By Alison Laurie-Chalmers, Senior Consultant, Crown Vets Inverness
As recent new pet owners we are very aware of good preventative healthcare for our new pup "Fern".
Here is some advice on preventative healthcare for your pet.
Putting your pet on a year-round preventative healthcare scheme is one of the best things you can do to make sure your dog or cat has every chance to stay healthy and happy throughout his or her life.
One very important part of maintaining year-round preventative control of your pet’s health is partnering with your Vet practice to create an on-going preventative healthcare plan that is unique and tailored to your individual pet. These preventative healthcare schemes are not pet insurance, so ensure that your pet also has a good lifetime insurance policy to cover for any illness or injury.
Preventive care considerations include:
- Initial and on-going Annual Vaccinations
- Adequate regular Intestinal parasite and Lungworm prevention
- Adequate regular Flea and tick control
- Regular Dental check-ups, and on-going Dental hygiene care and advice
- Weight checks
- Nutritional advice
- Behavioural advice
- Blood and urine work ups
Any health issues will hopefully be picked up on and advice on further work-ups and diagnostics required and possible treatments advised on and regular check-ups and examinations from there.
Annual Vaccinations cover your pet against certain life-threatening viral and bacterial diseases and adequate and regular preventative worming, flea and tick control treatments and regular healthcare checks, provide a way to keep your pet’s overall general health in good check on an ongoing regular basis.
In addition to the ongoing preventive health care considerations there are many chronic conditions that can severely impact on your pet’s health and quality of life. Conditions ranging from allergies and arthritis, to much more severe health issues like diabetes or heart disease for example which can easily become difficult to manage medically if not caught early on in the disease process. So, six monthly clinical health checks can hopefully pick up any disease processes early on, which can then assist greatly in the management of any on-going health issues.
The preventive care your pet will need and the frequency of clinical health checks advised may vary depending on the breed, age and current health status of your dog or cat. Ideally your pet should be seen by their Vet at least every six months, but some pets may do need to come in more often if they already have on-going health problems or issues that require much more frequent check-ups.
Your Veterinary health checks may include:
- Comprehensive six monthly health examinations where your pet will receive a full clinical examination by your Vet
- Annual Booster Vaccinations where another full clinical check will be done
- Routine regular Lungworm and intestinal worm treatments
- Routine regular flea and tick treatments
- Blood and urine work up checks
Your Vet Nurse Health checks may include:
- Dental Checks
- Blood Pressure checks
- Weight Checks
- Nutritional advice
- Behavioural advice
- Nail Clipping
- Regular Anal Gland expression
By working with the recommendations from your Vet and Vet Nurse team for good preventative healthcare for your pet, you can ensure that with regular healthcare checks, annual booster vaccinations and flea, tick and worming treatments that your pet has the very best advised healthcare available to ensure that he has every chance of having a long and happy life.