General Comments about Vaccination Programs
I don't have much to say as an introduction other than to state the obvious;
THANK GOD FOR THE VACCINES WE HAVE AVAILABLE TODAY !
Alarmists are making a big deal these days about the dangers and potential problems caused by vaccines ... and indeed, we, as a profession are making changes and improvements to both the vaccines themselves and to the protocols we recommend for pet vaccination.
But remember to keep some perspective; for every pet that experiences the discomfort of minor vaccine side effects, and yes, for the rare pet that experiences a major vaccine complication such as a cancerous reaction at the vaccine site or even allergic death: hundreds or thousands of pet lives are spared an agonizing death due to distemper, parvo, leukemia, feline AIDs, pneumonia, kidney failure, and rabies.
A Quick Comment or Two about Vaccine Quality
First, let me remind you that even high quality vaccines won't give your pet good protection if your pet is immune suppressed from parasites, certain medications, illness, certain metabolic problems such as diabetes, Thyroid problems, or Cushing's Disease, excessive stress, or poor nutrition.
That's why it's important to have a veterinarian give your pet it's vaccinations. Vets are trained to look for underlying problems.
In fact, there are several reasons this is a job for a good veterinarian as opposed to doing them in some parking lot, feed store, or doing them yourselves:
1. The most important part is a good history, wellness examination, and whatever blood, fecal, or heart tests are appropriate to make sure we're vaccinating a healthy pet. Only a vet working from a well equipped office can do this well.
2. Vaccine protocols used to be simple; we more or less recommended all pets to get vaccinations once a year. This system worked extremely well, all things considered, but now it's recommended that we fine tune this simplistic system and customize a vaccine protocol for each individual pet based on the pet's life stage, risk of exposure, health status, and so forth. This is, indeed, better for the individual pet, but it's more complicated, and ideally you get the advice of your veterinarian when deciding which vaccines are vital, which are probably a good idea, and which are not likely to be needed on a yearly basis.
3. Not all vaccines are equal in protecting your pet. And not all vaccines are equal in safety. Some older and less expensive brands are not only not as effective as the newer, improved vaccines, but are much more likely to cause local inflammation, irritation, and vaccine reactions. Some vaccines are nearly useless. Vets are constantly updated on vaccine improvements and vaccine problems and use the best and safest vaccines. This is not always the case if you're getting your vaccines from a mail order catalog, from feed stores, or parking lot clinics.
4. Vaccines have to be kept refrigerated, something that mail order houses, and feed stores may not be as meticulous about as veterinarians who tend to be very meticulous about vaccine and medication storage and handling.
5. While serious side effects and fatal allergic reactions are rare, it's fairly common to have minor allergic reactions, post vaccine fevers, and so forth. Veterinarians know how to deal with such problems.
6. And finally, reputable vaccine manufactures bend over backwards by paying vet bills and so forth on those occasions when their products caused trouble. They take even the smallest reported reaction seriously. But they only do so if the vaccines were administered under the supervision of a veterinarian.
About the Argument that We may be Vaccinating Pets More Frequently Than We Need
Basically, this argument is valid. Many healthy pets, especially in their middle years, probably don't need all vaccines every year. And the new thinking is that the immune system would react better to the different vaccinations spread out instead of all at one visit and that while serious vaccine reactions are pretty rare, why give a vaccine that has even a small potential for harm if it's not really needed.
While this argument is valid and while many, if not most vets are adapting their vaccine recommendations to conform to this thinking, it's sure made things more complicated.
Not that complicated though. It's just that from a lot of testing on animals, we know that the difference in disease protection that a particular vaccine provides is huge from one pet to another. In some pets, a feline leukemia booster will give adequate protection for several years, while in others for less than a year.
And the difference in length of good immunity provided for some diseases ...such as kennel cough, lepto, Lymes, and the feline respiratory viruses are probably less than a year, while for other diseases such as feline or canine distemper and hepatitis is probably good for several years or more.
So, it's become the job of the vet, along with the pet owner to decide which vaccines we should give. And this decision should be based on the age of the pet, the likely risk and exposure of the pet, and especially the health status of the pet.
Here's What I Generally Recommend to my Dog Clients at different Life Stages
Puppy Recommendations
Puppies 6-7 weeks of age
Puppy - Pediatric exam paying special attention to birth and genetic defects, hernias, heart murmurs, carpal deviations, and cleft palettes. Really look close for parasite problems.
Record of weight, temperature, heart rate, and resp rate
Screen for Ringworm
Microscopic Scrapings for mange if indicated
Vaccinate for distemper, hepatitis, flu, corona, and parvo
I avoid vaccinating for lepto at this early age
Deworm with high dose pyrantel
Capstar for fleas if indicated
Play, fondle, enjoy, and bond to the patient
Discuss Crate training, bathroom training, etc
Discuss nutrition choices including vitamins and minerals
Discuss Pet Insurance: This is the most advantageous time to get insurance
Dispense carpet cleaners, vitamin supplements, shampoos, grooming aids, and toys as needed.
Dispense a fecalyzer fecal container for the purpose of bringing back a fecal sample on the next visit
Make an appointment to bring back the puppy for a repeat exam and vaccine boosters in 3-4 weeks. Young puppy immune systems are very immature and initial vaccinations give critical but a very limited duration of protection.
At our hospital, we offer free rechecks for our puppy patients for minor infant bouts of diarrhea, snotty noses, and so forth. And we send you a reminder a few days before your next visit to bring in a stool sample and to make sure the appointment time is still convenient for you.
Puppies 9-11 weeks old
At this stage of development, pups are like human toddlers and in addition to checking everything over for problems we might have missed on the initial exam, we pay special attention to bone and joint development, ear canals, and eyes.
Record of weight, temperature, heart rate, and resp rate
Vaccines for distemper, hepatitis, flu, and parvo
Add the 4 strains of Lepto to the vaccination protocol
Consider a Corona booster
Microscopic fecal exam and choose appropriate dewormer
(Controlling intestinal worms is not a one or two time deal. It takes multiple dewormings with different types of effective deworming medicines to get control of the situation.)
Your puppy is old enough at this age to apply most flea control medications and to start heartworm prevention. At our clinic we give out a free sample dose of Revolution or Sentinel to get you started
Play, fondle, enjoy, and bond to the patient
Discuss Crate training, bathroom training, etc
Discuss nutrition choices
Dispense carpet cleaners, vitamin supplements, shampoos, grooming aids, and toys as needed.
Make an appointment for the next visit. We’ll send you a reminder.
Puppies 12-15 weeks of age
At this stage of development, your puppy’s immune system is mature and able to respond well to vaccines giving about a year’s worth of excellent disease protection. This is also the age where we see a lot of development changes in the skin, hair coat, glands, and problems with teething. Bacterial rashes, demodex mange, and bladder infections are fairly common at this age. Once again, we closely examine your pup for diseases and problems, make a record of it’s vital signs and discuss training, behavior, grooming, and nutrition.
Now that our hospital has a wireless EKG, we do a free cardiac EKG screen for puppies at this visit. This famous device picks up heart defects that we might otherwise miss on routine exam, it makes the upcoming neuter/spay visit safer, and it gives us a baseline for future comparison for this patient. This is all pretty cool, but it’s not yet a normal feature of a puppy exam in most hospitals.
Vaccines: “Adult” vaccines for distemper, hepatitis, Lepto, flu and parvo. Rabies vaccine. Discuss and consider need for Lymes vaccine and kennel cough. We expect these vaccines to give your growing pup about a year’s worth of protection with a couple of exceptions: kennel cough protection fades after about 6 months and should be repeated if warranted based on risk-exposure, and Parvo disease is so widespread and deadly in dogs this age that I like to recommend a booster in 6 months.
Note: In other parts of the country where Lymes is a bigger problem, as many as 3 Lymes vaccine boosters might be recommended.
Rabies certification and tag.
Consider a personalized ID tag and Microchipping
We deworm with a big bolus of Pyrantel for any remaining round worms and if other intestinal worms were a problem at the last visit, we repeat a microscopic fecal exam to see if the problem is resolved.
We make sure you get started using heartworm prevention
We discuss the viable options for flea and tick control
I dispense a free sample of Science Diet T-D to be given as treats as an aid for removing any remaining baby teeth. Other vets use other products, but in either case, it’s important that your puppy has appropriate chewing aids.
At this visit, we recommend doing a blood screening test for kidney and liver function and a blood glucose test. These tests are inexpensive and knowing that these tests are normal greatly increases the safety up the upcoming anesthesia and neutering-spay surgery that we will be recommending for most pets.
Make an appointment for surgical neutering/spaying of your pet. The ideal time for doing this is between 4 and 6 months of age. We send a letter a few days prior to your pet’s surgery to remind you about the need for an empty stomach and to go over some options you might want to consider such as fluoride treatment for the teeth, dental sealants, dewclaw removal, and hernia repair if needed.
Make an appointment for 6 months from now for a mid-year wellness exam and parvo – kennel cough booster ! Otherwise you’re likely to forget. We’ll send you a reminder and you can always change the appointment closer to the event if your initial appointment is inconvenient.
Puppies 4-6 months of age:
As discussed above, this is the ideal age for neutering and spaying. We are very careful with anesthesia … the safety of which has been tremendously improved in the last decade. We take the precaution of doing pre-anesthetic blood work for liver function, kidney disease, and blood sugar. We monitor body temperature, hydration, heart rate, blood pressure, gum refill time, respiration rate, oxygen saturation, and run continuous EKG during our surgeries. And like all vets, we pay special attention to pain management. For the vast majority of patients, these surgeries go very smoothly. Most are up and playful within hours. In fact, I like to keep my spay patients overnight for observation in a ward cage not because I’m overly worried about their recovery but rather I want to enforce rest for at least 12 hours after surgery to prevent these young patients from over-activity. The body needs some quiet time to clot and initiate healing.
While your puppy is under anesthesia, consider any additional minor procedures such as hernia repair or dewclaw removal if needed, and I like to recommend fluoride treatment for the teeth and also dental sealants. This is also a convenient time to insert a microchip if not already done. We also make sure that there are no retained baby teeth at this time.
We have you return about 10-14 days later for suture removal and of course, we check on your post op puppy anytime during this period if there seems to be any trouble with healing or infection etc.
Mid Year Wellness Check
About 10-12 months old if your pup is on our usual schedule
At this stage of development your pup IS IN PUBERTY. Even though your pet was neutered or spayed, there are a lot of hormonal and development changes going on. This is also a time when there are a lot of behavior problems to discuss. At any rate, we go over your young dog again and deal with the skin problems, acne, juvenile mange, skin or ear allergies, and injuries that are common at this age. We check out joints carefully.
Don’t be cynical, we’re not out to get your money with an unneeded visit. In fact, at our practice, this mid year mini check is usually free if there are no time consuming problems to deal with.
Also at this time:
Vaccine booster for Parvo and maybe for Lymes and Kennel Cough depending on your pet’s circumstances.
I like to give a bolus of Panacur Dewormer. Here in the South, whip and hook worms are a constant threat. Many vets repeat the fecal exam at this time instead.
Refill your supply of heartworm preventive and flea control. They should be running out about now if you bought a 6 month supply at your last Puppy Exam.
Record and discuss your pet’s weight
Discuss changing your pet’s diet from puppy formulas to “Adult” diets.
Life Stage: Young adult dogs 1-3 years of age
Once a year:
Complete annual Physical - Wellness exam. At our clinic this includes a screening test for Ringworm, a careful dental exam, careful attention to eye, ear, and skin problems, and an EKG. We record weight, heart rate, resp rate, body score, and temperature. Just like at the auto oil changing places, we have a 32 point check up list and check out your pet from head to tail. And remember how quickly dogs age; examining your pet once a year is like a human going to the doctor every 7 years. Our goal Preventive Medicine; to find problems in their early stages so we can deal with it.
Rabies Vaccination We now have a vaccine that is only legally required every 3 years (this varies from 1-2-3 years depending on your state laws), but for maximum protection, we recommend young adult dogs get the vaccine yearly for the first few years of their life. It’s ideal to stimulate their immune system multiple times to maximize protective titers. Besides, the vaccine is dirt cheap, very safe, and your dog should be coming in anyways for a good yearly physical exam, for other recommended vaccines, and for all the other benefits and responsibilities of good pet care:
Other Vaccines: At this stage of life, I recommend giving the combination vaccine for distemper, hepatitis, flu, parvo and lepto once a year, even though the vaccine for distemper, hepatitis, and flu give protection for up to several years in some dogs. Why, for the same reasons that I recommend giving rabies vaccine for young dogs. And because the critical parvo and lepto portions of the vaccine give much shorter protection and need to be given yearly.
As you will see if you read on, I am a believer in not over vaccinating, and once your dog enters the next stage of life, (3-7 years) we will start skipping years between vaccinations.
Lepto (4 types) is a syphilis like organism and a major cause of kidney disease. An inexpensive, newly improved vaccine is available, but protection lasts only 6 months to a year.
Porphyromonas: This new vaccine for the prevention of gum disease should be considered for those individual dogs with soft spongy gums or evidence of early dental disease. Like the lepto vaccine mentioned above, this is another vaccine made from bacteria (as opposed to virus') and tends to give protection for only 6-12 months.
What else to consider:
Heartworm screen
Microscopic fecal exam
I like to give a yearly bolus of dewormer (I don’t rely on the worm medicine in your heartworm preventive or 100% on fecal exams)
Mid year wellness check for young adult dogs:
At our clinic, this midyear wellness exam is a free mini check up for regular patients if there are no time consuming problems to deal with. Other vets don’t like the idea of a free exam. Why, because they fear it might diminish the value and importance of the exam part of the visit, arguably the most important part of a good preventive medicine program. They’re correct; for preventive medicine to work, your pet needs to be given a check up fairly often … every 6 months … even if there are no big and obvious problems evident to the untrained eye.
My argument is that frequent check ups every 6 months are so important that I don’t want pet owners to have any excuse for not doing them, hence a short mid-year check up at no cost. But that’s just at our clinic where we’re a little gun ho and slightly addled; don’t let a few dollars stop you from taking good care of your pet.
And we also do several things important to the health of your pet that do cost a little money:
Intestinal worms have become so resistant to our deworming medications and are so prevalent in yards, fields, and parks, that it’s important to fecal examinations at least once a year. I like to do them at this mid year check.
I like to give a bolus (extra large dose) of Panacur dewormer mid year even if the fecal exam is negative. Panacur is super safe and very broad spectrum, killing many different intestinal organisms, including those that we miss on fecal exams. (You need to understand that fecal exams are good for detecting mid-heavy worm infestations but not so good at detecting early and mild infestations. Also that certain types of intestinal parasites are quite difficult to detect at all on routine fecal exams and are frequently missed)
I recommend giving a mid year parvo booster to young dogs under 3. It may not be necessary, but this vaccine is cheap and safe, and the disease so common and deadly, I think it’s wise to “over vaccinate” in this case. Parvo dysentery, with very few exceptions, is a young dog disease, so after 3 years of age, I, like other vets, recommend giving this vaccine much less often; usually every 1-3 years depending on the exposure and the patient’s general health.
Kennel Cough vaccine is not very protective after about 6 months, so if your dog boards, shows, or just has a fair amount of interaction with other dogs on walks and so forth, we should booster your dog with kennel cough vaccine (nasal spray or injectable or both in some cases)
This mid year visit is a good time to discuss any concerns, talk about flea control, skin or ear allergies, diet, bad habits, behavior, and so forth.
For preventive medicine to work well, we need to keep records of your dog’s weight, heart rate, temperature, and respiration rate.
Mid year is usually the time to pick up Flea and Heartworm Control. It should be running out about now.
Life Stage: 3-7 years
These are prime years for the health of most dogs. They have hopefully outgrown their excessive teenage years of chewing, destroying, and excessive rambunctiousness, but are still active and hopefully happy with their daily routine.
But don’t ignore the importance of wellness exams, dental exams, the constant vigilance needed for parasite control, and vaccines.
What do we recommend:
Continue the practice of a Complete annual Physical - Wellness exam. At our clinic this includes a screening test for Ringworm, a careful dental exam, careful attention to eye, ear, and skin problems, and an EKG. We record weight, heart rate, resp rate, body score, and temperature. Remember our goal with Preventive Medicine; to find problems in their early stages so we can deal with it.
Rabies Vaccination We recommend giving this important vaccine yearly for the first few years of life. But at the 3-7 year life stage, we recommend giving rabies every 3rd year using the 3 year approved rabies vaccine.
Note that some States have different legal requirements and that when a local region has a rabies outbreak among the local wildlife, your State Vet may change the recommendation to every year again.
And if your dog is a free roamer or happens to have a lot of contact with wildlife or rodents, you might want to continue with a yearly schedule.
Other Vaccines: At this stage of life, we can also stop giving Distemper, hepatitis, flu, and even Parvo on a yearly basis and switch to an every 2-3 year basis. As a profession, we’re still trying to figure out just how long immunity lasts for each of these vaccines for the average dog. But it’s complicated and so much depends on the health and genetics of the individual patient. For the most part, though, we’re agreed that the danger from these diseases in a healthy, 3-7 year old dog that previously has had several yearly vaccines is very low and that the patient probably has adequate to great immunity.
However, immunity for several of the other vaccines is probably not very long lasting and they should continued to be given yearly if not twice yearly:
Lepto (4 types) is a syphilis like organism and a major cause of kidney disease. An inexpensive, newly improved vaccine is available, but protection lasts only about a year.
Kennel Cough: Give fair to good protection for only about 6 months.
Gives poor to fair immunity for up to a year.
Lymes Disease: The need for this vaccine on a yearly basis depends on what region of the country your pet lives in and your pet’s exposure to ticks.
Porphyromonas: This new vaccine for the prevention of gum disease should be considered for those individual dogs with soft spongy gums or evidence of early dental disease. Like the lepto vaccine mentioned above, this is another vaccine made from bacteria (as opposed to virus') and tends to give protection for only 6-12 months.
Also important:
Heartworm screen to ensure the ongoing protection of your pet from this devastating disease.
Many vets like to do a microscopic fecal exam at this time. (I prefer to do this test at the Mid Year check up.) In some localities, some vets recommend twice yearly worm exams.
I like to give a free yearly bolus of dewormer to my patients.
Lastly, make an appointment for your midyear wellness check in 6 months so you don’t forget. We’ll send you a reminder and it’s easy to change to date if the original date is inconvenient.
A note about Intestinal Worm Control:
Controlling worms is a multi-attack situation; none of the tests or products we have available are 100% reliable. So, for best results and a family dog free from the irritation, pain, and debilitation of even a minor parasite load, we recommend
1. Frequent microscopic stool sample checks (1-2 times yearly)
2. The protection for intestinal worms that is provided from your monthly heartworm medication.
3. Twice yearly boluses of dewormer. At present, I like to switch back a forth between high doses of Pyrantel and Panacur. Because worms rapidly become resistant to worm medications, and because newer and better products often become available, this specific recommendation might change at any time. Trust your vet to be fairly up to date (we are constantly updated about drug and disease management improvements by professional bulletins, articles, sales reps, and seminars) and to recommend the best for your situation. And to point out the obvious: we vets are constantly examining hundreds of poop samples a week; so we KNOW what products are working well and which are not in our local regions.
4. The vigilance of the pet owner. Use your eyes and look for any obvious abnormalities in your pets stools. However, you need to know that many of the parasites that cause major disease are not visible without concentration techniques, special stains, and a microscope, so don’t rely on looking alone. Trust your vet’s recommendations and do those fecal exams!
Another comment about intestinal parasites:
Successful parasites are ones that can feed off your pet but not kill it! Most of the common parasites that affect dogs and cats are very successful and for the most part don’t kill your pet. Most people wouldn’t know their pet had parasites if it weren’t for the fecal exams. Most pets with small to moderate loads of parasites act okay on the outside and even their stool will appear more or less normal. But, on the inside, those parasites are causing constant inflammation and irritation, draining nutrition, and causing havoc in the immune system.
Okay, enough said about worms. Certainly the most important part of a yearly wellness exam is the exam itself and time spent with your veterinarian discussing the health, habits, diet, and behavior of your pet.
And yes, it’s important to continue giving at least certain vaccines on a yearly basis (as discussed above)
And it should be time to stock up for another 6 months on heartworm preventive, flea control, and oral hygiene products.
Mid year wellness check for adult dogs 3-7 years old:
A mini wellness exam. For preventive medicine to work well, we need to check up on our patients every 6 months. We need to monitor and record weight, resp rate, heart rate, temperature, and body score.
We do EKG screens at our clinic at these mid year exams. Heart disease is the #2 cause of death in dogs from disease (number 1 is kidney disease) and an EKG can pick up heart problems long before we can detect them using a stethoscope alone.
We recommend a screening test for Erhlicia and Lymes Disease at the mid year check up. Other vets might recommend this test at the annual visit, or not at all depending on your region etc
It’s also time for:
Fecal examination
Kennel cough vaccine if warranted
Bolus of Panacur or other Dewormer
Capstar if warranted
Trial of TD, Biotene, or other teeth and gum cleaning products
Pick up Flea and Heartworm Control; it should be running out about now.
Make an appointment for your pet’s annual wellness exam in 6 months.
Life Stage : Senior Dogs age 7-12
Annual Complete Physical. Dogs at this age are like people in their 50-70’s and we can usually find several things that need medical attention if we look carefully on an exam. This is an age when dental problems, joint disease, lumps and bumps, and cataracts are common. And that’s just the more obvious stuff. Internally, it’s common for pets this age to suffer from different degrees of heart, lung, immune system, and metabolic-hormone problems such as diabetes, liver disease, early kidney disease, stones, early cancers, and thyroid disease. A good exam at least once a year is critical at this stage of life if are goal is early disease detection and to maximize the comfort and life of your loyal pet family member.
Blood Work: At our clinic we do an inexpensive BUN kidney screening test at this annual visit. We also do a hematocrit or PCV test to check for anemia. More extensive blood work is recommended on a case by case basis
Urinalysis: We encourage our clients to bring in a fresh urine sample in order to do a urine protein test which is a detection test for early kidney disease.
Heart: we do an EKG for our older patients every year as part of our check up. We consider X-rays of the chest on a case by case basis
Bowel Health: We generally do routine fecal samples at our mid year check up but most vets do them at the annual check up so I’m listing this here. At this age, we recommend doing fecal exams, but not so much as a parasite check but rather for signs of bowel irritation, inflammation and poor digestion.
Vaccines: Rabies every 3 years unless yearly is warranted
DHP-Parvo every 3 years unless warranted
But, we recommend Lepto vaccine yearly
And Kennel cough vaccine every 6-12 months depending on need
Porphyromonas: This new vaccine for the prevention of gum disease should be considered for most older dogs.
Basically, we now base our older dog vaccine recommendations on an individual basis depending on exposure, activities, legal requirements, and most importantly on the general health and immune status of the patient.
This is the time we spend a lot of time discussing your pet’s weight, arthritis problems, dental hygiene, body odors, and any other issues that need to be dealt with. And of course, we enjoy playing, petting, bonding, and massaging our older patients each year.
Once again, it’s time to stock up on any needed heartworm, flea, and parasite control products and to make an other appointment for 6 months away for a mid year check up.
We also usually recommend Glucosamine and Omega 6:3 fatty acid supplementation for this age group. And oral hygiene products.
Senior Dogs: Mid year;
Mid Year check up paying close attention to dental, ear, and skin inspection. Record of weight, Heart rate, resp rate, and Temperature
Bowel Health/Fecal Examination. At this life stage, in addition to checking for parasites, we are looking for signs of liver dysfunction, intestinal bleeding, poor digestion, and bowel inflammation.
Blood Panel: Depending on the general health of the individual patient, we often recommend a panel of tests … they keep getting better and less expensive … that picks up all kinds of diseases that would otherwise be missed on routine exam. Anemias, Kidney disease, liver disease, Cushings, Addison’s, pancreatitis, diabetes, Hypercalcemia, thyroid disease, and much more. As you probably know, these tests are done routinely on human patients after turning 50, and as a result, we’re all living a lot longer.
Pick up Flea and Heartworm Control Meds, Glucosamine, Arthritic pain medication, Omega fatty acids, and oral hygiene products.
Make an appointment for the next annual examination.
Geriatric Life Stage: Dogs over 12
At this life stage we see a wide variation of health. Many pets are still active and outwardly normal. Others are in obvious decline. With our help, though, we can keep the lucky ones healthy and active for awhile longer and the pets with geriatric problems happier and more comfortable. At he annual and mid year vet visits, we tend to customize what we recommend and do based on the individual patient’s health and lifestyle. But it all starts with a good exam:
Yearly Geriatric Physical: It’s rare that we can’t find something needing attention in dogs at this life stage on a good physical exam. And it’s rare that we can’t improve your dog’s health and comfort level. The most common problems are dental pain, masses, ulcers, and cysts, aches and pains of sore muscles and joints, kidney problems, weak or malfunctioning hearts, digestive disorders, cataracts, eye lid cysts, cancers, arthritis, hormone deficiencies, skin problems, anemia, liver disease, and neural degeneration. We inspect every body part during a good exam to help identify and grade the problems of your old pet friend.
We also rely on lab tests, EKG’s, and radiographs: whether or not we take advantage of any or all of these diagnostic tools depends on the physical exam findings and whether or not you have already recently done these things as we may have recommended them at the last mid year check up.
And we rely on an ever improving arsenal of treatments and supplements for improving the ailments of old age. Here’s a list of just some:
Durlactin, Cox-1 pain inhibitors, Glucosamine, MSM, Adequan, and Omega fatty acids for arthritis and other pains.
Prescription diets and supplements such as potassium and phosphate binders for the management of kidney, liver, and bowel problems.
Anenosyl-Methionine for the treatment of depression, osteoarthritis, and liver disease
Anipryl for senility and mental alertless
Pancreatic enzymes for digestive problems.
And a smorgasbord of vitamin potions, hematinics, appetite stimulants, serious pain medications, skin treatments, oral hygiene products, and hormone replacement therapy as needed.
Vaccines? Often not needed at this age, but it depends on the your pet’s breed, activity level, health, and exposure. Most practioners are vaccinating every 3 years for dogs this age or skipping certain vaccines altogether. Kennel cough vaccine will still need to be given every 6-12 months if it’s needed for boarding or exposure to many other dogs.
Make an appointment for the mid year check up in 6 months !
Geriatric Dogs; Mid Year Check Up
A mini check up; at this age problems can crop up fairly quickly and we want to identify them as early as possible for hopeful resolution.
Consider the need for dentistry, blood panels, and survey radiographs on an as needed basis.
A fecal test looking especially for signs of bowel irritation and inflammation.
A hemocrit test for anemia and ictrus
Monitor and discuss your pet’s problem list. Modify diet and treatments as needed.
Kennel cough vaccine IF needed
Refill any needed medications, supplements and so forth
