaccines your pet receives. We believe the annual physical exam is the most important part of your annual visit. This allows you and your veterinarian to pick the best vaccines and vaccine protocol based on you and your pets lifestyle, degree of risk and overall health. This decision is made together and is according to the best health advice rather than the cheapest price.
We look forward to meeting your and your adult pet, and welcome those back from last year!
Pet age guide from pet-nanny.net
