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Catoctin Veterinary Clinic

Wellness and Preventive Care

Are you concerned about your pet’s health and well-being? Here’s how we help keep your pets happy and healthy with pet wellness exams and preventive care!

How often do you worry over your pet’s sniffles or sighs? At Catoctin Veterinary Clinic, we understand the importance of developing a strong relationship with our clients so we can help you make good decisions for your pets. Part of the relationship you can enjoy with us is an annual pet wellness exam to help keep your pets healthy.

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Every pet should be seen once a year to ensure that your loved one is kept healthy, and that sudden illness doesn’t sneak up on you. Younger pets (< 6 months) and older pets (> 7 years, depending on breed) should have wellness checks more often since they are more at risk of illness at these points in their lives. Discuss with your vet how frequently your pet should receive check-ups.

Wellness Exams

Vaccinations

Preventative Medicine

What to Expect from a Wellness Exam

Are you concerned about your veterinarian missing something at your next wellness check? Every exam includes a complete physical alongside tailored care and tests. A wellness exam is a lot like your annual doctor’s visit – there are base expectations, but depending on family history and circumstances, a closer examination might be necessary. At our practice, every wellness exam includes:

MEASUREMENT

Every visit includes checking your pet’s weight, temperature, pulse, and respiration rate. It’s essential to regularly monitor these simple biological rhythms to establish what is normal for your pet and help notice any irregularities!

DISCUSSION

Your vet will then ask questions about changes to your pet’s lifestyle, behavior, diet, or other health updates. This moment is the perfect time to add your concerns or worries if you’ve had any since the last visit!

EXAMINATION

A complete physical is done for your pet, looking for early signs of common health problems. Depending on the breed, this can include oral exams for dental health, ear exams, full-body physicals, and much more.

Keith Robbins and another veterinarian examining a cat on an examination table

After the standard physical, your veterinarian may do further testing during your pet wellness exam. Depending on your pet’s age, health, and lifestyle, other examinations might be needed, such as:

  • Fecal Exam – Your pet’s bowel movements can showcase worms or other parasites and are most important for puppies and kittens.

  • Heartworm Test – Heartworm is a common and dangerous parasite that requires testing, which should be done regularly.

  • FeLV / FIV Test – Feline Leukemia and feline immunodeficiency virus are on the rise, and early testing can keep you ahead of these degenerative illnesses.

  • Bloodwork and Urinalysis – Senior and ailing pets often require more in-depth testing to ensure that all parts of their bodies continue to work at peak conditions.

Pet Vaccine Visits

To help your pets stay ahead of common illnesses, we provide vaccines for dogs and cats. Our goal is to tailor the vaccines each pet gets to their exposure to the causes of the disease. This simple preventative care is standard for all of our long-term patients. We never want to over-vaccinate or under-vaccinate our patients.

For dogs, these vaccines include:

  • Rabies

  • Canine Distemper (DHPP)

  • Leptospirosis

  • Lyme

  • Bordetella

  • Influenza

For cats, these vaccines include:

  • Feline Distemper (FVRCP)

  • Feline Purevax Rabies (1 year)

  • Feline Rabies (3 years)

  • Feline Leukemia (FeLV)

As an alternative to vaccines, we also offer vaccine titers. If you aren’t confident about your pet’s vaccination history, these can help determine if your pet actually needs a specific vaccine or if they are already protected from previous vaccinations. Either vaccines or vaccine titers can be done during routine office visits.

Preventative Medicine

We are proactive in trying to maintain the health of our patients. This includes heartworm, flea and intestinal parasite prevention and for older pets geriatric blood work to screen for conditions such as diabetes, kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, etc.

A large part of preventive medicine is also blood work. Running yearly blood work allows our veterinarians to get a picture of your pet’s health from the inside. At Catoctin Vet Clinic we have a full in house lab with state of the art equipment allowing us to have test results within minutes for sick animals.

Our in house lab includes:

  • Lasercyte Complete Blood Count machine

  • Blood Chemistry analyzer

  • Full urinalysis

  • Cytology

  • Feline Immunodeficiency Virus/ Feline Leukemia snap test

  • Canine Heartworm and tick born disease snap test.

We also work with one of the premier veterinary laboratory services in the country to offer additional tests that we cannot perform in house. For tests, we send to our outside lab and we often have results within 24-48 hours.In addition, we have an in-house pharmacy for your pet’s medical needs. We carry anything from antibiotics and pain medication to flea and tick prevention.

Keep Up-To-Date with Your Pet’s Health at Catoctin Veterinary Clinic!

If you ever have any worries about your beloved pet, don’t hesitate to see us! An annual wellness pet exam is the best way to stay ahead of illness. And with regular check-ups, you can get new vaccinations to keep up with your pet’s changing lifestyle and exposure.

The veterinarian will check your pet from head to tail during your pet wellness exam. You will get every opportunity to discuss your concerns and thoughts on your furry friend’s lifestyle. We want to ensure your family is together for as long as possible, so call today at (571) 636-9365, and schedule your next pet wellness exam!

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