Annual Wellness Exam

[Guest mbfilby]

Each year at vaccine time, we do a wellness exam. Our vet in the US used to do a very thorough exam including parasite checks, and blood draw for cell count, organ function etc.

 

Our local vet here has a look, listen and feel type of exam. No fecal, no blood work. They will do any checks I request, but they are charged over and above the exam. They do not recommend doing a heartworm test as they prefer to do these in the spring.???

 

Which tests should I request?

[greytpups]

Our vet only does a fecal exam and we are charged extra. We do heartwarm tests in May so it appears our vets are very similar. I suspect if our pups are healthy (which they are) our vet doesn't feel the tests are necessary.

 

Our vet only does a fecal exam and we are charged extra. We do heartworm tests in May so it appears our vets are very similar. I suspect if our pups are healthy (which they are) our vet doesn't feel the tests are necessary.

 

Our vet only does a fecal exam and we are charged extra. We do heartworm tests in May so it appears our vets are very similar. I suspect if our pups are healthy (which they are) our vet doesn't feel the tests are necessary.

 

 

 

Our vet only does a fecal exam and we are charged extra. We do heartwarm tests in May so it appears our vets are very similar. I suspect if our pups are healthy (which they are) our vet doesn't feel the tests are necessary.

 

Our vet only does a fecal exam and we are charged extra. We do heartworm tests in May so it appears our vets are very similar. I suspect if our pups are healthy (which they are) our vet doesn't feel the tests are necessary.

 

Our vet only does a fecal exam and we are charged extra. We do heartworm tests in May so it appears our vets are very similar. I suspect if our pups are healthy (which they are) our vet doesn't feel the tests are necessary.

 

eta: corrected spelling but end up with many posts

[cleptogrey]

i am pretty abnormal, i go for boosters, general exam and my long time vet doesn't test unless there is a problem. during a well visit every gland is checked, eyes, mouth, heart, if i'm not reporting a problem.

 

when there is a problem he is a greyt diagnositican, but there are as common as chicken teeth. i do keep my dogs on heart worm meds all year, they haven't had worms in ages(once they are cleaned up,they have been worm free) and i'm not in the economic catagory to test needlessly. were both artists and freelance work is pretty dry, my vet works w/ our budget.

[krissy]

For us your "annual exam" includes just the (thorough) physical examination and consultation for any minor concerns (diet, behaviour, etc.). We charge vaccines and tests on top of that. We charge $66.50 for an annual exam. Vaccines range from about $12 to $18 depending on what vaccine it is. We recommend an annual fecal test which costs $46. We also recommend bloodwork on varying frequencies depending on the age of the animal. The best of course is to do annual bloodwork, but for younger pets we generally suggest every 2 years (animals that are say 1-5 years of age) and every year for our older patients (6 or 7 and up). The comprehensiveness of the blood testing we recommend also depends on the age. The younger pets get a lesser profile for about $90 (includes the blood collection and processing fees) and older pets are $180 (again, including all fees). We recommend running a heartworm test once a year outside of the heartworm season, usually in the spring but in the winter is fine too.

 

Honestly, these days I'm lucky if I can get people to do their heartworm and fecal tests. No one runs wellness bloodwork anymore. Poor economy.

[Batmom]

*I* still do wellness bloodwork!

 

I like to do CBC (complete blood count) and blood chemistry plus urinalysis if they haven't had those in the last 8-10 months. I tend to do fecals once or twice a year for other reasons (classes, etc.) so usually don't do those at the annual. Really depends on the dog, tho, and whether you are monitoring any conditions. With a non-senior, hale and hearty dog, I'd probably be content to stretch things out to 18-24 months.

[krissy]

*I* still do wellness bloodwork!

 

I like to do CBC (complete blood count) and blood chemistry plus urinalysis if they haven't had those in the last 8-10 months. I tend to do fecals once or twice a year for other reasons (classes, etc.) so usually don't do those at the annual. Really depends on the dog, tho, and whether you are monitoring any conditions. With a non-senior, hale and hearty dog, I'd probably be content to stretch things out to 18-24 months.

 

Yay! Do you want to move to Ontario and be my client? The only clients I have who do full wellness work on their pets are my staff, probably because they get 3 free fecals/CBCs/chems per year.

[Batmom]

I'll consider it .

 

I have learned over the years that having a trail of well-dog bloodwork can be a very useful thing, especially for these houndies who tend to have higher PCVs, lower WBCs, etc.

[NeylasMom]

I'll consider it .

 

I have learned over the years that having a trail of well-dog bloodwork can be a very useful thing, especially for these houndies who tend to have higher PCVs, lower WBCs, etc.

I do too, for the same reason!

 

Although I'm thinking with Skye I may switch to every other year, at least while she's young. That will still give us several sets of results when she's "middle aged" and could start to have issues. Violet donates blood so hers is done free of charge as part of her participation, which is nice.

 

My vet has a "senior panel" that they've worked out with the lab that includes relevant blood work and a urinalysis for a (I think) slightly lesser cost than doing them separately so we just run that at each exam. I've moved their annuals to spring so that we don't have to go in separately for heartworm testing. I do not run fecals routinely, just don't see the need. If we suspect worms we'll run one, but we've never had an issue with them.

[Hubcitypam]

I really wish that I had the need to get annual wellness checks for my guys.It seems they are all into the vet way more than that. Poodle and Barkley have both had full bloodwork ($72) within the year, Barkley when we couldnt figure out what was wrong with him (turned out to be a sprained back) and Poodle for his dental. Bella had a total body function ($119) last September when she started going downhill. So far Buddy hasnt needed any bloodwork done, but I'm totally convinced that some random thing will happen in the next two months that will require it before his one year anniversary.

 

When I lived in Chicago in the dark ages the dogs were only on HW April to October and all the vets HW tested in the spring. This was back in the days where we'd only recently quit using Filarabits. Heartgard was a revolution. Here dogs are on HW year around and my vet only tests dogs that are on year around every other year.

[greytpups]

For us your "annual exam" includes just the (thorough) physical examination and consultation for any minor concerns (diet, behaviour, etc.). We charge vaccines and tests on top of that. We charge $66.50 for an annual exam. Vaccines range from about $12 to $18 depending on what vaccine it is. We recommend an annual fecal test which costs $46. We also recommend bloodwork on varying frequencies depending on the age of the animal. The best of course is to do annual bloodwork, but for younger pets we generally suggest every 2 years (animals that are say 1-5 years of age) and every year for our older patients (6 or 7 and up). The comprehensiveness of the blood testing we recommend also depends on the age. The younger pets get a lesser profile for about $90 (includes the blood collection and processing fees) and older pets are $180 (again, including all fees). We recommend running a heartworm test once a year outside of the heartworm season, usually in the spring but in the winter is fine too.

 

Honestly, these days I'm lucky if I can get people to do their heartworm and fecal tests. No one runs wellness bloodwork anymore. Poor economy.

 

What's your view on vaccines? I wonder about titers even though I hear they're expensive, but Ben is 10.5 y/o and getting up there.

 

btw, I met Laurie Sautre during some lure coursing practice runs. We were at her place in Aug? and one of her greys was whelping her pups that day. I wonder if you have one from that litter. I've also met Blueberry and watched Laurie's granddaughter show her (him?). small world

 

You need to move back. Our last wellness visit was over $400 for Ben and Brooke, neither needed rabies but did get distemper et al shot, fecal exam and two small bottles of pred.

[seeh2o]

When I take them in for their annual thyroid blood work I have them do a super chem panel, too, includes a CBC and a bunch of other things. I agree with Batmom, it's good to have a history of blood work to compare to. No fecals here unless a poop comes out with blood or taunting me (Carl had tapeworms once).