You know your pet should receive regular wellness care, but do you know why it’s so important? Many pet owners understand that their pet’s annual wellness visit includes a physical exam and vaccinations, but do not realize that these preventive care visits involve much more. To highlight the importance of your pet’s preventive care, our Advanced Veterinary Care of Pasco team answers the five W’s that we are commonly asked about annual wellness care for pets.

WHO requires wellness care?

Despite labels claiming that vaccinations provide long periods of immunity, all pets should receive wellness care annually. So, your cat may receive vaccinations that claim to protect them against infectious diseases for three years, but they should still receive annual wellness care to assess and maintain their health. 

Some pets may require more frequent wellness care than every 12 months.

  • Puppies and kittens should undergo serial vaccinations, physical exams, and other preventive care measures every three to four weeks until they reach 16 weeks of age. Then, when their initial vaccination series is complete, healthy adult pets need only annual wellness visits.
  • Senior pets also require more frequent wellness care—ideally, every three or six months—to ensure they remain happy and healthy as they age. These visits allow our team to closely monitor your senior pet’s ever-changing health, and spot subtle changes before they become serious problems.

WHAT happens during your pet’s wellness visit?

Wellness visits are essential for monitoring and preserving your pet’s health. At regular wellness visits, our team:

  • Performs nose-to-tail physical exams
  • Administers lifestyle-appropriate vaccinations
  • Checks for parasites and prescribes treatment and preventives
  • Conducts early detection diagnostic tests to identify hidden disease
  • Provides diet, exercise, and grooming recommendations
  • Addresses behavior concerns
  • Formulates a plan for future preventive care

WHERE do wellness visits take place?

A comprehensive wellness visit takes place at a general veterinary practice, like Advanced Veterinary Care of Pasco. While your pet can get vaccinations and a brief physical exam at a vaccination clinic, they will not receive the level of care they need without establishing a relationship at a full-service veterinary hospital, where familiar veterinarians and support staff will provide their dental care, perform their diagnostic tests, and care for them when they need surgery or hospitalization for an injury or illness.

WHEN should your pet start receiving wellness care?

Your pet’s wellness care should start as soon as you bring them home. Wellness care encompasses your pet’s total health, and you should schedule an initial wellness visit with our Advanced Veterinary Care of Pasco team to establish a relationship and to allow us to create your pet’s health baseline that we will use for their future care.

Then, after your pet’s initial wellness visit, you can supplement their care at home. You can implement our recommendations for a healthy diet, regular exercise, proper grooming regimens, and daily dental care, and if necessary, behavior problem management.

WHY should your pet receive wellness care?

Regular wellness care builds the foundation for your pet’s overall health, happiness, and wellbeing and provides essential benefits that include:

  • Infectious disease protection — Vaccinations administered based on your pet’s lifestyle and exposure risk are a cornerstone of wellness care. These vaccines are highly effective at preventing infectious disease or reducing disease severity in your pet.
  • Baseline establishment of normal values — Not all pets are “normal,” although they appear perfectly healthy. Reference ranges for diagnostic tests are simply that—ranges. Your healthy pet’s values may fall outside these averages, but with annual screening tests, we can establish a baseline of your pet’s individual normal values. 
  • Early disease detection — Regular screening tests can pick up on disease before illness becomes apparent. Subtle changes in your pet’s normal test results, or abnormalities that truly fall outside the reference ranges, can indicate early stage disease. 
  • Community protection — Your pet’s wellness care protects them not only from parasites and infectious diseases, but also their two- and four-legged housemates, and pets and people in your community. Many pathogens can be transmitted to pets or people, so your healthy pet helps keep your entire community healthy.
  • Cost savings — An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure—and is much more cost-effective in the long run. Keeping your pet healthy and detecting illness early is more affordable than diagnosing and treating advanced-stage disease.
  • Peace of mind — When your pet receives a clean bill of health at their annual wellness visit, you can rest assured that you are doing everything possible to support their wellbeing. Your peace of mind from knowing you’re doing an excellent job caring for your four-legged friend is priceless.

If you have more questions than these five W’s of your pet’s annual wellness care, do not hesitate to call our Advanced Veterinary Care of Pasco team.