Wellness & Preventive Care for Cats and Dogs of Valrico and Brandon
Regular check-ups are essential for maintaining a pet’s day-to-day wellness, and the impact of preventive care lasts far into the future. Animal Medical Center recognizes that each life stage is not only unique, but influenced by the stage that preceded it.
Whether you’re new to pet ownership or you’ve enjoyed several years with your best friend, preventive care is integral. Routine examinations help you and your veterinarian address any obvious issues that affect daily life and catch any possible health conditions early.
What to Expect
Taking your pet’s breed, age, lifestyle, and medical history into account, we can customize our wellness exams to meet their needs. We recommend that all pets have two exams a year.
Our thorough nose-to-tail exam focuses on the following:
- Overall appearance of their body, skin, coat, eyes, and ears
- Weight
- Dental health, including an evaluation of the teeth, gums, throat, and oral cavity
- Respiration
- Heart
- Lymph nodes
- Joints and muscles
- Evidence of external or internal parasites
Preventive blood screens and other advanced diagnostics can create a healthy baseline to compare to future results, and provide insight into possible signs of disease.
Wellness exams may also address appropriate vaccinations, parasite prevention needs, nutrition, weight management, microchipping, spaying or neutering, training, behavior, and supportive medication.
Preventive Care for Puppies and Kittens
Puppies and kittens develop rapidly in a relatively short period of time, and their initial veterinary visits are some of the most important. We encourage you to schedule their first visit by the time they are 8 weeks old.
Establishing and maintaining a vaccination schedule is critical to a young pet’s health, and also allows us to get acquainted with your pet. This makes it easier to meet his or her changing needs.
We recommend that puppies and kittens receive their three core vaccinations three weeks apart:
- Puppies—Canine Distemper (DHLPP), Canine Bordetella, Rabies
- Kittens—Feline Distemper, Feline Leukemia (FeLV), Rabies
Health Maintenance in Adulthood
Nutrition and daily exercise are important elements of adult wellness care and help prevent problems like diabetes and arthritis. Dental disease is also increasingly common as pets age, but it doesn’t have to be. With our approach to routine dental care, your pet’s teeth and gums will look and smell great.
Additionally, we recommend the following vaccinations for adult pets:
- Dogs—Canine Distemper (DHLPP), Canine Bordetella, Rabies
- Cats—Feline Distemper, Feline Leukemia (FeLV), Rabies
Golden Oldies
Senior pets can face chronic issues that affect overall quality of life. Regular, biannual wellness care appointments help us catch symptoms early and diagnose any health conditions.
Nutritional needs change between the life stages, and senior pets may benefit from gradual changes to their diet. Lifestyle shifts may also be helpful in a pet with mobility challenges.
Senior Pets Love Their Vets!
To help thwart age-related problems, we recommend that all pets come in twice a year. As your pet grows older, we can customize a wellness plan that works for their needs.
Wellness Value Packages (with or without bloodwork)
These packages include an annual wellness examination, all necessary vaccinations, screenings, and comprehensive blood panel (including chemistry and CBC) for $225.98. Without the extra lab work, the cost of this value package is $157.98.
Wellness Plans Throughout All Life Stages
To assist pet owners with the changing needs of their pets we designed Wellness Plans for puppies, kittens, and adult dogs and cats.
Call us with questions about your pet's wellness and preventive care or request an appointment online.