Pet Wellness For Dogs & Cats
Friday, February 10, 2023
As a pet owner you have the responsibility to ensure your dog or cat stays healthy. When you first adopt a dog or cat it is best for you to seek a veterinary professional to help you stay on track. This focus is referred to as pet wellness in the eyes of veterinary hospitals. Here at Animal Hospital Maple Orchard, we have an abundance of knowledge and skills to assist you in your journey as a pet parent.
With your dog, it starts with basic health. Has a veterinarian examined your dog and ensured there is nothing unexpected wrong? Our licensed vets can perform a tip of the nose to tip of the tail evaluation to check everything they can with their expertise.
Once your dog has been declared healthy, the next focus is to ensure your dog has vaccines to prevent infectious diseases. There are a core group of vaccines that your dog should receive depending on your vet's recommendations. Those vaccines include:
- Rabies
- Distemper (DHPP)
- Bordetalla (kennel cough)
- Leptospirosis
There are additional vaccines that will be discussed depending on your plans with your dog. Those include the following along with a basic outline of reasons indicating your dogs need for this additional protection.
- Influenza (Day care or boarding facilities)
- Lyme (Depending on outdoor activity or travel plans where lyme disease is more prevalent)
For your cat, a licensed vet will do a nose to tip of tail exam. Once your cat has been declared healthy, the next focus is to ensure your cat has vaccines to prevent infectious disease. There are a core group of vaccines that your cat should receive depending on your vet's recommendations. Those vaccines include:
-Feline distemper (FVRCP)
-Rabies
Depending if your cat goes outdoors, another vaccine is needed for additional protection.
-Leukemia
What other types of prevention are needed?
To maintain your dogs health there is one more form of wellness that is crucial to maintaining health. This category of wellness is testing annually (fecal and heartworm) and prevention (flea, tick, and heartworm preventions).
What is a fecal test?
A fecal test is a screen of your dog or cats stool performed by the lab to look for parasites. This should be done once a year. Most of these parasites cannot be seen with the naked eye. So it will be evaluated under a microscope.
What is a heartworm test?
A heartworm test or 4DX, is a screen if your dog has been infected with heartworm disease or if they may be carrying any tickborn diseases. This test is 3 drops of blood that is tested in the hospital. This test is done once a year and clears them for continued prevention, such as Simparica Trio.
What is flea and tick preventive?
Flea and tick prevention consists of a variety of products used to control flea and/or tick infestations on your pet and to prevent infestations inside your home. Fleas are small insects that are parasitic; they feed on blood from animals such as your pet. We recommend that your pet be on a preventative year round.
What is a FIV/FeLV test?
This test screens cats for feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) antibody which is simalar to AIDS in the human form. Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) antigen is also important. FeLV can be transmitted from infected cats when the transfer of saliva or nasal secretions. All cats should be screened for this upon their first exam.
We Are Maple Orchard!
West Bloomfield's Vet Clinic
We are veterinary professionals teaching, treating, and caring for our neighborhood's dogs and cats.
animalhospitalmapleorchard@gmail.com