Canine Wellness and Preventive Care Give Your Dog a Leg Up Toward Good Health
At Curem Veterinary Care, we know that regular canine wellness and preventive care play a key role in keeping your dog healthy. In fact, they provide the foundation for good health throughout his life stages.
Why Canine Wellness and Preventive Care Are Important
A multipart canine wellness exam includes components of preventive care, diet and nutrition, vaccines, allergy and dermatology, and evaluating any emerging behavior or training issues.
By touching on every aspect of your dog’s health, we can help prevent many medical conditions from getting a foothold. In other cases, we can catch developing problems while they are easier (and less costly) to treat.
Finally, if your dog is exposed to a contagious disease, regular vaccines will ensure that they have ongoing protection. Taken together, consistent wellness and preventive care help your dog to enjoy a better quality of life.
Snapshot of Your Dog’s Wellness Exam
The team at Curem Veterinary Care will give your dog a nose-to-tail wellness exam, covering all body systems, joints, skin and coat condition, and more. She’ll also recommend at least annual blood work, as the results can establish baseline values as well as uncover issues that aren’t apparent during a physical exam. Remember, your dog can’t tell us if anything’s wrong, so we have to do some detective work to discover the truth.
To wrap up their wellness exam, your veterinarian will give your dog an oral check-up and discuss any dental care needs. They will also talk about annual parasite control options. Finally, your vet will evaluate your dog for any Valley Fever symptoms, an important part of every Arizona pet’s veterinary visit.
Age-Related Wellness Exam Recommendations
Just like human doctor visits, canine wellness exams can look slightly different depending on each patient’s age. Here’s an overview of the subtle differences in wellness needs for your dog’s’ three life stages:
Playful Puppies
Your puppies' wellness needs are quickly changing. Your veterinarian will talk to you about lifestyle and risk factors to develop a customized wellness and preventive care plan. Components of this plan include:
- Multiple Vaccine Series (between ages 8 weeks and 6 months)— DAPP(Distemper/Adenovirus/Parainfluenza/Parvo), Bordetella (Kennel Cough), Leptospirosis, Rabies
- Periodic Diagnostic Testing—Fecal parasite exams (puppies are more prone to intestinal parasites, Heartworm test, and tick borne disease testing
- Regular Parasite Control—Pyrantel(intestinal dewormer), injectable or oral Heartworm preventive, and topical or oral flea and tick preventives
- Ovariohysterectomy (Spay) or Castration (Neuter)—Recommended for all puppies not intended for breeding 5 and 18 months of age. Specific age recommendation is based on the individual puppy’s size, breed, growth and other considerations.
- Home Care Notes—We will discuss appropriate ages to start flea, tick, and heartworm prevention at home.
Robust Adult Dogs
Your veterinarian will make specialized recommendations based on lifestyle and risk factors. General recommendations include:
- Annual Complete Nose-to-Tail Exam
- Annual Oral Health Check-Up—At age 1 we will start monitoring your dog’s need for annual dental care under anesthesia.
- Annual Diagnostics and Screening—Heartworm and tick borne disease testing, Valley Fever screening (based on lifestyle and risk factors), blood work, fecal parasite examination
- Year Round Preventives—Heartworm prevention, flea and tick prevention
- Core Vaccinations (varied schedule)—Rabies, DAPP(Distemper/Adenovirus/Parainfluenza/Parvo), Leptospirosis, and Bordetella(Kennel Cough).
Mellow Senior Dogs
As your dog ages, our wellness recommendations help ensure your dog keeps that pep in their step well into their golden years:
- Twice-yearly Wellness and Preventive Exams—Including joint health evaluation and discussion of any changes you may be noticing at home
- Annual Dental Care—We will discuss when this should be scheduled during your dog’s bi-annual wellness exams.
- Annual Diagnostics and Screening—Heartworm and tick borne disease testing, Valley Fever screening (based on lifestyle and risk factors), full blood work (including additional endocrine disease screening), fecal parasite examination, urinalysis
- Year Round Preventives—Heartworm prevention, flea and tick prevention
- Core Vaccinations (varied schedule)—Rabies, DAPP (Distemper/Adenovirus/Parainfluenza/Parvo), Leptospirosis, and Bordetella(Kennel Cough).
Regardless of your dog’s age we recommend exploring pet insurance plans as early as possible for the most robust coverage of their veterinary care needs.
To schedule a canine wellness and preventive care appointment, please call us or request an appointment online. We look forward to helping your dog achieve better health.