When your pet is young and healthy, you likely assume they don’t need to visit the vet. However, regular wellness and preventive care is essential to maintain your pet’s health rather than waiting until your furry pal has a problem. Our Neighborhood Veterinary Centers team is here to provide the highest quality care for your pet at each life stage to ensure they live a long, happy, and healthy life. Learn the many ways your pet’s routine wellness visits enhance their life. 

Establishing your pet’s normal health baseline 

Your veterinarian performs regular wellness screening tests to determine your pet’s normal health baseline values. Knowing your pet’s baseline diagnostic testing results allows our team to know your pet’s normal levels. If your pet’s test result comes back atypical, we suspect your furry pal has an illness. The more your veterinarian knows about your pet when they are healthy, the more likely our team can identify subtle changes, long before your pet becomes seriously ill.

Over the years, your pet’s health status may change, and by comparing test results over time, your veterinarian can monitor trends and note significant changes based on your pet’s baseline results. This enables your veterinarian to identify hidden health problems before your pet exhibits signs, improving your furry pal’s outcome and minimizing treatment time and cost.

Preventing infectious disease in pets

Infectious disease prevention is the primary goal of pet wellness care. Vaccines are essential for immunity against common infectious—often deadly—diseases. Vaccines also benefit you and your family by reducing your risk of contracting a zoonotic disease (i.e., an infectious disease that animals can transmit to humans). Some diseases that vaccines protect against include:

  • Rabies
  • Distemper
  • Parvovirus 
  • Parainfluenza
  • Hepatitis

Preventing parasites in pets

Internal and external parasites, such as heartworms, fleas, ticks, and intestinal worms, can spread harmful diseases, cause anemia and malnutrition, and wreck your pet’s health. Parasite prevention is key to preventing your pet from becoming seriously ill. At your pet’s wellness visit, we will recommend the most effective parasite prevention plan for your pet based on their lifestyle and exposure risk, and help keep your pet—and you—safe from vector-borne diseases.

Maintaining your pet’s healthy weight 

Studies have demonstrated that pets who maintain a healthy weight live about 2.5 years longer than their overweight counterparts. Routine wellness visits allow your veterinarian to monitor your pet’s body condition and weight over time. At each wellness visit, your veterinarian will assess your pet’s weight, using a body condition scoring (BCS) system, to determine if they are at a healthy weight. If your pet needs to lose a few pounds, we will customize a healthy weight loss plan for them. 

Maintaining your pet’s dental health

The majority of pets have some degree of dental disease by 3 years of age. The bacteria that cause dental disease can lead to issues such as foul breath, bleeding gums, loose and missing teeth, and tooth root infections. In addition, the bacteria can enter your pet’s bloodstream and damage their heart, kidneys, and liver. During your pet’s wellness visit, we assess their mouth and recommend a professional veterinary dental cleaning to address dental disease that we find.

Saving you money on pet health care services 

Spending only a small amount each year on your pet’s annual wellness visit can save you money in the long run. If you wait until your pet’s illness signs are obvious before seeking diagnostic testing, a health issue may be present that has likely not been detected until the condition is in an advanced stage, when treatment is much more intensive and costly. For example, without regular wellness exams, you may not realize your pet has progressive dental disease until they refuse to eat. At that point, your pet likely requires advanced oral surgery and extractions, which could have been prevented if our veterinarian caught the dental disease signs early, and your pet received routine professional dental cleanings.

Routine wellness visits are an important part of your pet’s health care plan. With veterinary care, an ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure, and at Neighborhood Veterinary Centers, your pet receives optimal care, giving you peace of mind. Help your pet live a long and healthy life by scheduling their wellness exam with our team.