Douglas Animal Hospital
Wellness & Preventive Care
Annual wellness exams evaluate your pet’s health, detect problems before they become serious and keep them on track to live a long, healthy life.
Overview
We follow your pet through the many phases of their lives, from specialized and preventative care during their younger years to regular wellness checks as they age. Our mission is to prevent and detect problems before they arise. We know your pet is important to you, that's why we work hard to ensure they are given only the best in care through all the years of their lives.
We believe strongly in preventive care and have developed wellness protocols for every stage of your pet’s life. Depending on your pet’s life stage and lifestyle, vaccines may be administered, as well as disease screenings.
Why are wellness exams important?
Wellness exams give us a chance to evaluate the overall health of your pet while also giving us a baseline for their own unique needs. They also allow us to detect potential problems before they become serious, and even make your pet more familiar with our veterinary hospital, making future visits easier for them and you.
When should my pet visit the vet?
We believe in preventative medicine as the best approach to keeping our patients healthy. This includes annual wellness examinations, vaccinations on a routine basis, external and internal parasite prevention, and dietary management. Our doctors will help determine what vaccinations are appropriate according to you and your pet’s needs. We will discuss in detail what your options are to help you make the best possible health decisions for your pet.
How do wellness exams work?
During a wellness exam, our veterinary team will start by taking your pet's vital signs. Our veterinarian will perform a comprehensive examination of your pet from nose to tail and may also perform diagnostic tests after talking with you such as blood work, urinalysis, or intestinal parasite tests. Depending on your pet’s life stage, vaccines may be administered, as well as disease screenings for heartworm, kidney, liver, blood disorders, and more.
Wellness examinations do not necessarily mean that your pet is going to be subjected to complicated or costly medical tests and treatments. This allows us to prevent major health issues from developing undetected and allows us to analyze and record baseline values such as temperature, body condition, and lab work. We measure these when your pet is healthy to provide better care in the event of illness or emergency. A dental health exam and a weight check are always important parts of a wellness exam and may indicate problems that can progress rapidly and have a significant impact on your pet's overall health.
Early detection and correction of medical problems will help to ensure that your pet will live a long, healthy, and active life.