Love And Protection Guidelines For Your Adult Dog

Preventive Care for Your Adult Dog

No matter how little money and how few possessions you own, having a dog makes you rich.
-Louis Sabin

We love helping to keep your four legged family members healthy. The most basic part of this is having your pet examined by a veterinarian. Your dog ages 6-8 years for every human year. For this reason, a veterinarian needs to do a complete and thorough exam, nose to tail, each year. The doctor checks the eyes, ears, mouth, teeth, lymphatic system, heart, lungs, musculoskeletal system, abdomen and internal organs, skin, hair coat, and many other things along the way. Your pet cannot tell us how he feels or where he hurts. Veterinarians are specially trained to examine and interpret the findings in order to make recommendations for your pet’s continued health.

The second part of your dog’s wellness plan is heartworm testing and prevention. Heartworms are deadly parasites that live in the hearts of dogs and are transmitted by mosquitoes. North Texas is in the midst of the heartworm belt. We test dogs annually for the heartworm in this region. The test is necessary whether or not your dog is primarily inside or outside, and it is necessary even if your dog is on heartworm preventative year round. To prevent your dog from becoming infected, a heartworm preventive tablet should be given every month all year round.

Adult dogs should also be tested yearly for intestinal parasites. Some intestinal parasites of pets can be transmitted to and cause disease in humans. For this reason, the Centers for Disease Control recommends that all dogs take a monthly anti-parasitic as well as have an annual test for intestinal parasites.

Your dog’s lifestyle, environment, and breed will determine his risk factors for disease. For this reason, our veterinarians prefer a customized approach to vaccination. We are happy to discuss the benefits and dosing schedules for the different vaccines that we offer.

Our pets eat what we give them. There are so many choices today for pet owners so we make our best effort to guide our client’s to make the BEST choice. The doctors and nurses are fully trained to provide nutritional counseling for all the different life stages.

We are also happy to help with any behavioral questions or concerns that you may have. First, the doctor will rule out any medical cause for the behavior. Then the doctor or nurse can help you to determine the underlying reason for your dog’s behavior and find the best way to improve it if needed.

Click here to download a full copy of our Love And Protection Guidelines brochure.