Older pets are just like older people! They need more frequent visits to a medical professional in order to identify the early signs of geriatric disease or to monitor the state of any existing conditions.
How Often Should Older Pets Visit the Vet?
We would recommend that any pets over 8 years old are examined by a professional at least every 6 months. This is to maintain your cat or dog’s health and to also give us the best chance of spotting any problems or conditions as early as possible.
What Does an Older Pet Healthcare Check Involve?
To make diagnosis as easy as possible, we offer a comprehensive health assessment for your aging pet. It’s just like any other consultation, but focuses on the specific issues associated with aging animals.
The exact format of a pet healthcare assessment will depend and differ on the particular circumstances of your furry friend, but they may include a full clinical examination, blood pressure testing, haematology and biochemistry, urine analysis and thyroid hormone assay for cats.
If we find any results during testing that may be consistent with geriatric related problems such as kidney, liver, heart, or thyroid disease, we will be able to provide you with the full details of any necessary treatment. We will also be able to suggest any further investigation, if we feel this may be necessary. This is usually in circumstances where a definitive diagnosis cannot be reached immediately.
Equally, if all of your pet’s results come back normal, you can relax knowing that your pet is happy and healthy and won’t need to see us for another six months.
Take care of your older pet’s healthcare today and book an assessment online with us today!