Midwest's Most Affordable Pet Care Hospital 708-345-2146
Senior wellness testing
Wellness Testing in Older Dogs and Cats
As our pets get older, there is an increasing chance that they will develop disease. Often early signs of disease are very subtle, and it is hard to notice changes that indicate a problem. For this reason we recommend annual wellness testing in all pets over the age of 7 years.
Physical exams in pets can tell us a great deal as to the health of your pet. However, the exams do not tell us how well the body is functioning like the lab tests. Tests with normal results give us a baseline to which we can compare future results and assure us your pet is doing well. Abnormal test results enable us to identify a problem in its early stages and take the appropriate steps to prevent or slow down the progression of the disease. This allows you to give your pet a longer and healthier life.
Wellness screening will usually include some or all of the following:
CBC or complete blood count helps us to look for infection, cancer, anemia, dehydration, clotting problems, and blood parasites.
Chemistry profile helps us to look for kidney problems, liver problems, diabetes, and sometimes cancer.
Urinalysis can detect early kidney problems (before changes are seen in the blood), evidence of diabetes, infections, liver disease, and bladder stones.
Total T4 is performed in cats to check for hyperthyroid disease. Sometimes additional testing for thyroid disease is needed.
Blood Pressure checks for high or low blood pressure. High blood pressure is especially common in older cats with kidney or thyroid disease. High blood pressure can lead to heart problems, blindness, and further kidney disease.
ECG helps us to look for heart arrythmias from heart disease or sometimes metabolic diseases, and can sometimes indicate enlargement of heart chambers due to heart disease.
Radiographs of the chest and/or abdomen are important to look for changes in the lungs or the heart, and especially in large or nervous dogs can detect abdominal masses that are unable to be detected on physical exam.
Depending on the results of these initial tests and the lifestyle of your individual pet, additional testing may be needed.
The wellness testing is an important part of your pets’ preventative care. It is another tool that we can utilize to ensure you are able to provide the best possible health and care for your pet.
wellness recommendations for cats
Comprehensive Physical Exam and Consultation
$31.50
The physical exam is the most important part of annual wellness care for pets. This process includes weighing your pet, assigning a Body Condition Score, pain scoring and completing a comprehensive 12 system exam. We will also address any behavior changes and discuss any issues you have noted since the last examination.
Vaccinations
$59 Package
Although vaccines are not recommended annually, vaccinations are still an important part of wellness care to prevent disease. We tailor vaccine protocols to meet the individual needs of each patient based on their age, medical condition and lifestyle.
FVRCP: Core vaccination is recommended for all cats including Rhinotracheitis (Herpes Virus), Calici, and Panleukopenia also known as FVRCP, HCP, or upper respiratory vaccine. We use a non-adjuvented, FDA approved, 3-year vaccine.
Rabies: Rabies vaccination is important especially for cats that have unsupervised outdoor exposure. We use a 1 year non-adjuvented vaccine. It is also recommended that indoor cats receive regular Rabies vaccination as there is no cure for the disease and it is transmissible to humans. In May 2008, a rabid bat was found in a home in SE Portland - so the exposure risk is real, even for indoor cats.
FeLV: The Feline Leukemia Vaccine is recommended for cats that are at risk including indoor/outdoor cats with unsupervised outside time. This is a virus that is spread through cat to cat contact so it is not recommended for indoor cats. We use the only non adjuvented vaccine available and it is given via a pneumatic device with no needles.
Annual Deworming
$25
The CDC (Center for Disease Control) and CAPC (Companion Animal Parasite Control Council) recommend annual deworming of all pets to protect people. We recommend annual deworming to protect pets and their people. We use a medication called Drontal Plus which treats roundworms, hookworms, whipworms and tapeworms.
Intestinal Parasite Screening
$15
Annual fecal testing is recommended for all cats to check for internal parasites. Although we deworm annually, it is important to know if parasites are present for follow-up treatment and to ensure that your cat does not have Giardia or Coccidia, two parasites our dewormer does not cover.
Annual FeLV/FIV Testing
$36.50
Feline Leukemia Virus and Feline Immunodeficiency Virus are spread through cat to cat contact so annual FeLV/FIV testing is recommended by the American Association of Feline Practitioners for all cats that have unsupervised outdoor exposure. Although we recommend annual FeLV vaccines for outdoor cats, no vaccine is 100% and there is not a reliable FIV vaccine at this point (the Fort Dodge Vaccine appears to be efficacious but will result in a positive FIV test which cannot differentiate between vaccinated and infected cats) so we recommend, along with the AAFP, annual testing.
Annual Blood Testing
$169
We recommend annual blood testing for all cats to ensure that they are as healthy on the inside as they appear during their physical examination. For young adult cats this blood testing is often normal and serves as baseline testing. As cats age we can recognize changes in lab values that help us to intervene early for prevention rather than waiting for crisis treatment when they are ill from their condition.
Flea and Heartworm Prevention
varies
We recommend year round flea prevention for all cats. We offer a variety of options for cats and individualize recommendations based on each patient’s lifestyle and desires of their family. All flea and heartworm medications we carry are FDA approved medications (and not EPA approved pesticides).
Our favorite product for indoor-outdoor cats is the spot on Revolution. It is a topically applied systemic product absorbed quickly (within 2 hours). It is a monthly flea preventative for all lifestages of fleas, is a monthly dewormer, treats ear mites and is a heartworm preventative.
For indoor cats our product of choice is Program. This is a monthly oral product that acts as a flea birth control. Because indoor cats have less flea exposure, controlling the indoor flea population offers sufficient protection. For flea allergic indoor cats or cats that are difficult to medicate we recommend the topical Revolution.
