How big is dog preventive care as far as a dog is concerned?
There are two schools of thought about veterinary care. One is to only visit your veterinarian when your dog has a problem. The other is to try to prevent disease and keep them healthy as long as we can. Preventive care falls into this category of trying to prevent disease and illness from happening. It actually increases the quality of life and quantity of life of our dogs.
Dr. Noel Lucas
Blue Oasis Pet Hospital
How often should my dog be seen for preventive care?
We start preventive care when dogs are about the age of eight weeks. We'll see them multiple times through puppyhood, at their first birthday, and then ideally once a year for wellness examinations, vaccinations, fecal parasite screening, blood work to make sure their organs are healthy, and continuing their flea, tick and heartworm preventions.
What will my veterinarian do during a preventive care appointment?
We'll get a good history on your dog, do a physical exam, and get any immunizations or boosters of their vaccines that they're due for. We'll also make sure that they are prescribed their flea, tick, and heartworm prevention.
What's the schedule for preventative medications?
We prescribe preventive medications against fleas, ticks, heartworm disease, and intestinal parasite diseases once a month. There are some alternatives like injectables and flea tick collars.
What about maintenance medications?
It depends on what we're treating your pet for, but we can discuss this with you in the exam room.
If you have a dog that has not seen its veterinarian for a while, we invite you to schedule a wellness checkup, get those boosters done, and get them protected from things that we can easily prevent, such as fleas, ticks, and heartworm. Please call and schedule your appointment today with Blue Oasis Pet Hospital.
If you still have other questions and you'd like to reach out to us, you can call us directly at (615) 975-2583 , or you can email us at [email protected]. But please do reach out, and we'll get back to you as fast as we can. Don't forget to follow us on social media Facebook, Instagram
Dog Preventative Care - FAQs 1
Dr. Noel Lucas
Blue Oasis Pet Hospital
What is preventive care?
Preventive care is a comprehensive strategy aimed at preventing diseases or illnesses. It is incredibly important for the health and well-being of your dog. This approach starts when the dogs are puppies, and one of the primary prevention methods involves vaccination.
Can you provide an example of a disease that can be prevented through vaccination?
Yes, a prime example of such a disease is canine parvovirus. Throughout my career, I have treated many dogs, especially puppies, affected by this virus. It severely impacts the pet's health. However, it's a completely preventable disease through vaccination.
What other diseases can be prevented through preventive care?
Besides parvovirus, preventive care can also help prevent infectious diseases transmitted through mosquito and tick bites, such as heartworm disease and various tick-borne diseases.
Does preventive care change as the pet ages?
Yes, preventive care varies across different life stages of a dog. For young dogs or puppies, the focus is mainly on vaccinations, monitoring growth and development, good nutrition, and flea, tick, and heartworm prevention. We also perform periodic blood tests, ideally once a year, to monitor the health of the dog's core organs. As the dog ages, our attention shifts to senior canine diseases and we conduct more extensive preventative blood work panels, including cancer screening tests.
Why is preventive care important?
Preventive care is crucial because it allows us to detect diseases before your pet shows any symptoms. It also helps prevent diseases through immunizations and flea, tick, and heartworm prevention. Furthermore, preventing a disease is typically less expensive than treating it. For instance, treating a puppy infected with parvovirus can be costly and stressful, whereas preventing it through vaccination is relatively inexpensive.
How can pet owners contribute to preventive care?
Pet owners play a key role in preventive care. We encourage you to ask questions and understand your dog's lifestyle. This enables us to customize the preventive care to suit your dog's specific needs. It's not a one-size-fits-all approach and requires a partnership with your veterinarian and their team.
If you're in the Mount Juliet or Nashville area, we'd love to see you here at Blue Oasis Pet Hospital. We look forward to partnering with you in providing the best preventive care for your pet!
If you still have other questions and you'd like to reach out to us, you can call us directly at (615) 975-2583 , or you can email us at [email protected]. But please do reach out, and we'll get back to you as fast as we can. Don't forget to follow us on social media Facebook, Instagram
Dog Preventative Care - FAQs 2
Dr. Noel Lucas
Blue Oasis Pet Hospital
What kind of information does my vet need to know about lifestyle before building any preventive care recommendations?
That's a great question! Actually, that's one of the first questions that we're going to ask. After we give your introduction and make sure that you don't have any questions or concerns about your dog's general health, we're going to ask what does your dog do when they're outside of our hospital. We want to know about your dog's lifestyle because we're going to make recommendations for you and your dog specifically based on what kind of life they live.
What kind of recommendations will it make to my dog's preventive care plan, lifestyle choices, and things like that?
One of the big things that we're going to probably recommend with lifestyle is different vaccinations for your dog depending on their lifestyle. Vaccination recommendations might change. We might also make some nutrition recommendations that would be different for your more active pet as opposed to more of a house pet.
What's the difference between pet insurance and a wellness plan?
A wellness plan or preventative care plan are either something that your veterinary office will offer or they are through a third-party provider. A preventive care plan is for routine preventive care and then that plan you're going to pay for those services over time. Insurance is more for medical care associated with injury or disease.
What about car safety for pets?
It really depends on your pet. For a big dog, you might want to have a seat belt harness for them. For smaller dogs, there are some really nice pet beds that they can sit up so they can look out but they're also harnessed in.
How about keeping your yard safe for pets?
Fencing would protect them from other animals coming into their environment and also from your dog being able to just run freely. If you don't have a fence, put your dog on a leash and go for a walk.
What diseases can be prevented from preventive care?
We can prevent distemper disease, parvo disease, hepatitis, and parainfluenza with our general core vaccination. We can 100% protect your pet from rabies with rabies vaccinations. Dogs also can be kept safe from heartworm disease and tick diseases with good tick prevention.
If you have any lingering questions or concerns about your dog's preventive care, please make an appointment with your veterinarian. If you happen to live in the Mount Juliet or Nashville area, we'd love to see you guys here at Blue Oasis Pet Hospital.
If you still have other questions and you'd like to reach out to us, you can call us directly at (615) 975-2583 , or you can email us at [email protected]. But please do reach out, and we'll get back to you as fast as we can. Don't forget to follow us on social media Facebook, Instagram