At Health Care for Pets Hospital, it is our goal to help our patients stay healthy and happy while living pain and disease free for as many years as possible. For this reason, we focus our attention on preventative care and pet parent education.
To stay ahead of the curve with your pet’s health and to help avoid serious health problems later in your pet’s life, we recommend annual check-ups and consistent preventative care. It is always better for your pet’s health and more economical for you to prevent complications from progressive disorders, heartworms, other parasites, and infectious diseases before they get established. This can be accomplished through regular checkups, vaccinations, and maintaining consistent preventative protection from heartworms, fleas, and ticks.
We recommend starting your young pets off with puppy and kitten appointments and then yearly visits afterwards. Annual wellness exams give us the opportunity to evaluate your pet’s overall health while providing us with a baseline for their particular bodies and tendencies. During a physical exam, our veterinarian will perform a complete wellness examination of your pet, checking your pet's teeth and oral cavity, examining the joints and muscles, heart and lungs, eyes, ears, and skin. We’ll check everything from nose to tail and in between.
We will also explain potential health issues that your pet may face depending on the species, breed, the pet’s stage of life, current health condition, environmental conditions, habitat, and so forth. Based on these factors, we will develop a vaccine schedule for your pet’s individual needs; we typically begin vaccinating puppies and kittens at 8 weeks of age. We will also develop preventive protocols for your pet regarding the best ways to control fleas and ticks in your house, your yard, and on your pet. Your pet’s first exam should be soon after they move in with you so that we can establish them as a patient and assess their health.
Taking into account your pet’s breed, age, health condition, activity level, and lifestyle, we also provide guidance for your pet’s nutritional needs for each life stage that includes dietary requirements for growth, weight maintenance, and performance.
Additionally, our veterinarian can spay or neuter your pet at the appropriate age, not just to prevent unwanted litters, but to lessen the development of cancer in both genders of dogs and cats.
Health Care for Pets Hospital provides wellness and preventative care services to pets in Mills River, Pisgah Forest, Asheville, Horse Shoe, and other nearby communities. Call today to schedule an appointment to start your pet on the road to a happy and healthy life.