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Wellness & Preventive Care

Preventive Care for Dogs

Just as people should visit their dentist and their doctor regularly, all dogs should see their veterinarian at least once a year. Often your dog is due for vaccinations, but even if they are not a pet’s health can change a lot in a year, due to environment, stress, genetic conditions, and routine aging. By examining your dog and discussing their lifestyle and behviour with you, your veterinarian can determine if your dog may have any health issues of which you are unaware, and catch emerging health problems before they become serious.

Adult Dog Preventive Care

Annual Visit

An annual visit includes a thorough nose to tail examination as detailed below, appropriate vaccinations, parasite control, and nutritional, weight and behavioural counselling. As well, your veterinarian will be able to advise you on any preventative care measures you can be taking to help your dog live a long and healthy life. Of course, you can request your choice of veterinarian for your visit.

Physical Exam

  • Bone, Joint and Muscle Examination

  • Skin & Coat Examination

  • Heart & Lung Evaluation

  • Eye & Ear Health Examinations

  • Abdominal Check

  • Urinary Tract and Genital Exam

  • Neurologic Check

  • Nutritional & Weight Assessment

  • Lifestyle & Behaviour Consultation

  • A thorough dental exam. People often don’t notice how bad their pet’s teeth are. Dental disease can lead to the spread of bacteria through the bloodstream, settling in vital organs such as the heart, kidneys and liver and causing serious illness.

Health problems are always easier and less costly to treat when they are detected early.

Vaccination

There are many vaccines available to protect your dog from many diseases. Our philosophy at Blue Cross Animal Hospital is to use vaccines only for diseases that our patients are at risk of contacting. We follow the Guidelines of the American Animal Hospital Association in choosing our “Core Vaccines.” From the time a dog is two years old we stop vaccinating for every disease every year. At your Annual Visit, your veterinarian will discuss your dog’s lifestyle  and vaccines will be prescribed as needed. As well, we now have titre-testing as an alternative to some vaccines.

Senior Dog Preventive Care

For a small dog age seven is equivalent to a human in their mid forties. Big dogs at seven years old are similar to people in their early to mid fifties. When humans reach these stages in their lives their doctors start recommending more screening for various cancers, blood work and other diagnostics to catch disease and age changes early. We recommend the same for your dog.

Even though you may believe your dog is healthy, there are many age-related disease processes that do not show any outward sign until the disease is quite advanced. More advanced diseases can be more difficult to treat and are not always as responsive to treatment as diseases diagnosed early.

Early detection of kidney, liver and thyroid diseases, to name a few, allow us to administer the appropriate treatments to make your dog comfortable help extend their life.

As well, nutritional needs change as your dog ages. We can discuss an appropriate diet to meet those needs.

For senior dogs, the Annual Visit to their veterinarian is more important than ever.

Physical Exam

  • All of the above for Adult Dogs

  • Recommendations for any age-related screening that may be indicated

Preventive Care for Cats

Just as people should visit their dentist and their doctor regularly, all cats should see their veterinarian at least once a year. Often your cat is due for vaccinations, but even if they aren’t a pet’s health can change a lot in a year, due to environment, stress, genetic conditions, and routine aging. By examining your cat and discussing their lifestyle and behviour with you, your veterinarian can determine if your cat has any health issues of which you are unaware, and catch emerging health problems before they become serious.

Adult Cat Preventive Care

Annual Visit

An annual visit includes a thorough nose to tail examination as detailed below, appropriate vaccinations, parasite control, and nutritional, weight and behavioural counselling. As well, your veterinarian will be able to advise you on any preventative care measures you can be taking to help your cat live a long and healthy life. Of course, you can request your choice of veterinarian for your visit.

Physical Exam

  • Bone, Joint and Muscle Examination

  • Skin & Coat Examination

  • Heart & Lung Evaluation

  • Eye & Ear Health Examinations

  • Abdominal Check

  • Urinary Tract and Genital Exam

  • Neurologic Check

  • Nutritional & Weight Assessment

  • Lifestyle & Behaviour Consultation

  • A thorough dental exam. People often don’t notice how bad their cat’s teeth are. Dental disease can lead to the spread of bacteria through the bloodstream, settling in vital organs such as the heart, kidneys and liver and causing serious illness.

Health problems are always easier and less costly to treat when they are detected early.

Vaccination

There are many vaccines available to protect your cat from all sorts of diseases. Our philosophy at Blue Cross Animal Hospital is to avoid over-vaccination by vaccinating only for diseases that our patients are at risk of contacting. We follow the Guidelines of the American Animal Hospital Association in choosing our “Core Vaccines.” After a cat is two years old we do not vaccinate for every disease every year. Cats need to come in for an annual examination and vaccines will be prescribed as needed.

Many people think that indoor cats do not need vaccines. This is not true. The most common carriers of Rabies in Toronto are bats. A rabid bat is not behaving normally. It will fly into places it would not normally go. It will land places it wouldn’t normally land. From a basement door to a balcony door many storeys up in an apartment building, a bat can fly in and potentially infect a cat. There was such a case in the news recently. The owners had to have post exposure treatment because their indoor cat whose vaccines had lapsed got rabies and bit them. Rabies is extremely serious and nearly always fatal for pets and people. Make sure your cats stay up to date on their vaccines!

Senior Cat Preventive Care

When your cat reaches 7 years of age they are the equivalent of a person coming up on fifty. For humans at that stage of their life, their doctor is usually recommending wellness screening for various cancers, bloodwork and other diagnostics to detect illness and age changes early. As veterinarians we recommend the same for your cat.

Even though you may believe your pet is healthy, there are many age-related disease processes that do not show any outward sign until the disease is quite advanced. More advanced diseases can be more difficult to treat and are not always as responsive to treatment as diseases diagnosed early.

Early detection of kidney, liver and thyroid diseases, to name a few, allow us to administer the appropriate treatments to make your cat comfortable and help extend their life.

As well, nutritional needs change as your cat ages. We can discuss an appropriate diet to meet those needs.

For senior cats, it is more important than ever that they have an Annual Visit with their veterinarian, and address all the above issues.

Physical Exam

  • All of the above for Adult Cats

  • Recommendations for any age-related screening that may be indicated