Your vet will recommend regular checkups, or veterinary exams, in order to ensure that your pet lives a long and healthy life. Our vets in Montecito vets discuss what you should expect when you bring your pet to Montecito Pet Hospital for a routine wellness checkup.
Routine Wellness Checkups
Over the duration of their life, your dog or cat will require routine care in order to help prevent and treat any possible conditions and diseases that they may experience. When you bring your pet to see the vets at our Montecito pet hospital, they will begin your visit by reviewing your pet's medical history and asking any questions that they have related to your pet's health and lifestyle.
Once your Montecito vet has gone through this initial process they will then continue with the physical examination. Some of the areas they may cover during the examination are:
- Listening to the function of your pet's heart and lungs
- Monitoring your animal's weight, stance, and gait
- Inspecting your pet's eyes for signs of redness, cloudiness, eyelid issues, excessive tearing, or discharge
- Inspecting the pet's fur for overall condition, dandruff, or abnormal hair loss
- Looking at your pet's feet and nails for damage or signs of more serious health concerns
- Looking at your pet's ears for signs of bacterial infection, ear mites, wax build-up, or polyps
- Examining the condition of your pet's teeth for any indications of periodontal disease, damage or decay
- Examining your dog or cat's skin for a range of issues from dryness to parasites to lumps and bumps (particularly in skin folds)
- Palpate your pet's abdomen to access whether the internal organs appear to be normal and to check for signs of discomfort
- Feeling along your pet's body (palpating) for any signs of illness such as swelling, evidence of lameness such as limited range of motion, and signs of pain
Your Montecito vet checks over these areas during these visits in order to ensure that your pet is feeling as healthy as possible. Because our pets are unable to verbally let us know when they are not feeling well making proactive care all the more important.
The importance of vaccinations
Vaccines are a necessary part of your pet's preventive health care plan. These vaccines will help to protect your pet from a wide range of entirely preventable yet possibly fatal diseases and conditions. The vaccines that your vet at Montecito Pet Hospital in Montecito recommends for your pet will depend on the diseases in the area as well as the lifestyle of your pet.
Your vet will always recommend a core set of vaccinations that are designed to protect your pet against various common diseases, as well as vaccinations based on the social aspect of your pet's life. If you would like to learn more about the vaccine recommendations at our Montecito pet hospital, please take a look at our vaccination schedule.
When your pet is still young they will require an initial set of full vaccinations in order to provide full protection against a variety of common diseases. Along with routine wellness exams, your pet will also need to receive regular booster shots in order to provide continued lifelong protection against these preventable diseases and conditions.
Preventive care for parasites
In the Montecito area there are a variety of parasites that carry various diseases. These parasites, such as ticks and fleas can multiply and infest your pet quickly and cause potentially life-threatening conditions. Some of these parasites are also able to be transmitted from your pet to you.
In order to diagnose parasites, your vet at Montecito Pet Hospital may ask you to provide a sample of your pet's feces in order to perform a fecal exam. These fecal exams allow your vet to see and diagnose parasitic infections that would otherwise go unnoticed.
Heartworms are another parasitic infection that is important to diagnose and treat. When it comes to heartworms, early treatment is crucial for successful treatment and so your vet at our Montecito pet hospital may perform heartworm testing during a routine visit.
Parasite prevention is important to prevent possible conditions such as:
- Heartworm
- Fleas
- Lyme Disease
- Anaplasmosis
- Babesiosis
- Ehrlichiosis
- Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
- Hookworms
- Roundworms
- Tapeworms
- Whipworm
The cost associated with routine care
At Montecito Pet Hospital our veterinary team believes that preventive care should be the main focus in order to diagnose and treat potentially life-threatening conditions and diseases as early as possible. Routine preventive care will allow your Montecito Pet Hospital vet to not only diagnose and treat any conditions that are discovered but also to ensure that your pet is up to date on all preventive care to protect your pet from other diseases. Preventive care will save you money in the long run compared to potentially treating a serious condition.
Note: The advice provided in this post is intended for informational purposes and does not constitute medical advice regarding pets. For an accurate diagnosis of your pet's condition, please make an appointment with your vet.