Animal Hospital Serving Santa Maria FL

Your veterinarian can give you good advice on how to take care of your furry friend, but as a pet owner, it is your duty to ensure that your pets are healthy and fit. Preventative health care for your pet will help reduce the veterinary bills if you stay on top of your pets health. If the vet is able to catch a potential health issue early enough, it will cost you less than if it is advanced. That being said, here are several preventative health care tips for your pets:

Preventative Health Care Tip 1 – Vaccinate Your Pets

Vaccinations protect your dogs from canine cough, distemper and canine hepatitis and your cats from FIV and cat flu. Even rabbits require vaccination against calicivirus.

Preventative Health Care Tip 2- Visit The Vet On a Regular Basis

Waiting to visit the vet until health problems arise isn’t using good preventative health care for your pets. As with humans, it is easier to detect and treat health conditions when they are diagnosed in the early stages as compared to when they are advanced. Regular vet checkups will ensure the long-term health of your furry friends.

Preventative Health Care Tip 3- Desex Your Pet

Desexing a pet can help prevent diseases like prostate problems and uterine infections. Your pets are also less likely to wander and get lost, plus pregnancies can be prevented. Pregnancies are not only potentially risky for the pet, but additional kittens or puppies will add to the already substantial overpopulation issues and cause a financial hurdle for you. If you do not intend to breed, get your pet spayed or neutered. There are many animal hospitals that offer these services for free or at low-cost and so, it will be well worth your time to take advantage of the programs. Spare your beloved pets from injury, disease and even death.

Preventative Health Care Tip 4 – Treat Fleas and Parasites

Dogs and cats require intestinal worming treatments, flea and tick control and depending on where you reside, heartworm medication. It is also ideally advisable to protect your guinea pigs and rabbits from getting mites from their bedding.

Preventative Health Care Tip 5- Groom Your Pets

Grooming is a preventative health care for your pet because it helps eliminate dust, pollen, seeds and other elements that cause skin irritation. Also, when grooming your pets, it is an excellent time to check for ticks, fleas, bumps and lumps or sore spots and get them treated accordingly.

Preventative Health Care Tip 6- Exercise Your Pets

Regular exercise is a means of preventative health care for your pet because your pets will be fit and avoid being obese. Your furry friends will ideally have healthy respiratory, digestive and circulatory systems. Regular exercise is ideally great for the mental health of pets too.

Preventative Health Care Tip 7- Feed Your Pet A Healthy Diet

The diet of your pet will change as it ages from a kitten or puppy to a senior. As so, a good quality pet diet ought to be tailored to match their breed and age to keep the health care of your pet optimal.

Preventative Health Care Tip 8- Trim The Nails

The nails of your pet need trimming every now and then, even if you walk your pet on concrete. However, do keep in  mind that this activity requires a veterinarian unless you are confident using a nail trimmer.

Preventative Health Care Tip 9- Clean Your Pets’ Teeth

A good way of preventative health care for your pet is by giving your pets dental treats, pet chew toys and brushing their teeth on a regular basis. Unhealthy teeth not only lead to tooth pain, but the bacteria can result in more severe conditions in their kidneys and hearts.