At Metrotown Animal Hospital We Treat Your Pets Like The Valued Family Member They Are
Your Partner for Preventive Veterinary Care in Burnaby
The best medicine for keeping our pets happy and healthy involves a preventive approach. Metrotown Animal Hospital’s preventive veterinary care services in Burnaby involves education on a wide variety of issues relevant to your pet such as nutrition, behaviour, dental care, spaying and neutering, among others.
Annual Wellness Exams for Maintaining Good Health
An annual wellness exam is extremely important to assess all of your pet's body systems and to discuss any questions or concerns with your veterinarian. We recommend this complete physical examination at least once a year, combined with your pet’s annual vaccinations.
Assessing Your Pet’s Major Body Systems
Regular physical examinations are essential to maintain good health and allow for early detection of any problems, which will result in a more successful and economical course of treatment.
A variety of equipment is used to assess all major body systems. For example, in addition to visual observation, a stethoscope, otoscope and ophthalmoscope are used to check your pet's heart, lungs, ears and eyes. Lymph nodes, joints, skin and abdominal organs are some of the areas examined through palpation.
A complimentary nail trim is also included in the physical exam if necessary.
Learn About More of Our Preventive Services
In addition to programs for kitten and puppy socialization, Metrotown Animal Hospital offers preventive veterinary care. Follow the links to learn more about our wellness services for your pets:
Vaccination
People with pets can protect and prolong their pet’s lives by vaccinating them from commonly-known diseases. It is the most effective way to provide maximum protection and prevent diseases. Moreover, they help to prevent the disease from being spread from one animal to another. You can also prevent costly treatments by simply vaccinating your pet .
Some common preventable and dangerous diseases include rabies, parvovirus, bordetella, parainfluenza, leptospirosis, hepatitis, and distemper. Most of these diseases range from being mildly discomforting to life-threatening. Hence, vaccinating your pets should always be your top priority. At Metrotown Animal Hospital, we assess each pet's lifestyle, age and history to determine the best vaccine protocol.
Parasite Control
One area of pet health that is frequently neglected is parasite control. Many common parasites go unseen by pet owners or are considered a minor or inconsequential problem. However, the impact that parasites have on an animal's health can be considerable. Parasites stress the animal's entire system and can make it vulnerable to other ailments.
Recent advances in parasite control allow us to minimize, and in some cases even eliminate, our pet's risk of common parasite infections. Internal and external parasites can affect both animals and humans.
The fact that many of your pet's potential parasites can also affect humans (zoonosis) makes it doubly important to keep your pet parasite free. Some common parasites to look out for, include, fleas and ticks, intestinal parasites like roundworms, whipworms, giardia, coccidia, and other organisms.
Flea Control
The flea is a small, brown, wingless insect that uses specialized mouthparts to pierce the skin and siphon blood. When a flea bites your dog, it injects a small amount of saliva into the skin to prevent blood coagulation. Some animals may have fleas without showing discomfort, but an unfortunate number of dogs become sensitized to this saliva. In highly allergic animals, the bite of a single flea can cause severe itching and scratching.
Remember that the flea spends the majority of its life in the environment, not on your pet, so it may be difficult to find. In fact, your dog may continue to scratch without you ever seeing a flea on him.
Check your dog carefully for fleas or for signs of flea excrement (also called flea dirt), which looks like coarsely ground pepper. When moistened, flea dirt turns a reddish brown because it contains blood. If one dog in the household has fleas, assume that all pets in the household have fleas.
A single flea found on your pet means that there are probably hundreds of fleas, larva, pupa and eggs in your house. If you see tapeworm segments in your dog's stool, he may have had fleas at one time or may still have them.
Current flea control efforts centre on oral and topical systemic treatments. These products not only treat existing flea problems, they also are very useful for prevention. In fact, prevention is the most effective and easiest method of flea control. It is best to consult your veterinarian as to the best flea control and prevention for your pet.
The choice of flea control should depend on your pet's lifestyle and potential for exposure. Through faithful use of these systemic monthly flea products, the total flea burden on your pet and in the immediate environment can be dramatically reduced. Keeping your pet on monthly flea treatments, especially in areas of high flea risk, is an excellent preventive method of flea control.
Nutrition
Providing your pet with the proper nutrition they require is essential for maintaining good health. Due to the vast variety of pet foods available, choosing the best diet for your pet can be very confusing. We deal only with companies who are dedicated to producing the highest quality food.
Discussing food options for your pet with your veterinarian is important as many different factors should be considered. For example, age, breed, activity level, and existing medical conditions must be examined when choosing your pet's diet.
We provide education in this area, stock a wide variety of food, and can order food for you if we do not have it currently available. Choosing the correct diet for your pet can help reduce the chance of many health problems, ensuring a happy and healthy life.
Senior Care
As your pet ages, his nutritional needs and physical abilities change. Subtle, sometimes undetected, changes begin to occur. Your ageing pet may become more susceptible to cancer, kidney disease, heart problems, pancreatic disease and hormonal imbalances such as thyroid conditions or diabetes.
Dental disease may occur and predispose your pet to a host of other problems. Arthritic conditions cause pain and immobility and change the way your pet is able to interact in the family. Behaviour changes and unexpected bad habits, such as house soiling, can suddenly make your beloved friend a difficult housemate.
Mature animals are seen at least once every twelve months, usually at vaccination time. As one pet year is equal to about seven human years, we like to check older pets more frequently – at least once every six months. The good news is that early detection and treatment can often add years to your pet's life. Current tests frequently detect disease before symptoms are even apparent.
