During your pet’s annual physical examination, the doctor will examine your pet from head to tail.  We check a great many things, including the eyes, ears, heart rate, rhythm and presence of any heart murmurs, the lung sounds and the lymph nodes.  There are many diseases, however that we can’t check for on a physical examination.  Kidney and liver disease, for example often must be quite serious before we start seeing signs of disease like weight loss, dehydration, vomiting or jaundice.  Blood tests allow us to evaluate such organs as the liver, kidneys, thyroid and also check the red and white blood cells for signs of anemia or infection.  Early disease detection testing allows us to find these illnesses sooner resulting in earlier intervention and a longer, happier life for your pet.  There are many diseases that can now be managed with diet alone, especially in the early stages!

It’s now a great time to consider early disease detection testing because we have started our annual Heartworm testing.  We require a small sample of blood to check for Heartworm disease, so it is a convenient time to also check your pet’s organ function.  This way, we only need to take one sample!  We also offer incentives at this time of year to encourage pet owners to consider early disease detection testing.  We offer the Heartworm test for your pet at no charge if it is combined with a Wellness Profile.  There are several different Wellness Profiles available so please ask us to explain the differences!