Like most of us, your dog or cat, bird or pocket pet is not just a pet, but an important member of your family. Naturally you want to provide the best possible health and wellness care for the life of your special family member and we at Ojai Pet Hospital want to help. Let’s discuss some of the many factors that play a role in ensuring a long and healthy, happy life together.

General Health Physical: Our pets cannot tell us when they are not feeling well. And unfortunately, it is often not until they fall obviously ill that we know something is wrong. The General Health Physical allows us to look for subtle changes in your pet’s condition by checking for dental disease, skin problems, tumors, vision and ear problems. And it also allows us to open client/doctor lines of communication. Often by discussing your concerns and observations about your pet we can uncover small clues to potentially big problems. Remember, early detection can be critical! At Ojai Pet Hospital, we recommend a General Health Physical at least once a year.

Quality Diet for Life: It cannot be said often enough that the best Quality Diet you can provide for your pet is one of the keys to ensuring good health for Life. Inexpensive foods that look like they have the same ingredients as a higher value diet are not as good. The shapes, colors and slogans of popular supermarket brand foods offer no nutritional support to your pet. Ojai Pet Hospital offers a line of very high quality premium diets, and can recommend others, guaranteed fresh and formulated to meet your pet’s specific dietary needs from puppyhood/kittenhood through their adult and senior years. Obesity in pets can be just as harmful to health as obesity in us. Recent studies show that pets kept slim throughout their lifetime can live 2 years longer than comparably cared for overweight pets.

Vaccine Protection: There are many diseases we cannot provide protection against, but there are some we can. There is some controversy about whether or not all pets need every vaccine every year. But at Ojai Pet Hospital, we strongly recommend maintaining annual Vaccine Protection to assure as complete a protection as we can provide. Vaccines are like medical insurance against the afflictions that threaten our pet’s well being.

Laboratory Analysis and Evaluation: Even a thorough general health physical cannot pick up all the various problems your pet may be experiencing. To enhance early detection of disease, Ojai Pet Hospital recommends Laboratory Analysis and Evaluation at a relatively young age (around 1-2 years old) to establish normal values for your pet. Then at around 5 years of age, begin at least yearly testing of blood and urine. When you consider that one year in the life of your four-legged family members is equal to about 7 human years, that is quite a bit of time between tests. Again, our intention is early detection of treatable and manageable problems, allowing us to intervene and either correct or slow down the process of health deterioration.

Dental Care: This is one of the most important wellness care strategies available to your pet. Dental disease is a killer of pets. The accumulation of tartar causes the gums to be pushed away from the teeth, resulting in not only loose teeth but dangerous infections. The bacteria and toxins associated with these infections travel through the blood stream and can be carried anywhere. Organ systems including the heart, liver and kidneys can all suffer damage. Pets that receive timely Dental Care and disease intervention live on the average 20% longer than pets who do not. These are dramatic statistics! Ojai Pet Hospital treats dental disease as seriously and aggressively as cancer.

Tumors: Lumps and bumps can occur at any age and should be evaluated immediately. Although many are benign (not cancers) many are indeed cancers. In these cases, the longer you wait to have them removed, the less likely we will successfully prevent the spread of the cancer. At Ojai Pet Hospital, we consider the discovery and removal of seemingly harmless Tumors to be a very important part of your pet’s ongoing health and wellness program. I cannot tell you how many times a pet owner has waited too long to have a tumor removed because of the fear of finding cancer; when if we had discovered the cancer sooner, we could have successfully removed the threat.

Arthritic Problems: As our pets get older they are prone, as are we, to develop Arthritic Problems. Generally, arthritis pain affects senior or geriatric pets, but it can also hinder younger pets especially if hip dysplasia is involved. The sooner we intervene, the more we can slow down the progression of the disease and the pain it causes. Please do not wait until your pet is experiencing serious problems with pain to seek our help. The longer we wait the more permanent damage is done and the longer your pet is in pain needlessly. Numerous products are available from Ojai Pet Hospital that can help. Some treat the pain but do nothing to slow the progression of the disease; and fortunately, some do treat both issues. Pets should be seen at the first sign of difficulty walking or getting up (especially after resting), stiffness, exercise intolerance and joint stiffness or swelling. Your pet may communicate his or her pain to you by licking excessively over a joint or may exhibit a personality change such as grumpiness. Again, the sooner the better. We can help.

Our Geriatric Pets: Getting old is a stage of life, not a disease. Just because a pet is getting older does not mean he or she has to suffer needlessly. Modern veterinary medicine has the ability to help and even cure many of the problems facing Our Geriatric Pets. Ojai Pet Hospital recommends general health physicals and laboratory analysis and evaluation every 6 months. Assuming the problem is from “just getting old” robs the geriatric pet of continued health and happiness as an active member of your family.

Did you know…the oldest cat on record lived to be 39 years of age and the oldest dog on record lived to be 29! We have the ability to greatly improve the time our special four-footed friends spend as members of our families. Together we can achieve a lot and at Ojai Pet Hospital, we are committed to keeping you and your pets together as long as possible. The next step is yours. We are always ready to offer help and advice.

Related Information:

• New Vaccine for FIV
• Immunizations for Cats
• Immunizations for Dogs