Wellness Exams
Wellness care and Edgeworth Animal Medical Centre means that we don’t want to just see your pet during times of illness, but that we strongly encourage veterinary visits for healthy pets. For younger pets we generally recommend yearly visits. For our senior pets (dogs and cats over 7-8 years of age) we would recommend health exams every 6 months. Most pet owners will not be able to identify the subtle, early clinical changes or symptoms that may indicate an emerging problem. Your veterinary team will be able to screen for and identify issues early.
Wellness exams also give us an opportunity to make sure your pet is being protected against harmful parasitic infections, to discuss with you concerns we may have about your pet’s weight, and we can address any concerns regarding arthritis, behaviour changes, special care in later life.
We strongly support appropriate vaccination in all patients. This means assessing each individual pet’s level of risk and recommending the most suitable protocol for that pet – we are not using a “one size fits all” approach. We follow the most up to date treatment guidelines by world leaders in veterinary health, and use a number of 3 yearly licensed vaccines for adult patients. For some clients and patients, we can offer antibody titre testing prior to vaccination where this may be more appropriate.
Exotic Pets
Wellness care in exotic patients is even more critical than in dog and cat companions. This is because our exotic friends are much more likely to hide signs of their illnesses until they are too sick to cope. Birds, reptiles and rabbits (to name a few) are often presented in extreme states of illness which may have been picked up earlier by a health exam.
We currently recommend yearly visits for most of our exotic patients; however, rabbits have some specific requirements and we would ideally see them every 6 months.