Wellness and Preventive Care

Wellness care focuses on maintaining your pet’s health over their lifetime. Disease prevention through regular vaccination and parasite prevention plays a large role in keeping your pet healthy.

Parasite Prevention

Your pet is susceptible to a number of internal and external parasites that can cause problems ranging from mild irritation to deadly disease transmission. During your pet’s wellness visit, we will perform routine screening for common parasites, and the diseases they can transmit. Parasites of concern include:

  • Heartworms — Microscopic, larval heartworms are passed by mosquitoes. As the worms mature, they travel to the heart and lung vessels, where they cause intense inflammation, and obstruct blood flow. Without treatment, heartworm disease is deadly. Cats are also susceptible to heartworm disease, although no curative treatment is available for them. Year-round heartworm prevention is critical for all dogs and cats.
  • Fleas — In addition to causing an itchy bite, fleas can transmit diseases such as bartonellosis, murine typhus, and tapeworm infections. We recommend year-round prevention to keep your pet flea-free.

 

  • Ticks — Ticks can transmit a range of diseases, including Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis, anaplasmosis, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. We recommend annual testing for tick-borne infections, and year-round tick prevention to keep your pet safe.
  • Intestinal parasites — Dogs and cats can pick up a number of intestinal parasites, including roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, coccidia, and Giardia, from the environment. We recommend annual fecal analysis to screen for these parasites. Some heartworm preventives also protect against intestinal worms.

  • Heartworms — Microscopic, larval heartworms are passed by mosquitoes. As the worms mature, they travel to the heart and lung vessels, where they cause intense inflammation, and obstruct blood flow. Without treatment, heartworm disease is deadly. Cats are also susceptible to heartworm disease, although no curative treatment is available for them. Year-round heartworm prevention is critical for all dogs and cats.
  • Fleas — In addition to causing an itchy bite, fleas can transmit diseases such as bartonellosis, murine typhus, and tapeworm infections. We recommend year-round prevention to keep your pet flea-free.
  • Ticks — Ticks can transmit a range of diseases, including Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis, anaplasmosis, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. We recommend annual testing for tick-borne infections, and year-round tick prevention to keep your pet safe.
  • Intestinal parasites — Dogs and cats can pick up a number of intestinal parasites, including roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, coccidia, and Giardia, from the environment. We recommend annual fecal analysis to screen for these parasites. Some heartworm preventives also protect against intestinal worms.