A wellness protocol is essential in ensuring your pet is healthy and happy. Our annual exams can detect potential illness and disease in early stages, or prevent them entirely through recommended vaccinations, tests, and parasite prevention. Let's have a look at what that means here at Windsor Park Veterinary Clinic!
First things first, after being escorted into one of our exam rooms, one of our trained Veterinary Technicians will join you. They will greet you and your pet, ensure their comfort (like plying them with treats, or pets if they aren't food motivated), and ask you some questions about your pet's medical history.
When the Veterinarian arrives, you can expect them to conduct a full physical exam from head to tail. This involves:
- An inspection of your pet's skin and coat, looking for any sign of allergies, parasites, or lumps and bumps
- Looking at their eyes to asses corneal health, reactivity to light, and check for the presence of cloudiness or discharge
- Looking in their ears with an otoscope for any signs of inflammation, irritation, or excess wax and debris
- Listening to their heart and lungs to check for a normal rhythm, clear sounds, and no murmurs
- Evaluating their dental health by looking for dental calculus, gingivitis, sores, fractures of the teeth, or root and pulp exposure
- Manipulation of their limbs to assess mobility, check for any abnormalities, and look for any signs of arthritis
- Palpating the abdomen to feel for any abnormalities, any excessive tenseness or bloating
- Evaluating the current weight of your pet relative to their ideal weight and exercise needs
- So much more depending on your pet's age or specific needs!
Once the exam has been completed, the Veterinarian may have recommendations for you dependent a wide variety of things. They may recommend a change in diet or feeding portions, additional vaccines relative to lifestyle, or even blood tests. Some things can be expected recommendations every year, like:
- Annual or bi-annual fecal testing as recommended by the Companion Animal Parasite Council
- An annual heartworm test for dogs regardless of parasite prevention status as recommended by the American Heartworm Society
- Boostering any vaccinations that may be due according to lifestyle and risk level and any changes to either
- Recommending new or continuing your current parasite protocols for both cats and dogs, usually with both flea and heartworm prevention
- Annual labwork to check the chemistry and complete blood count for early illness and disease screening, or to be used as pre-anesthetic bloodwork for a recommended dental or other surgical procedure
