Why do we really want to see your pets twice a year?

Here at Companion Veterinary Health Center we want to see your pets about every 6 months or twice a year for a preventive care consultation and exam. 
     Often times we get asked why?  Our answer is simple - we think you are great and want to see you more often!! Ok in all seriousness we do think you are great and we do think you pet is wonderful and that IS why we want to see you both twice a year. We want to prevent anything that we can and make sure your pet is on its best health care plan. 
       Another reason for twice a year visits is that pets age faster than we do. For example, you come in with your 5 year old Great Dane and you are giving us his most recent medical history. It helps us to point out your sweet, loving dog is not just 5 years old but he is about middle aged for his breed. This is a real eye opener to some pet parents. 
       Think about what middle aged means to you in your life. Do you have a genetic history in the family that prompts different blood work or tests than, say, for your neighbor of the same age? Often times we need to think about different tests and genetic history when we are talking to our own doctors. The same goes for our pets. 
    So much can happen in 6 months’ time. Maybe your cat was an indoor only cat and then recently discovered the wild outdoors and you now have an indoor-outdoor cat.  This is a huge game-changer. We will want to vaccinate your indoor-outdoor kitty for different things than from when he was an indoor only kitty. We will even do some different blood tests if you kitty is now going outside. We want to prevent disease and this is the best way we know how. 
    Our goal is for your pet to live its best life. Yep, it is our motto here - "Helping your pet live its best life". Yet that is not a cookie cutter formula. We need your help in getting your pet to live its best life. 
  We need to see them twice a year to make sure that the care plan we have in place with your help is working for you and them.  We want feedback on the flea and tick medication they are using. We want to know more about their diet and bathroom habits. We want to know if anything is just not right with them. 
  Oftentimes during the technician part of the exam we ask questions about input and output, eating, drinking, and bathroom habits. It is usually during this time that we get so much information because we think back was this normal the last time they were here. Is she drinking more, I am filling the water dish more often. Hmmm. When our pets have us make small changes over time we don't notice it as much or we don't think it is a big deal however it can be. If you don't notice that you are filling that water bowl 4 times a day, when you used to only fill it only once a day that is a big deal to us. You don't want to wait a year to address that with us.
    At Companion Veterinary Health Center we are passionate about keeping your pet healthy and we are happy to talk with you about preventable diseases such as heartworm in dogs and cats, parasite prevention of fleas, ticks, and even intestinal in both dogs and cats, and dental disease is not always 100% preventable but we give you tools to have a healthy mouth and are always happy to talk about that with you. 
  So seeing them twice a year really is not that often. It is about making sure that they are happy and healthy and that the health care path they are on is working. Our goal is to have them live a long healthy life. 
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