Pet Wellness Care: Building a Strong Foundation for Long-Term Health

As a responsible pet owner, you’ve probably heard about wellness care. But beyond the basics of nutrition, exercise, and companionship, what else is there?

Routine check-ups lie at the core of pet wellness, and while we love seeing you and your pet, there’s more to these exams than just chit chat. We view wellness care as an opportunity to fine tune and focus the conversation on your pet’s current and future health and help you develop a proactive approach.

Prevention is Key

When you visit your physician, basic information is gathered such as heart rate, blood pressure, weight, and temperature. Likewise, when we examine a healthy pet, it helps us establish a baseline to reference in the event of any health changes.  

Pet wellness and longevity can be achieved through a proactive approach. At home, you may notice subtle changes in your pet’s appetite, behavior, or overall energy that can be useful during an exam. Your questions, concerns, and observations are critical to our understanding of your pet, thus allowing us to better screen, diagnose, and treat any problems during routine exams.

Understanding Pet Wellness

A preventive approach is less scary and expensive than emergency care. Pet wellness is supported by consistent physical exams, open communication between you and your veterinarian, and a variety of diagnostics that measure and compare baseline health statistics.

While regular visits include year-round parasite prevention and vaccine boosters, we also concentrate on other tenets of preventive care, including:

• Dental care
• Behavioral health or training
• Nutrition and weight management

Your Pet’s Best Defense

Some diseases result from genetic predispositions, but lifestyle and age are also significant. While pet wellness exams allow us to catch any suspicious changes, routine blood panels, urinalyses, and parasite screenings can also reveal issues that are asymptomatic. Early detection can make all the difference, as we can either slow the progression of a disease or effectively treat it until cured.

Pets age faster than humans, making regular wellness exams more critical as the years go by. Remaining on top of any illness or injuries as they develop is key to a longer life and better health.

A Bright Future

During an exam, we generally look at your pet’s eyes, ears, mouth, nose, skin, coat, and palpate his or her abdomen. Certain canine or feline vaccinations may also be required. In addition, older pets or those suffering from chronic illness may need more frequent appointments to support proper pain management.

At Arlington Animal Hospital, we are committed to helping your pet thrive, and we hope you’ll contact us with any questions or concerns about your pet’s wellness or health. We understand it can be frightening for your pet to visit us, but we are always more than happy to see him or her!