You may look at your young, healthy pet and think you can skip their annual wellness visit, but routine veterinary care is critical to your four-legged friend’s health and longevity. Our Commonwealth Animal Care team explains why these visits are so beneficial.

Routine veterinary wellness care establishes a baseline

Veterinary wellness visits are essential for establishing your pet’s health baseline, which serves as a reference point for tracking changes as your pet ages. While labs establish “normal” parameters for certain diagnostics, all pets are unique, and knowing your pet’s specific values is extremely helpful, because our team can detect subtle differences that may indicate a health problem. Comparing current health data to the established baseline allows us to identify trends, so we can intervene and provide treatment as soon as possible. 

Routine veterinary wellness care prevents disease

Providing yearly or bi-yearly wellness care also protects your pet from diseases, such as:

  • Infectious diseases — At your pet’s wellness visit, our team ensures your pet is up to date on their vaccinations, which protect them from infectious diseases, such as rabies, parvovirus, distemper, feline herpesvirus-1, and feline calicivirus. Vaccinations prepare your pet’s immune system to fight off infection should they encounter these harmful pathogens. Our team will devise an appropriate vaccination schedule based on your pet’s lifestyle and disease risk.
  • Dental disease — Does your pet’s breath smell bad? If so, they could have dental disease. During your pet’s wellness visit, we determine if they need a professional dental cleaning to help prevent or treat dental disease. Dental disease can lead to pain, discomfort, missing teeth, and potentially organ damage if the bacteria enter your pet’s bloodstream, so prevention is key.
  • Heartworm disease — A single mosquito bite can transmit deadly heartworms to your four-legged friend, but year-round heartworm prevention easily protects your pet. Our team can prescribe an appropriate heartworm preventive for your pet at their next wellness visit.
  • Flea-related conditions — Many pets are allergic to a flea’s saliva and can suffer excessive itching and skin lesions. These tiny parasites can also cause anemia and transmit parasites and disease. Providing year-round parasite prevention protects your pet from fleas.
  • Tick-borne diseases — Ticks can transmit diseases, such as Lyme, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and anaplasmosis, but they have to stay attached for at least two hours. Providing year-round parasite prevention ensures the ticks that bite your pet won’t be able to stay attached long enough to transmit disease.
  • Obesity — Obesity is a significant concern in the pet world, increasing your dog’s or cat’s risk for health issues, such as diabetes, cancer, kidney disease, and arthritis. During your pet’s wellness visit, our team evaluates their body condition score (BCS) to determine if they are at a healthy weight. If not, we can devise a safe and effective weight loss plan to help them shed the extra pounds.

Routine veterinary wellness care helps detect conditions early

Some conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, and arthritis, can’t be cured or prevented. However, routine veterinary wellness care helps our team detect these issues in the early stages when they are easier to manage, which can give your four-legged friend a better prognosis. 

Routine veterinary wellness care helps establish a relationship

At Commonwealth Animal Care, we believe that veterinary medicine is deeply collaborative, and we want to get to know you and establish a relationship with your pet, so we can provide the best care. This helps you know you can trust us to prioritize your pet’s needs. 

Providing routine veterinary wellness care is the best way to keep your pet happy and healthy and live a long life. Contact our Commonwealth Animal Care team to schedule your pet’s appointment.