Wellness Care
Well-care includes:
- Physical examinations
- Immunizations
- Fecal tests
- Heartworm testing
- Tick-borne disease testing (including Lyme disease)
- Routine blood testing
- Heartworm preventive medication
- Flea control
- Feline leukemia and FIV testing for cats
- Microchips for identification
- Dental care and supplies for home dental care
A healthy pet is a happy pet. The foundation of this good health is wellness care. Wellness care means providing medical care for your pet to ensure that the animal stays as healthy as possible and avoids becoming ill. To achieve this goal pets require routine examinations, along with timely laboratory testing. This helps to keep pets healthy and identifies any signs of discomfort or illness early so that rapid care can minimize the pain of disease and allow for a quick return to normal.
Our veterinarians recommend that routine physical examinations be performed once per year on all adult pets. These thorough examinations allow the doctor to assess all body systems of your pet and to look for any changes that may signal trouble. For example, on every routine exam, the doctor will assess your pet's ears, eye, nose, jaw, gums, teeth, skin, cardiovascular system, bones, muscles, and internal organs. This is done with a combination of instruments such as scopes to examine ears and eyes and listen to the heart. This is accompanied by hands-on palpation of internal organs and visual examination of the skin and other body parts.
An important part of the well-care physical examination is the questions asked regarding your pet. This "history" helps the medical team to understand how your pet is feeling and how the animal interacts with you at home. In turn, this information aids the doctor when making suggestions regarding diet, behavior, and medications. Please be sure to ask any questions and raise any concerns regarding your pet during the wellness history and examination.
Vaccinations, some laboratory tests, and medications are all part of routine wellness care. Therefore, in addition to periodic examinations, routine vaccinations are recommended. Some vaccines are given yearly, while others are spaced out at longer intervals. The doctor will help design an individual vaccine protocol suited to your pet's needs. Also, routine well-care medication for dogs and some cats includes a heartworm preventive, which is given once per month for the life of the pet.
Routine laboratory assessments include testing for intestinal parasites in all pets, heartworm disease, Lyme and other tick-borne diseases in dogs, and feline leukemia and FIV in cats. In addition, regular comprehensive wellness laboratory tests are suggested to check for changes that signal abnormalities in the liver, kidney, and other body organs. Many of these problems can be successfully managed if caught before the pets show external signs of disease.
Flea and tick control is also an important component of sound wellness care. The doctor and the veterinary healthcare team can help identify the best method of parasite control for your pets. Year-round flea and tick control is the best method to keep your pet and home free of these disease-spreading insects. North Hampton Animal Hospital offers a varied supply of products to safely kill these parasites and control them in the environment.
We are pleased to offer microchips for healthy pets. These rice-sized devices are easily placed under the skin during a routine office call, or even during a routine surgery, such as a spay or neuter. The tiny chips contain valuable identification information to help your pet find its way home. Once placed under the skin, the chip remains permanently and is easily "read" with a handheld scanner. The retrieved information is used to trace the lost pet to its owner. Because veterinarians and animal shelters routinely check for microchips, lost pets with microchips have a much better chance of finding their way home.
Home dental care is a significant part of well-care for your pets. We are happy to demonstrate the correct technique for brushing and the center stocks a large supply of dental care products for home use.