Preventative Care for Mansfield Pets

Preventing Disease for Happy, Healthy Pets

Mansfield Animal Clinic emphasizes preventative care for your pets as one of the best things you can do for their overall quality of life. Preventative medicine is focused on preventing diseases and illness before they occur. This practice is based on the idea that it’s much easier to prevent a pet from falling ill than it is to try to cure a disease.

Regular wellness exams and vaccinations are just two of the ways that you can keep your pet healthy for as long as possible. We want to enhance your pet’s quality of life and longevity and, through preventative medicine, we’re able to help your pet enjoy their time by your side for as long as possible.

Overview

We follow your pet through the many phases of their lives. From specialized and preventative care during their younger years to regular wellness checks as they age, we seek to prevent and detect problems before they arise. We know your pet is important to you, that's why we work hard to ensure they are given only the best in care through all the years of their lives.

The American Animal Hospital Association recommends that your pet have a wellness exam at least once every year. As your pet ages, they recommend having even more. We believe strongly in preventive care and have developed wellness protocols for every stage of the life of your pet. Depending on your pet’s life stage, vaccines may be administered, as well as disease screenings.

Care Tailored to Your Pet’s Needs

Preventing illness looks different for every pet. At Mansfield Animal Clinic, we understand that each pet has a different set of needs and risk factors. Our Mansfield veterinary team will take all of these factors into consideration before they develop a preventative care plan for your pet.

Factors that influence our preventative care plan recommendations:

• Age

• Breed

• Behavior

• Diet

• Lifestyle

• Weight

The above factors and several other pieces of information help our Mansfield veterinary team to more fully understand the health needs of your pet. Other factors, such as preexisting conditions or activity levels may also influence our recommendations for your pet. Not all pets need the same kinds of care; senior pets, for example, may need extra care for their joints or eyesight than younger pets, while kittens and puppies might need more vaccinations.

We will also discuss your pet’s medical history with you, especially if you’re transferring form another veterinary practice. We will order laboratory tests, like bloodwork or urinalysis, to get a picture of your pet’s overall health to complete the picture. By understanding all of these elements of your pet’s health, we’re better able to make recommendations that will keep your pets happy and health for a long time.

Why are wellness exams important?

Wellness exams give us a chance to evaluate the overall health of your pet while also giving us a baseline for their own unique bodies and tendencies. They also allow us to detect potential problems before they become serious, and even make your pet more familiar with our veterinary hospital, making future visits easier on them and you.

When should my pet visit the vet?

We believe in preventative medicine as the best approach to keeping our patients healthy. This includes annual wellness examinations, vaccinations on a one- or three-year basis, external and internal parasite prevention, and dietary management. Our doctors will help determine what vaccinations are appropriate according to you and your pet’s needs. We will discuss in detail what your options are to help you make the best possible health decisions for your pet.

How do wellness exams work?

During a wellness exam, our veterinary team will start out by taking your pet's vital signs. Our veterinarian will perform a comprehensive examination of your pet from nose to tail and may also perform diagnostic tests such as blood work, urinalysis, or intestinal parasite tests. Depending on your pet’s life stage, vaccines may be administered, as well as disease screenings for heartworm, kidney, liver, blood disorders, and more.

Wellness examinations do not necessarily mean that your pet is going to be subjected to complicated or costly medical tests and treatments. This allows us to prevent major health issues from developing undetected and gives us the opportunity to analyze and record baseline values such as temperature, body condition, and lab work. We measure these when your pet is healthy in order to provide better care in the event of illness or emergency. A dental health exam and a weight check are always important parts of a wellness exam, and may indicate problems that can progress rapidly and have significant impact on your pet's overall health.

Early detection and correction of medical problems will help to ensure that your pet will live a long, healthy, and active life.

What is included in a preventative care plan?

• Regularly scheduled wellness exams

• Regular laboratory testing

• Dental exams

• Vaccinations

• Nutrition planning or modification

• Behavioral assistance

• Parasite prevention

Care for your pet will vary depending on their needs, but there are a few basic commonalities between preventative care plans. The goal of all of the above services is to prevent disease before it happens. We may recommend other services in addition to those above depending on your pet’s needs.

Ultimately, the most important element of preventative care is regular visits to Mansfield Animal Clinic. If we keep an eye on your pet’s health with regularity, it helps us catch the development of illnesses or disease much faster than if we see your pet infrequently.