Phone: 979.732.9981 • Fax: 979.733.9755
Wellness
Well-Care Includes
- Physical examinations
- Vaccinations
- Fecal tests
- Heartworm testing
- Lyme disease and ehrlichiosis testing
- Heartworm preventive medication
- Flea control
- Feline leukemia and FIV testing for cats
- Dental care and supplies for home dental care
We all know that 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 to spot any signs of discomfort or illness early on, so that rapid care can minimize the pain of disease and allow for a quick return to normal.
Dr. Ridlen recommends that routine physical examinations be performed once per year on all adult pets. These thorough examinations allow Dr. Ridlen to assess all body systems of your pet and to look for any changes that may signal trouble. For example, on every routine exam, he 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, along with 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 Dr. Ridlen understand how your pet is feeling and how the animal interacts with you at home. Dr. Ridlen uses this history 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. In addition to periodic examinations, Dr. Ridlen recommends routine vaccinations. Some vaccines are given yearly, while others are spaced out at 3 year internals. Dr. Ridlen will help design an individual vaccine protocol suited to your pet's needs. In addition, routine well care medication for dogs and cats includes heartworm preventive, which is given once per month for the life of the pet.
Routine laboratory tests include testing for intestinal parasites in dogs and cats, testing for heartworm disease and Lyme disease in dogs, and testing for feline leukemia and FIV in cats that have not received these tests. Because diseases carried by mosquitoes and ticks are a serious threat, the tests performed to identify canine heartworm disease and Lyme disease also includes tests for two other diseases carried by ticks; anaplasmosis and ehrlichiosis. Dr. Ridlen suggests this comprehensive disease check at least once every two years for dogs that are kept on heartworm preventive year round.
Flea and tick control is also an important component of sound wellness care. Dr. Ridlen can help identify the best method of flea control for your pets. Year round flea and tick control is the best method to keep your pet free of these nasty parasites. The hospital offers a varied supply of products to kill these parasites and control them in the environment.
Home dental care is a significant part of well-care for your pets. Dr. Ridlen can demonstrate the correct technique for brushing and the hospital stocks a large supply of dental care equipment for home use.