Preventative Care

Pet Wellness Exams

We recommend pet wellness exams be performed annually on all of our adult patients and semi-annually for seniors. Preventative care and early intervention have well-established health benefits. By offering regular wellness visits, your pet’s health trends can be tracked, and we can detect and treat diseases as soon as possible. This allows us to address any minor changes before they become more concerning. During your pet’s routine preventative exam, we will obtain a thorough medical history, listen to and address any concerns, and perform a comprehensive physical examination from nose to tail. When appropriate, we can vaccinate and run screening labwork (including testing for heartworm and tick-borne disease, bloodwork, and intestinal parasite screening tests).

Parasite Prevention

Fleas, ticks, and mosquitoes aren’t just a summer problem! Warming temperatures mean year-round prevention is critical to protecting your pet from these pests or the diseases they may carry. Don’t overlook the problems they can cause: fleas often trigger dermatitis, tapeworm, and hot spots. One tick bite can transmit numerous dangerous diseases, and mosquitoes carry potentially deadly heartworm.

Lyme disease from tick bites and heartworm from mosquitoes are on the rise around the country. Lyme disease is rarely fatal, but heartworm can be because often there are no symptoms until the disease is advanced. While there is a treatment for dogs, it can be expensive and very hard on your pet.

Prevention is always the best treatment! We carry many different types of flea, tick, and heartworm prevention. We’re ready to help you choose which is right for your pet. We can also provide medicated baths for pets with external parasite issues. 

Vaccinations

Young animals are like kids–keeping them safe and happy is a never-ending job. Vaccinating your pet is a relatively inexpensive but essential way to protect their health.

In addition to preventing many life-threatening illnesses, vaccinations can prevent diseases prevalent in wildlife and those that can be passed to humans. It’s important to administer vaccinations when pets are puppies and kittens because their young immune systems are still developing and need protection to stay healthy.

Any medical treatment involves some degree of risk. However, the benefits far outweigh any potential side effects in the case of vaccinations. Adverse reactions are rare and usually mild and short-term when they do occur.

Which vaccines should your pet have? “Core” vaccines are those recommended—and possibly mandated by law—for most pets. Core vaccines include:

  • Rabies (dogs and cats)
  • DA2PPV – Distemper, Hepatitis, Adenovirus 2, Parvo, Leptospirosis and Parainfluenza (dogs)
  • FVRCP – Feline Viral Rhinotracheitis, Calicivirus, and Panleukopenia (cats)

All of our feline vaccines are PureVax, which are nonadjuvanted and safer for your cat.

Another non-core but highly suggested vaccination for cats includes FeLV, which protects against feline leukemia. The Bordetella vaccine is also recommended for dogs who frequent dog parks, boarding kennels, or any place where they socialize with other canines.

It’s also important to note that even pets who live primarily indoors should be vaccinated, as they can still be exposed to a disease. Your Indian Street veterinarian can advise you which vaccinations are required or recommended for your pet based on age, health, and lifestyle.

 For more information or to schedule an appointment, call us at (772) 781-9990.