It takes more than “shots” to maintain wellness through adulthood. In fact, recent evidence suggests that annual revaccination may not be necessary for many pets, and current recommendations for vaccination frequency are changing with this knowledge.

While vaccines aren’t always necessary every year, your pet’s annual examination is your veterinarian’s primary means of detecting subtle changes before they become real problems. During the annual wellness exam, your adult pet’s diet, body condition, activity level, and lifestyle will be evaluated along with its physical health. Based upon this assessment, your veterinarian will make recommendations and assist you in deciding upon the most appropriate vaccinations for your pet.

Because your veterinarian’s evaluation of your pet is limited to what they can observe on the outside, we recommend annual laboratory screening to aid in the early detection of problems. The scope and nature of these tests will vary depending upon your pet’s breed, age, and other factors, but may include fecal analysis for parasites, organ function testing, blood cell counts, electrocardiograms, urinalysis, radiographs, or other tests.

Other wellness services important for adult pets include regular professional dental prophylaxis, heartworm and intestinal parasite prevention, and obesity management.

Age is not a disease, but, with increasing age often comes increasing risk of health problems. When your pet becomes a “senior” varies to some extent with breed and adult size, with cats and smaller dogs generally aging at a slower rate than giant dog breeds. Continued wellness into a pet’s senior years requires vigilance, both at home and by the veterinary healthcare team. Early detection of abnormalities is the key to wellness. In order to minimize the risk of overlooking important changes in a pet’s health, semi-annual examinations are recommended for senior pets. In addition to a check-up for physical health, your senior pet’s diet, body condition, activity level, and lifestyle will be evaluated to help us make the most appropriate recommendations for preventative care, including vaccinations. Your veterinarian will pay particular attention to pain—such as that caused by arthritis—and other factors that may affect a senior pet’s quality of life, as well.

The same laboratory and other screening tests used in your adult pet are appropriate for seniors, too. Additional tests that are of particular value to senior pets include thyroid hormone level monitoring and chronic medication monitoring.

As pets enter their senior years, professional dental care becomes even more important. Chronic and severe periodontal disease may increase the risk of some other diseases, including kidney, liver, and heart problems. Weight management is critical in older pets as well, both to ease the strain on aging joints, and to reduce the risk of diabetes and other illnesses.

Behavior problems are indirectly responsible (through surrender and euthanasia at shelters) for the deaths of countless pets every day. Like other diseases, many behavioral problems can be prevented when pet owners understand the developmental and behavioral needs of their pets and take steps to meet those needs and foster appropriate behavior early in life.

Long-term behavioral wellness begins with choosing a pet that is appropriate for your family’s lifestyle. It continues with proper socialization (particularly of puppies and kittens), basic training, and adequate physical and mental exercise throughout a pet’s life. Our veterinary healthcare team can help you choose a lifestyle-appropriate pet before you bring the wrong pet into your home. Once your pet has arrived, we will also provide you with the education and resources necessary to lay the groundwork for a lifetime of good behavioral health.

We foster behavioral wellness in the hospital by limiting the use of muzzles and wrestling matches in favor of a slow, gentle approach to nervous patients, humane restraint, “bribery” and rewards to encourage calm behaviors, and other techniques that will make each visit more of a pleasure for all involved. In cases where handling a pet may be dangerous for our team or the patient, safe, short-acting sedatives and/or anesthetics can be employed. When a behavior concern exceeds our level of expertise, we will refer you to a veterinary behaviorist, animal trainer, or other professional to assist in your pet’s care. We will work closely with these individuals to help ensure that both medical and behavioral health is preserved to the fullest extent possible.

Although they might sound like animal diseases, bird flu, monkeypox, and cat scratch fever are actually zoonotic diseases, which can be transmitted between pets and people. In addition to serving as an important source of information about high profile zoonoses such as these, your veterinarian can help educate you about and protect you from less glamorous threats to public and family health.

While pets enrich our lives in many ways, they can also be a potential source of human illnesses that, in most cases, can be avoided or prevented. These illnesses include minor inconveniences such as ringworm and flea bites, as well as more ominous (but rare) threats like ocular larval migrans and rabies.

Your veterinarian’s training makes them the best source of information for diseases that animals can transmit to people. Please don’t forget to include us in conversations with your family pediatrician, OB-GYN, or other physician when concerns are raised about the potential health threats posed by your pets.

While it’s much more satisfying—and often more economical—to prevent illness than it is to treat it, sometimes pets get sick. Priority Pet Hospital is equipped and prepared to diagnose and treat any minor setbacks that your pet may encounter, including skin and ear problems, vomiting and diarrhea, limping, urinary problems, bites and other wounds, intestinal and external parasites, and more.

Some illnesses are more than just “bumps in the road,” and may require extensive and/or long-term care and management. Our team’s training and experience, combined with our full in-house laboratory and digital radiography, enables us to gather important “inside” information about our patients and reach an accurate diagnosis—often while you wait. When indicated, we can provide inpatient care for serious illnesses, including diabetes, kidney and liver disease, pancreatitis, cardiac disease, valley fever, tick fever, and others. In instances where your pet requires more advanced testing or more intensive care than we are able to provide, you will be referred to an appropriate veterinary specialist or a 24-hour critical care facility.

Although domesticated, pets aren’t people, and don’t often speak up when they’re sick. Watch for these subtle signs of illness:
Lethargy
Lack of appetite
Coughing and sneezing
Nose or eye discharge
Diarrhea Blood or mucus in feces
Vomiting Changes in drinking or urination habits
Shaking head; scratching ears; excessive itching
Weight loss
Behavioral changes

The role of anesthetics and analgesic (pain relieving) drugs is no longer limited to the surgical theater. Over the last decade, veterinarians and pet owners have become increasingly concerned about both acute and chronic pain in pets. We are committed not only to providing superior pain management for our surgical patients, but also for those pets who live each day with pain resulting from arthritis, cancer, and other chronic diseases.

With appropriate selection of anesthetic drugs and conscientious monitoring of anesthetized patients, your veterinarian can provide an anesthetic episode that is safer than ever before. There is no “one size fits all” when it comes to anesthesia. Priority Pet Hospital maintains a selection of sedatives, tranquilizers, pain medications, and other anesthetic agents to ensure that the best drugs are available for each individual patient. An intravenous catheter and intravenous fluids provide important support of blood pressure to maintain the health of vital organs, replace the small amount of blood loss experienced in most surgeries, and allow the rapid administration of emergency drugs if the need should arise. Thermal support to maintain a safe body temperature provides an additional level of safety and reduces the risk of anesthetic complications for every patient. Patients are also monitored by a dedicated veterinary technician who is trained in the use of electronic monitors for ECG, blood pressure, pulse oximetry (blood oxygen levels), capnometry (carbon dioxide levels), and body temperature.

Pain control is important before, during, and after any surgical procedure. All surgical patients are provided with pre-medications that help dull pain sensation even before any painful procedures begin. During the procedure, constant infusions of pain medications may be employed to limit the need for general anesthetics (and decrease their potential side effects). Finally, appropriate pain medications will be provided in the recovery ward and at home for as long as needed. In cases of chronic pain, your veterinarian can offer your pet several options to improve quality of life by managing discomfort associated with chronic medical problems.

Priority Pet Hospital is equipped to perform both elective and non-elective soft tissue surgery including spays, neuters, mass removals, gastrointestinal surgeries, bladder stone removal, and other procedures. While some of these procedures are performed many times each week, no surgery should ever be viewed as “routine,” as each patient is different and every case is unique. Prior to any surgical procedure, your veterinarian or a veterinary healthcare team member will explain the risks and potential complications of the procedure. At the time your pet is discharged from the hospital, homecare instructions will be provided to help you help your pet during the postoperative period.

Every surgical procedure at Priority Pet Hospital is performed with an individual sterile pack of instruments that is cleaned and sterilized between patients. Single-use sterile sutures and similar materials minimize tissue trauma and the risk of infection.

Orthopedic surgeries are referred to an appropriate veterinary specialist or another veterinarian with the experience and equipment to provide necessary care.

Preventative Dentistry

Preventative dentistry is just as important for pets as it is for pet owners. Appropriate periodic assessment of your pet’s oral health, combined with dental scaling, subgingival curettage (to remove tartar below the gumline), and polishing can help prevent the kind of dental disease that leads to tooth loss, unnecessary oral pain, and increased risk of other illnesses. Although effective dental care requires the use of a general anesthetic, you can rest assured that the same high level of care provided for surgical patients is also extended to patients undergoing dental procedures at Priority Pet Hospital.

Therapeutic Dentistry

When dental health becomes compromised, pets develop gingivitis and periodontal disease. These conditions can lead to bad breath, oral pain, tooth loss, and weakening of the jaw bones. In addition, they may make pets more susceptible to kidney infections and other illnesses.