Cats Preventative Medicine
Preventive medicine is also called “wellness care.” It starts at 6 – 9 weeks of age when kittens have their first exam. During the early months of your pets’ lives, we are assessing their health, nutrition, growth, dentition, and behaviour. Vaccinations and parasite treatments are recommended. Spay and neuter are discussed, including optimal timing.
We recommend an annual wellness exam each year to follow up with every pet. This allows us to notice what is happening with your pet and help you adjust your pet’s care as needed. Sometimes a pet needs a different diet, or sometimes there are new dental problems or the beginnings of a disease process. We look for issues that we can fix before they become problems.
Somewhere between the ages of 7 and 10, depending on breed and size, your cat is considered a senior. At this time we recommend screening your senior cat to catch disease early.
Schedule of vaccines
| Age | Core Vaccines | Non Core Vaccine |
|---|---|---|
| 8 Weeks | Feline upper respiratory virus vaccines (1st dose) | |
| 11-14 Weeks | Feline upper respiratory virus vaccines (1st or 2nd dose) | Feline leukemia vaccine |
| 15+ Weeks | Feline upper respiratory virus vaccines (2nd dose) Rabies |
|
| Adult (depending on exposure and lifestyle) | Rabies | Feline leukemia vaccine |
Kitten Wellness Plan
We offer kitten wellness plan to help you save on cost of adopting a new friend. Includes 2 visits + 2 FeLV vaccines + 2 FVRCP vaccines + 1 Rabies vaccine + 10% off kitten food for 6 months
Why schedule an annual wellness exam?
Deworming
To minimize the risk of internal and external parasites in both pets and people, we recommend preventively deworming at least 2-3 times yearly. May need to be done monthly if animal is at high risk (outdoor cat) or if person in household has auto immune problems.
For our feline friends, they get either oral Milbamax or topical Profender or Nexguard Combo to cover them off for 30 days of round worm, tapeworm, whipworms and heartworm infections.
Also, it is recommended to use a flea/tick preventative treatment during spring to fall when the ground has not yet frozen or thawed. In our area we have a prevalence of ticks and fleas. These different solutions are available:
1. Milbemax (Oral solution lasting 1 month. Needs a second dose if seeing parasites
2. Bravecto ( topical or oral and will last for 3 months)
3. Nexgard Combo (topical solution lasting for 1 month)
4. Selevectine (topical solution lasting for 1 month)
5. Revolution (topical solution lasting 1 month)
To be noted
As stated in the British Columbia licensing requirements for veterinarians, we must have a valid veterinary-patient-client relationship in order to be able to script out medications, like dewormers, and keep our veterinary license.
What does this mean? It means, we legally need to see your pet for an exam once a year to prescribe medications. This helps us work together to insure your pet has the best quality of life.
Please discuss with us any impediments that are preventing you from bringing your pet in for it’s annual wellness exam, so we can work out what will be logistically feasible for you both.
