Preventative Wellness
Preventative wellness is more than just a yearly check-up and vaccines. Your veterinarian will look at your individual pet and recommend tailored treatments, such as recommended vaccines and special diets. By looking at the overall health and history of your pet, our team can focus on early detection with bloodwork and in-depth physical exams.
Making Happy Memories
At Oakwell Animal Hospital, we believe that maintaining a healthy lifestyle for your pet begins with preventative care through annual exams with appropriate vaccines and parasite prevention. Ideally, this yearly contact allows us to address areas of concern before they become serious.
Through client education and a thoughtful wellness plan, we hope to allow you and your pet to continue making happy memories together.
Vaccination Schedule
Puppies & Kittens:
All puppies and kittens require their first examination and vaccination by six to eight weeks of age. Vaccinations will be boostered every two to four weeks until your pet is at least 16 weeks of age. During these visits, our team will treat any ailments discovered through physical examinations, blood tests, and parasite screening tests. Prevention begins as early as their first visit!
Dogs & Cats:
All dogs and cats will require yearly examinations and vaccinations, while geriatric or ailing pets may require more frequent exams. During these visits, we recommend wellness bloodwork, parasite screening tests, and other diagnostic tests as needed based on our examination findings.
Spay & Neuter
Spaying and neutering your pets is part of their prevention plan! Aside from the prevention of unwanted litters and behavioral issues, spaying or neutering your pet can protect them from some life-threatening ailments such as infection and reproductive tumors. You can schedule your pet for their spay or neuter anytime after six months of age.
Common Flea & Tick Myths
Truth: Fleas don’t like the cold, so like an unwanted visitor; they move inside your home. Fleas thrive in 65-degree weather or higher, so this makes homes the perfect winter vacation spot. Fun fact: fleas require seven days of consecutive below-freezing temperatures to die off in the environment.
Truth: In colder environments than ours, ticks are kind of like bears. They burrow into the ground and become dormant where snow and frozen grounds keep them nice and cozy until they wake up in the spring; HUNGRY! Here in the South, ticks tend to still be active in winter and find a host such as deer to hang out with. Those ticks that don’t want to be cold will just simply hitch a ride on your unprotected pet and move indoors.
Truth: A flea’s life cycle takes place not on your pet, but usually in furniture, carpet, and shaded areas in your yard. The flea life cycle starts with a few hundred eggs PER adult flea! And, as any exterminator knows, the flea eggs are nearly indestructible, making prevention a much easier solution than waiting for an infestation to become established.
Truth: A tick’s home is wherever there’s food. It doesn't matter if you live near woods or if your backyard is perfectly manicured; when you or your pets rub up against that blade of grass, plant, bush, etc, the tick just simply hops on. Then it’s mealtime!
Fun fact: ticks will usually find their new host by “questing.” Questing is when a tick climbs on any blade of grass and holds its arms out waiting for a passing animal to latch onto.
Both fleas and ticks can be difficult to eliminate from your home once they have become established. Not only are they pests that can cause discomfort to your pets, but both can transmit diseases that can lead to serious illnesses. These are the big reasons it is important to discuss with your veterinarian the right products that will protect your pet. Over-the-counter solutions often only protect against one life stage, which isn’t enough. Schedule an appointment today to discuss which medication is best to keep your pet protected!