What to ask your veterinarian about your pet’s preventive care:

The majority of medical professionals, including dentists, veterinarians, and dentists, agree that regular exams are crucial to keeping patients healthy. After all, the ability to identify and treat diseases early can be the difference between comfort and suffering, or even between life and death. Many pet owners, however, don't care about preventive care and only take their dog or cat to the veterinarian when they are clearly unwell or when it is past the time for a vaccination.

More than ever, there is an undeniable relationship between humans and their pets, and owners go above and beyond to ensure that their pets are happy and healthy. In fact, according to a recent estimate from Banfield Pet Hospital, more puppies and kittens will be treated in 2020 than in 2019. Nevertheless, veterinary practitioners continue to see dogs and cats getting preventable diseases despite their diligent efforts to educate pet owners about the need for preventive treatment.

Some veterinarians attempt to educate pet owners about the value of maintaining normal preventative care and the potential consequences for their pet's health if they don't in order to provide the best care for dogs.

This still presents a difficulty, despite advances in health and greater access to research than ever before. They can offer more benefits and individualized solutions for pets and their owners while assisting them in understanding the advantages of a proactive vs reactive method to pet care by putting a priority on developing trusted customer relationships and utilizing data.

In order to learn more about some of the most common conditions that are treatable but still too frequently seen in our patients, such as heartworm, parvovirus, oral health issues, and feline leukemia, Banfield, which treats more than three million pets annually, examined its electronic veterinary health records system. Here are a few of the key findings of the new research.

A Spotlight on Heartworm and Cats:

As they don’t think the parasite is present in their state or area, some owners may delay heartworm prophylaxis. According to the American Heartworm Society, heartworm illness is now present in all 50 states and is spreading to new areas of the nation every year.

The effectiveness and utility of preventive therapy were demonstrated by Banfield's data, which showed a 46% decrease in the number of dogs diagnosed with the parasite over the preceding ten years. Cats, however, are unable to say the same due to a rise of 22% in feline heartworm diagnoses over the previous ten years in the clinic. Since there is now no safe feline treatment to remove or kill adult heartworms in cats, this is very concerning for their owners and their feline companions.

What to ask your veterinarian about your pet’s preventive care:

How is my pet’s weight? What should my pet’s ideal weight be?
Is there anything special I should do to help my pet in his current life stage?
How do my pet’s teeth and gums look?
I’ve noticed some unusual behavior in my pet. What can I do about it?
What’s the best way to protect my pet from parasites year-round?
What vaccinations do you recommend to keep my pet healthy?