Preventative Healthcare

1.  Dietary - A good quality diet is one of the most important aspects of growing puppies and maintaining your adult pet’s health.  With that in mind, the doctors have selected the Science Diet, Hill's Prescription, Royal Canin and Purina Veterinary Diet lines as the best products for your pet.  Growth, maintenance, and geriatric foods are available, as well as prescription foods for any specific health problem. 

2.  Dental Hygiene - Dental care is extremely important to the health of your pet.  The doctors recommend annual dental exams and dental cleaning when necessary.  They utilize an ultrasonic scaling machine to remove plaque and polish teeth after scaling.  Good breath and good health are positive results of this service.

3.  Deworming:  Dog and cats can carry intestinal parasites that are contagious to people, especially small children. Please see our separate section on this topic. The link is available on our home page.
Puppies should be checked for intestinal parasites and treated at least two times between 3 and 9 weeks of age. Many kittens have roundworms, and need to be dewormed at least twice between 3 and 9 weeks of age.  We recommend having a fecal exam performed at these times to check for the various intestinal parasites that kittens can carry.
All adult dogs and cats should have at least one intestinal parasite exam and be on a monthly dewormer included in their heartworm prevention. Cats can also use the topical product, Profender, to kill intestinal parasites.

*Heartworm prevention is the key*

4a.  Heartworms:  These parasites are carried by mosquitoes.  Mosquitoes bite your dog and transfer heartworm larvae into his/her bloodstream.  The larvae then migrate to the heart and grow into adult worms that are 6 to 8 inches long.  Untreated, heartworm disease is eventually fatal, but easily preventable with monthly heartworm prevention.
4b.  Heartworm Prevention - Heartgard Plus®, Sentinel or Interceptor® tablets for dogs and Revolution topical for cats are recommended once a month, year 'round to prevent this mosquito born disease as well as provide monthly dewormer against intestinal parasites.

5.  Spay or Neuter:  We recommend spaying/neutering between 4 and 6 months of age. Please see our separate section on this topic. The link is available on our home page.
 6. Flea and Tick Control - FrontlinePlus®, Advantage® or Revolution for cats are recommended to be applied topically once a month. Also the heartworm preventative, Sentinel, provides some protection against fleas.

7. Annual vaccination and wellness exam - The doctors will advise a complete check up every year.  For puppy and kitten vaccination guidelines, please see our separate section for more information on this topic. The link is available on our home page.
The annual visit includes:


      A) For Adult Animals

  •  Physical exam (dental, heart, lungs, eyes, skin, etc.)
  •  Fecal microscopic exam
  •  Heartworm Test
  •  Rabies Vaccine
  •  Combination vaccine to include distemper and parvovirus.
  •  Bordetella vaccine, given every six(6) months

      B) For Mature Animals (6-9 years or older)

  •  In addition to the above exam, extensive blood tests for anemia, infection, inflammation, kidney, thyroid or liver problems

      C) For Geriatric Pets (8-11 years or older)

  • Wellness exam and workup, including extensive blood work, x-rays, ECG and blood pressure