Routine Care for an Adolt Dog

At GAH we have two primary goals when it comes to caring for your middle-aged dog:

1. Help your pet live the longest and happiest life possible.

2. Detect problems early, before they become too severe or costly to treat. If caught early many disease processes can be more easily managed, thereby extending the lifespan of your pet.

Our preventative care recommendations are based on guidelines set forth by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and are tailored to each individual dog based on their hereditary factors, breed, age, medical history, and lifestyle.

Annual wellness care for adult dogs typically includes:

At least one physical exam yearly

  • We will ask questions about your pet’s lifestyle, diet, and level of exercise and then our veterinarians will examine your pet from head to toe. We will make recommendations based on our findings.
  • Please feel free to ask any questions that you may have!

Vaccinations

  • Rabies Vaccine
  • Bordetella Vaccine
  • DHLPPC (Canine Distemper Virus, Canine Infectious Hepatitis, Leptospirosis, Parvovirus, Parainfluenza, and Coronavirus).

Depending on your pet’s risk factors, lifestyle, and breed we may make additional vaccine recommendati

Intestinal Parasites

  • We follow the Companion Animal Parasite Council’s (CAPC) guidelines and recommend monthly deworming for all pets.
  • Not only can these parasites cause diarrhea, inappetance, and weight loss in the pet, but some of these parasites are also capable of being transmitted to people and may cause severe complications.

Heartworms

  • We follow the American Heartworm Society’s guidelines and recommend year-round, once monthly heartworm prevention in all dogs.
  • Heartworms can be fatal in dogs, treatment is expensive, and often dogs show no symptoms until the disease has progressed and caused permanent damage.

External Parasites (Fleas and Ticks)

  • We recommend monthly flea prevention in all dogs and monthly tick prevention in dogs that are exposed to ticks.

Diagnostic Testing

Heartworm Testing

  • Performed annually to ensure that your pet continues to be protected from heartworms.

Fecal Flotation

  • Performed annually to ensure your pet is free of intestinal parasites.

Wellness Testing

  • Recommended for pets over 6 years of age.
  • This involves performing bloodwork. We may also need to perform a urinalysis and/or thyroid testing.
  • Performing wellness testing allows us the chance to catch underyling disease that may cause significant problems in the future.

Drug Monitoring

  • We run bloodwork every six months for pets who are on long-term medications. We are looking for any indication of medications affecting the organs.