Vet-Approved Content
Wellness is the cornerstone of everything I do as a vet when it comes to caring for your pet.
My job is to care “in sickness and in health.” I can do a much better job when your pet is “in sickness” if I know what they look like when they are “in health.”
This vow to do the best for your pet, “in sickness and in health,” is a veterinarian’s reason for being.
Breaking Down a Wellness Exam
Wellness visits are usually happy times when you bring your pet to the vet not for a problem but for a check on general well-being.
Similar to your annual physical with your doctor, wellness visits are a way of recording a baseline for your pet, underlining what is normal for that particular individual.
A wellness exam means your pet will receive a complete physical, the pet’s medical record will be kept updated with all pertinent information, new problems can be uncovered before they become serious and old problems can be revisited.
Your vet looks at a lot during a wellness exam:
- Weight
- Body condition score
- Medications: past, present and new
- Nutritional needs
- EENT (eyes, ears, nose, throat)
- Dental status
- Behavioral issues
- All-systems check: circulatory, cardiac, respiratory, gastrointestinal, skin, musculoskeletal, neurologic, reproductive, urogenital
- Lifestyle, exercise and stage of life
The wellness exam is also a great time to have a one-on-one conversation with your vet.
With pets and pet products always in the news, ask about that new flea and tick product you heard about. What about the new joint supplement a friend told you about? What time is right for spay or neuter?
During your pet’s wellness visit, you are an audience of one with your vet. Take advantage of it.
Wellness Translates Into Longevity
Statistics don’t lie. Our pets are living longer, healthier, happier lives because of more thorough wellness programs.
With every generation comes more emphasis on proactive health choices and preventive medicine. This accent on the positive has happily trickled down to how we view our pets’ health.
Millennials as a group, for example, have a better understanding of preventive care — and hence the importance of the wellness visit — than some of my older clients.
Gone are the days, for the most part, when people ask to come in “just for vaccines.”
While vaccines are an important part of prevention, people now appreciate that spending time with their vet in wellness visits will keep Fifi the Younger and Fido the Elder healthier and give them an advantage when they become ill.
Baseline Health Status
You know your pet better than anyone and can tell a lot by the look in their eyes, the way they walk, etc.
But subtle changes in a pet’s health status can go unnoticed. Bringing your pet to the vet when they are feeling “good” or “normal” establishes a baseline for your pet.
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What goes into this baseline? Everything.
From weight to body condition score to the grade of a heart murmur to the condition of your pet’s coat to the amount of tartar on the teeth, I write down everything important and I also document changes from the previous year.
When you bring your pet in for a sick visit, the first thing I do is look at the medical record. I go back to the baseline to see what things looked like when they were feeling good or “normal.”
It helps me determine how much things have changed and in what period of time.
Miranda’s Baseline: A Key to Diagnosis
Take my patient Miranda, who had been vomiting for a week.
Aside from the vomiting, Miranda’s mom thought everything has been going fine. Miranda was doing pretty well for a 14-year-old cat.
Before looking at Miranda, I went back to her chart. Blessed to be her vet for all 14 years of Miranda’s precious life, I saw that her weight has been very stable.
Throughout her adult life, and even into her early geriatric years, Miranda had weighed between 9 and 9.5 pounds.
But Miranda weighed 7.9 pounds today and her wellness exam was only 3 months ago, when she weighed 9.3.
This is significant weight loss — her person was not aware of it, and it suggests the vomiting is now a symptom of something more sinister than simple indigestion.
I paged through some other entries in Miranda’s chart. In 2015, Miranda’s human told me she thought the kitty was sleeping more. We ran some blood work at that time, and it was normal. I asked if Miranda seemed to be sleeping even more now and if she was lethargic.
“Oh, no,” said the client. “When did I say she was sleeping more? If anything, she’s acting kind of kittenish. But throwing up.”
“Is the vomiting taking away her appetite?” I asked.
“No, she’s eating like a little piglet,” she said.
Again, I leafed through the chart and saw that our little Miranda had actually been described as “finicky” at times, something that Miranda’s human had forgotten.
The changes in the kitty’s baseline behavior, eating habits and weight loss led me to a not-so-difficult preliminary diagnosis of hyperthyroidism.
Cutting to the chase and running the correct blood work and thyroid levels got Miranda a diagnosis in record time. At first, the client thought Miranda’s vomiting was mild and she was not too keen on paying for the blood work, but the changes in the cat’s baseline prompted me to urge the client to do the workup.
She was happy she did because Miranda is on thyroid medication, eating normally, not vomiting anymore and weighing in at a lovely, healthy 9 pounds.
How Scheduling Off-Peak Wellness Exams Benefits Your Pet and Your Vet
When is the best time to schedule your annual exam for your pet?
The second quarter of the year (April, May and June) is statistically the busiest 3 months for most veterinarians. The slowest time of the year tends to be October, November and December.
So unless you’re in a niche community, like a resort or snowbird town, the busiest time for most small animal vets, no matter the state or the weather, is springtime.
Wellness Exams in a Sea of Calm
If you book your pet’s annual wellness exam in off-peak season, you can get the appointment time of your choice with ease.
Often, you can schedule the day before or day of your desired time when your vet isn’t so busy. In the busy months, you may have to wait a few weeks to get the time and doctor of your choice.
In off-peak season, the vet can spend more quality time with you and your pet. Your vet is less frazzled when her day is not filled with back-to-back appointments.
Why Spring Is Busy
Spring has always been the busiest time for small animal vets.
This may be a holdover from when heartworm testing and prevention was a seasonal thing in many parts of the country. Today, you can get your annual heartworm test at any time of year and many vets give heartworm protection year-round.
Additionally, flea and tick prevention are also associated with spring and summer. You may notice more TV ads for Frontline and Advantage now, but these products can be purchased at any time of year, without your pet in tow.
No need to wait for your annual appointment in April or May to buy or begin parasite prevention.
The warmer months are always a busier time in general because pets get into more trouble, necessitating more vet visits for trauma and illness.
Even without more annual appointments on the books, your vet is simply busier in the spring and summer stitching up wounds and stabilizing pets who played in traffic.
Spring also represents a kind of housecleaning mindset. Air out the house, dust under the bed and bring Doogan to the vet. Winter is done and summer fun isn’t in full swing yet, so people are in a get-it-done frame of mind.
Simply, if go to the vet in winter or summer, you miss the spring barrage.
Winter Appointments
You might think it’s the winter weather that keeps people from scheduling their annual visit in the dark months, but there’s more to it than that.
The slowest quarter — October, November and December — actually have to do with that crazy mindset of “the holidays.” I think it would be great for all of us to get our minds off the wacky anxiety caused by the winter holidays and go about our business.
So forget about Thanksgiving dinner or present shopping — and bring that pet to the vet!
Can you guess what this dog’s favorite season is?:
Changing the Time of Your Annual Exam
Is it possible to reschedule your pet’s exam?
Sure — just call your vet’s office. The receptionist can check on when vaccines are due and tweak the schedule to your liking.
Rabies is the only vaccine where the date matters — you don’t want to let that expire. Other vaccines are not that time-sensitive.
Your pet’s wellness exam is important. A more relaxed atmosphere at the vet can make this a better and more successful experience all around.
Remember to make a list of concerns you have about your pet and reveal these to the receptionist when you make your appointment. We want to know ahead of time that Buffy has had goopy poops for several months or Wondercat’s vomiting has been on the rise.
Above all, thanks to all you great people for keeping up with your pets’ wellness exams, whenever they occur.
This pet health content was written by a veterinarian, Dr. Debora Lichtenberg, VMD. It was last reviewed Oct. 11, 2017.
