An annual health check is a key part of making sure your pet is healthy. But it’s also an opportunity to get advice and guidance (as well as preventative health treatments if required).
Table of contents
The opening chat isn’t just small-talk
At an annual health check, your veterinary surgeon will start by having a chat with you and learning more about your pet. They will be keen to learn about your pet’s current and normal behaviours, habits and routine. This is also a good opportunity for you to mention any subtle changes in behaviour or health that you have noticed.
Your veterinary surgeon will then perform a clinical examination on your pet
This includes checking your pet’s ears, looking for any inflammation, smells or infection. They will check your pet’s eyes for any changes in colour, size, discharge or shape. The vet will look all around the inside of your pet’s mouth; checking their teeth and gums for signs of dental disease. They will be looking for blunt teeth, missing teeth, gingivitis, abscesses, different coloured teeth and, in youngsters, ensuring all baby teeth have fallen out as expected. Your pet’s mucous membranes will also be assessed for colour and moisture level.
Moving on to the rest of the body, the vet will listen to your pet’s heart and lungs; taking into consideration the rate and rhythm of both as well as detecting any abnormal sounds. Abdominal palpation (feeling the tummy) will be performed to detect any obvious masses and ensure all organs feel normally sized. They will then body condition score your pet. This score, alongside your pet’s weight chart will allow your vet to advise on weight changes if any are needed. Sudden weight loss is a common occurrence in patients with the early signs of disease; and can be a good marker of underlying problems. It is also, of course, a good way to check that your pet isn’t getting overweight!
Anything that your vet finds that they feel is abnormal will be discussed in as much detail as you feel necessary. If your vet becomes concerned about any part of your pet’s health, they will perform a more detailed investigation into this body area.
What if my pet doesn’t like the vets?
If at any point, your vet feels like they cannot perform a clinical examination due to your pet’s temperament, you may be asked to come back another day with sedative drugs; to help reduce the anxiety experienced by your pet and keep members of staff safe, though this is rare.
Making decisions together
Your vet will discuss with you any findings, and you can decide on any medical care needed for your pet. They may recommend specific treatments or supplements in order to benefit your pet’s health. These may include joint supplements, dental care, or weight loss strategies to name a few. Occasionally, diseases will be picked up, so tests and follow up consultations can be arranged to discuss the findings.
Your vet will chat to you about vaccination history, checking you are up to date. If you’re not, and don’t want to vaccinate regularly against the key diseases, we strongly recommend you ask about titre testing; this is to confirm whether your dog or cat has a protective level of antibodies. (Although this is ineffective for Leptospirosis for which there is no reliable test for immunity, unreliable for cat flu in cats, and not widely available for rabbits).
The vet may also discuss whether there are any additional vaccinations you would like your pet to receive, as kennel cough is an additional, yet common, vaccine given to dogs; and vaccines against other diseases such as Rabies and Lyme’s Disease may also be available. Most annual health checks are performed as part of the vaccination booster appointment; as your vet needs to confirm that your pet is in good health before vaccinating them.
In addition, your vet is likely to discuss parasitic control. This will include the products you are using,how often you use them, and whether they will provide coverage against the most common parasites your pet is at risk from. Try to have this information ready to give; the more medical history you can provide, the more useful this consultation will become!
The importance of regular health checks
Having regular health checks is important because the earlier your vet is able to detect disease, the sooner medication can be started and the better the prognosis. Having these checks performed regularly will also allow changes to be detected. And the more often your vet sees your pet, the better they will get to know each other. This means the vet will learn and understand what your pet’s ‘normal’ behaviour and health is; making the abnormal characteristics more obvious. Your pet will also learn not to be frightened of attending the veterinary practice if they are regular visitors while they are well. Which will make taking blood samples and investigative testing much less stressful for your pet should they ever need it when they are unwell; which also reduces the risks of “stress response” results clouding the diagnostic picture.
These consultations can be a great way of monitoring any diagnosed diseases too, helping to monitor the rate of change and how well medication is working to improve your pet’s health.
Your pet’s medical history is very important
Should you ever change veterinary practice, you need to have your pet’s medical history transferred from one practice to the next practice.
If you’re signed up with your vet practice’s Pet Health Plan, it’s quite likely that the annual health check is included in the package; as well as the vaccination booster and parasite prevention medication.
Remember, this consultation is your chance to ask questions and make sure you understand what has been said. If you are unsure on anything, seek clarity. The length of a consultation varies from practice to practice; so make sure you ask any important questions first of all to ensure they get covered in as much detail as you would like.
Discussion