Yearly Wellness Exams Keep Your Cats More Healthy

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It is a good idea for cat owners to schedule regular wellness exams for their cats. Yes, their cats might seem healthy. However, cat owners cannot get a good assessment of their feline companions’ health unless they bring the latter to a veterinarian with the expertise, the experience, and the equipment needed to conduct the proper tests. As such, regular wellness exams are the best way to ensure that cats are doing well and will continue doing well.

What Is a Wellness Exam Anyway?

A wellness exam is just a check-up for a cat that seems to be in good health. Generally speaking, veterinarians will ask cat owners about their cat’s diet, exercise, habits, behaviors, and other matters that can provide insight into the latter’s health. After which, they will proceed to conduct a physical examination, which has numerous steps. For example, a veterinarian will inspect the cat’s hair, skin, muscle, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, general condition, and general level of interest in their surroundings. Similarly, a veterinarian will listen to the heart, listen to the lungs, and palpate various parts of the cat’s body to see if they can pick up on any signs of potential problems. On top of this, it is common for veterinarians to conduct more extensive tests to find out more difficult-to-come-by information. A wellness exam is supposed to check up on the cat’s general health, so it stands to reason that it is thorough.

As for the frequency with which cats should be getting wellness exams, that is something that can see significant variation from case to case. After all, different cats can have very different chances of developing health problems, meaning that they will do best with different schedules. Generally speaking, younger kittens are the most fragile. As a result, they should be getting a wellness exam every single month to make sure that they are doing well. In contrast, adult cats tend to be more resilient, so it is common to see them to get check-ups on an annual basis. Unfortunately, older cats have higher chances of developing health problems as well, which is why interested individuals might want to switch over to a biannual schedule. If cat owners aren’t sure how often their cat should be getting a wellness exam, they shouldn’t hesitate to ask their veterinarian. In this, it is better to be safe than to be sorry.

Why Should You Schedule Wellness Exams for Your Cat?

There are a number of reasons why interested individuals should schedule regular wellness exams for their cat. However, the single most important reason would be the improved outcome if the cat has a health problem of some kind. Chances are good that interested individuals have heard the saying that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This is very good advice for three reasons. First, the earlier that an issue has been picked up, the better the chances that it can be treated. Second, the earlier that an issue has been picked up, the easier it becomes to treat it. Third, the earlier that an issue has been picked up, the cheaper it becomes to treat it. Of course, none of these three things are guaranteed to be the case in every single situation. However, they are true more often than not, meaning that they are definitely things that interested individuals should keep in mind.

As such, while wellness exams can be both expensive and time-consuming, they can be less expensive and less time-consuming than letting a cat go unexamined before rushing them to see the veterinarian when a clear issue comes up. Besides this, there are some side-benefits to scheduling regular wellness exams for a cat as well. For example, they are a good chance to ask the veterinarian some questions, seeing as how said individual tends to be a good source of animal-related expertise and experience. Similarly, wellness exams are a good way for cat owners to get a better understanding of how their feline companion is doing, thus enabling them to interact with the latter better than otherwise possible. In this as in other things, information is extremely important, which is why interested individuals should be prepared to go some lengths in order to get their hands upon it.

How Should You Prepare for Your Cat’s Upcoming Wellness Exam?

Speaking of which, if interested individuals have scheduled a wellness exam for their cat, they should make sure to prepare for it properly. The exact requirements can see some variation from clinic to clinic. However, there are some things that are very common. For example, interested individuals might have to collect a stool sample, which will be used for testing for parasites as well as other issues. Similarly, interested individuals might want to spend some time preparing for the questions that will be asked about their cat’s lifestyle. After all, answering such questions on the spot can be difficult. Even worse, interested individuals might not be able to do so, which will hinder their veterinarian from determining their cat’s state of health by denying them potentially important information.

As such, it is a good idea to go over the questions that will be asked before figuring out the answers for each one. Fortunately, if interested individuals are unsure about how they can prepare for a wellness exam, they can just get in touch with their veterinarian to find out beforehand. The latter has strong incentive to make sure that everything will go smoothly, so either they or their staff tend to be happy to answer any questions about the process of a wellness exam as well as related topics. Having said that, the aftermath of a wellness exam tends to be even more important than preparing for a wellness exam. Sometimes, a cat will be in good health, meaning that there isn’t much that interested individuals need to do. Unfortunately, this won’t always be the case. If a veterinarian makes recommendations on what should be done to protect the cat’s health, interested individuals should follow them. Otherwise, there is no point for them to schedule wellness exams.

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