There’s a slogan for you, but what does it mean? Essentially it means that pets need to be seen by their veterinarian bi-annually. Think that’s excessive and costly? Actually preventative health maintenance is less costly when compared to what I like to call “fire engine medicine.” Unexpected emergencies can rack up large bills quickly, and patients with a previously undiagnosed and underlying adverse conditions can be significantly more difficult, if at times impossible, to treat with a positive outcome.

 

Every school child I have ever asked has been able to tell me that a single human year averages to seven dog years. Over the years our formulas for estimating dog age has become more sophisticated and factors such as body condition score, breed, weight and age can more accurately provide a comparison with human aging, http://lazypawvet.com/clientcorner/agecalc . The unfortunate reality is that cats and dogs age differently from humans. Different species naturally have different life spans. Our goal as veterinarians and good animal stewards is to ensure that our companion animals are around for as long as possible with the best possible quality of life.

 

Comparatively, cats and dogs age faster than people making it critical for at least senior pets to be seen twice a year. Ongoing monitoring with physical examination and minimally invasive blood work to assess multiple organ function is recommended so that early signs of manageable disease are detected and appropriate therapies devised. The value of blood work is the ability to detect abnormal trends early. This could be as simple as recognizing the development of cataracts and abnormally high blood glucose values, positive indicators of diabetes. Rapid diagnosis and response with appropriate dietary and medical therapy can often positively impact these patients before secondary and life threatening complications arise. 

 

Ideally all pet owners should have their pet examined once a year, but twice a year is truly better. Because pets live shorter lives, a six month time span is significant. Problems not detected previously may become apparent and be mitigated by earlier appointments. Often signs of illness are subtle or unapparent, even to the most attentive of pet owners. Unfortunately the sad truth is that many pet owners only seek medical attention when a vaccination is due or their companion appears ill, consequently many pets, and disproportionately greater numbers of feline patients, often go several years between visits. Cats, the last common pet species to be domesticated, tend to hide signs of illness better than dogs and so often illness is advanced before they are brought in for examination.

 

However, it is not only geriatric patients who benefit from biannual exams. Case in point, I have a wonderful client who brought in his adolescent dog for preoperative blood work prior to neutering. The clinically normal appearing patient had normal physical parameters on examination; however, kidney values were drastically elevated. Surgery was cancelled and the owner contacted for permission to perform additional diagnostics. When the urinalysis gave further support to a diagnosis of impaired kidney function, the owner reported that this dog had always had a greater water intake and urine output as compared to the other similarly aged and breed of dog in the household. With early intervention in the form of dietary management, intermittent fluid therapy and phosphate binder administration, and despite severe kidney compromise, this patient’s quality of life has been maintained, and he is still actively a part of his owner’s life two years after diagnosis. 

 

The bottom line is we cannot help pets and clients we do not see, and blood work is not only for pre-operative evaluation. Veterinary care is not inexpensive; however, human medicine has proven early diagnosis does matter, it minimizes subsequent treatment and it lessens patient suffering. Early detection and treatment of hyperthyroidism in a cat, for example, can prevent subsequent kidney damage and insufficiency which adversely affects quality of life and drastically reduces a patient life span.

 

For more information, please contact our knowledgeable doctors and staff at www.LazyPawVet.com or call our office at 972-712-1300.