Annual wellness exams are important for all stages of a pet’s life. Because pets age at a rate different than our own, missing one annual exam would be similar to missing several years of exams! A wellness exam includes a complete physical exam from nose to tail. This exam is an essential method to evaluate your pet’s general health and address any changes or needs.
Annual Vaccination/Testing Protocols are an important part of wellness exams. These give our doctors more information about your pet’s health that we cannot see with our eyes. Our doctors evaluate which vaccines need to be updated. Puppies and kittens must have the complete series of recommended vaccines. Annual vaccinations are essential to good health throughout a pet’s life, not only when they are puppies/kittens.
Recommendations for Our Canine Patients
- Rabies Vaccine
- Distemper/Hepatitis/Parvo/Lepto Vaccines
- Bordetella (Kennel Cough) Vaccine – for dogs who come into contact with other dogs through boarding, grooming, training classes, dog parks, etc.
- Canine Influenza – our vaccine protects against the H3N2 and H3N8 strains (many boarding facilities require this vaccine)
- Heartworm Test – All dogs should have an annual heartworm test and be on heartworm preventative year-round
- Annual Wellness Diagnostic Tests – We highly recommend that dogs have an annual wellness diagnostic panel done. This tests key values in the blood, urine, and stool. This can give us information that cannot be found on a physical exam.
- Fecal Test – If the Wellness Diagnostic Panel is not done, we do recommend that your pet have a fecal test done. This examines your pet for internal parasites, some of which can be spread to humans.
Recommendations for our Feline Patients
- Rabies Vaccination*
- Feline Distemper*
- Feline Leukemia* – recommended for multi-cat households or inside/outside cats
- Annual Wellness Diagnostic Tests – We highly recommend that cats have an annual wellness diagnostic panel done. This tests key values in the blood, urine, and stool. This can give us information that cannot be found on a physical exam.
- Fecal Test – If the Wellness Diagnostic Panel is not done, we do recommend that your pet have a fecal test done. This examines your pet for internal parasites, some of which can be spread to humans.
*Our doctors have chosen to use nonadjuvanted vaccines for our feline vaccines. These vaccines specifically reduce the possibility of vaccine-site reactions and almost eliminate the possibility of vaccine-site sarcomas.
