Adult Wellness Care

As partners in your pet's life long healthcare, we take a proactive approach to wellness recommendations at Tri-City Animal & Bird Clinic.

Our goal is a long and healthly life for your pet, and we believe strongly that preventative wellness care is the primary way to achieve that objective.

Wellness Recommendations:  

Comprehensive Physical Examinations are the most important part of our wellness program.  We recommend exams once yearly on healthy pets due to the fact that pets age on average 7 years for every year of our life.  By seeing your pet once a year, our doctors can perform a complete and thorough exam from "nose to toes" to detect problems early when therapy is most effective.

Many medical conditions are detected on physical exam that the owner was unaware were present because pets cannot always communicate how they feel and tend to hide their illnesses.  Early detection, recognition, and timely intervention of medical conditions are the key to a long, healthy life.

Vaccinations are tailored to your pet's needs and risks of exposure.  A lot of reasearch and debate within the veterinary profession over the last few years has centered on appropriate wellness care and vaccination protocols for pets. 

At Tri-City Animal & Bird Clinic we have followed the research and discussion with the desire to provide the very best care for our patients.  We have learned that vaccinations are still absolutely critical for pets to protect them against contagious diseases, but vaccinations should not be given more frequently than necessary.  New research indicates that some vaccinations provide immunity for more than one year.  Other vaccinations provide immunity for LESS than one year.  The time when all vaccinations should be given yearly is past!

A vaccination protocol will be recommended for your pet based on their exposure and according to the newest knowledge regarding vaccinations.  For example, most adult dogs will be vaccinated every 12 months for Bordetella and Leptospirosis, but only every three years for Distemper/Parvo.  Cats will require some vaccinations yearly and others every three years, and the vaccinations may be split and given separately in order to decrease the stress on the immune system.

Parasite Prevention is an important health care concern not only for your pet but for your family as well.  The Centers For Disease Control (CDC) reports many cases each year reports many cases each year of parasitic diseases which are contagious from pets to people.  Most of these diseases could have easily been prevented with routine veterinary care.  

Puppies/kittens should receive a series of fecal tests and dewormings and adult companion animals should have a health assessment and fecal test every year.

In our area there is also a significant risk to dogs and cats for heartworm infections.  We recommend that dogs be tested once yearly and that both dogs and cats take a preventative once a month year around to prevent these deadly parasites.

Wellness Blood Work (Annual Health Screen):  including a screening blood profile on all pets greater than 6 years of age. A complete profile and urinalysis on senior or ill pets may be recommended instead to look  for diseases like diabetes, kidney disease, thyroid disease, and anemia.  These types of diseases cannot be detected on physical exam alone and early intervention can significantly affect your pet's response to therapy.