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Visiting the vet clinic for a pet’s health checkup is something every pet owner has to do for the benefit of their pet.
A sick pet is not a happy pet, and a caring pet owner should not allow their pet to become intentionally ill. To keep your pet healthy, pets need proper checkups and preventive treatments to protect them against diseases. A professional League City hospital can handle any health checkup your pet may need.
Now, the question is, how often do we have to visit the vet clinic with our pets to give them a higher chance of having a long, healthy life?
The fact is, there are no hard and fast rules for this. Your pet may need veterinary care at any time. It might become sick or get hurt even if you just visited a vet recently which means another visit might be required to get it in good health again.
On a general note, you can follow the pet age checkup guide below as a cheat sheet for visiting a veterinary care center with your pet.
This guide is based on the current stage of your pet in life. By stage, we mean the age range it falls into. It could be any of the following – the baby stage, the young adult, and the senior.
The Baby Stage – Birth to 1-year-old.
Puppies, kittens and other very young pets require vaccination shots every 3 weeks at your local veterinary clinic till they’re about 16 weeks old.
Puppies will need to be vaccinated against distemper, rabies, Lyme disease, influenza, kennel cough and other dangerous diseases that might affect their health.
From 16 weeks old, preventive treatment against heartworm diseases for the heart and mites and fleas for the skin will be taken up as well as a precautionary treatment measure.
For kittens, there is need to visit a pet health center to apply preventive treatment and vaccinations against several deadly diseases including feline leukemia and feline immunodeficiency virus.
After about 6 months, it is necessary to take your pet for another checkup and possibly spaying or neutering as the case may be. If your pet needs extra non-health attention and care, a good number of Animal Hospital League City TX facilities are available for you to choose from.
Adults – 1 to 9 years
At this age, your pet is considered to be a young adult or mid-age adult depending on the breed.
Vet clinic checkup should be limited to yearly visits apart from emergencies coming up. A heart checkup routine is essential at this stage against heartworms too. A full body-check-up to analyze and diagnose any anomaly before proffering a treatment procedure is also required.
Samples from your pet’s blood and stool are usually necessary to check for heartworm in the blood and gastrointestinal microbes in the digestive tract.
In addition, your pet will need yearly booster shots to prepare its immune system against rabies, distemper, and kennel cough, etc during the early years. Subsequently, shots can be given every 2 or 3 years or as required.
If you should notice your pet acting unusual, something might be bothering it, and you may have to visit a vet clinic for a proper checkup.
Unusual behavior could be excessive barking or scratching, dullness, slowness in movement, avoiding food or lack of enthusiasm, drinking too much water or any other strange activity you notice. Busy individuals might have more difficulty seeing unusual behavior in their pets.
A solution for this is to engage with Pet health care League City, Texas services that provide boarding, grooming and even veterinary care for pets that have very busy owners.
Senior – 9 years and above
Pets around this age range are considered as elderly pets and are no longer as strong as they used to be. More attention is required to keep senior pets in good health.
For proper pet care to be given, your senior pet needs to visit the vet care for checkups twice a year at least.
Full body checkups will have to be given to your pet. Blood, urine, and stool samples will be required for analysis and proper diagnoses.
Older pets will also need more preventive treatment like vaccination shots and a healthy diet to keep them in good shape.
Older pets also suffer from arthritis and other joint problems. Proper exercises and bone health examination might also be needed to ensure your aging pet doesn’t pre-dispose itself unnecessarily.
Final Words
A regular pet checkup culture is the most effective means of ensuring that your pet enjoys a long, happy and healthy life. When your pet is healthy, it is usually happy and more fun to be with a pet companion.
How often your pet needs a vet visit can be determined by its age range. Tender pets from birth to less than a year require a regular veterinary checkup and attention till about 16 weeks.
Pets of about a year to 9 years will need a yearly full body check to be in the best health condition on average.
For senior animals with age ranging from 9 years upwards, a full body biannual vet checkup is necessary to keep them in an optimum state of health.
Do you have a pet that needs a professional vet care checkup? Contact Veterinary Clinic League City.
