Learning More About Dog Preventive Care
What practices are considered preventative care for dogs?
This could entail a lot of different things. We think about wellness exams, vaccinations, flea and tick prevention, heartworm testing, heartworm prevention, intestinal parasite control, dental care for our pets, even microchipping and diagnostic testing as part of this category.
What can you do to help me develop a plan that's going to work best for my dog?
I really need to know some information about your pet's lifestyle. Is your pet like mine that barely ever wants to leave the house besides using the bathroom in the backyard, or are you active? Are you going hiking? Are you going to the lake, rivers, doggy daycare, dog parks, or similar places? These activities involve different exposures to various diseases that we would want to prevent. If I get that information from you, we can come up together with a plan and figure out the best preventative measures we can take.
What sort of things can you do at home as part of your dog's preventative care?
Just their normal routine. Something as easy as bathing is important. I typically don't recommend more than once a month unless they're getting into something and getting smelly, in which case you may want to do it more frequently. If they have a skin disease, it might be necessary to bathe more often, but that's only for special situations.
Other things you can do include brushing teeth, exercising as much as possible, especially for high-energy pets bred to be working dogs. They need to get that energy out of their system to ensure they know what to do with it and aren't misplacing it in your house. Ensuring they're on a well-balanced diet, flea, tick, heartworm prevention, and good weight management are all very important.
What does preventative care for my dog entail at the veterinary exam?
At the vet, we'd like you to come in for a wellness exam. It's great if we can see your pet at least once a year; as they get older, maybe every six months. Spaying or neutering at the appropriate age, depending on the situation, is also important. Some recommendations have changed over the past couple of years, so we don't just spay and neuter everyone at six months. We might wait a little longer, until a year of age or older, depending on the situation. We check for intestinal parasites and give any due vaccinations to help prevent exposure to certain diseases. A heartworm test might also be done. We can even do some blood work if your pet is getting older. That might be something to look into.
What preventative care will change as my dog ages?
As mentioned before, conducting a yearly or even a six-month wellness exam is beneficial as pets get older. A six-month schedule is a really nice goal. Just as I, at 44, find it necessary to see the doctor more frequently than when I was 25, it's beneficial for older pets to have more regular check-ups. We can be more in tune with aging changes like arthritis or early signs of kidney or liver disease. It's really good for us to get our hands on your pet to see what's going on.
What other types of illnesses and diseases are we preventing with preventative care?
Think about diseases like heartworm disease. Getting them on a heartworm preventative helps prevent heartworm disease, which is transmitted by mosquitoes. We also prevent various viruses with vaccines, such as rabies, distemper, and kennel cough. There are even some unusual diseases transmitted by ticks, so good tick prevention is important. I don't want my dogs itchy and uncomfortable, which can lead to flea bites around the house. Applying a good flea prevention monthly is also great. All these measures fit into our normal canine preventative care.
If you’re ready to schedule an exam or would like to learn more about our veterinary services, we’d love to hear from you. Call (704) 288-8620 or email info@cvpet.com. We look forward to caring for your pet.