Regular exams performed by a veterinarian help ensure your pet is healthy and can help assess other physical properties that may not be caught. Ensuring your pet is seen yearly can help keep your pets on track for maintaining a healthy body weight, ensuring they are in good health, monitoring any abnormalities and ensuring any questions or concerns you have about your pet are evaluated.

Just like us pets get sick, unfortunately for veterinarians, our patients can’t tell us what is bothering them. We ensure your pet is seen as soon as possible and work with you to ensure your pet is getting the care they need to feel better.

It is important for animals to be put on a vaccine schedule to ensure they are protected against certain illnesses.

Core Vaccines-Means the patient should at least have these vaccines.

Rabies

• Initial vaccine should be given at 14-16 weeks old. Require a booster in 1 year then every 2 years thereafter.

o Vaccine is good for 3 years however due to being in a rabies endemic area, we vaccinate every 2 years.

• Required by most municipalities as rabies is 100% fatal.

• Affects the nervous system and is a public health concern.

• Transmissible to humans from an infected animal. Transferred through bodily fluids-usually saliva.

o In our area, common carriers of the disease include raccoons, skunks, foxes, coyotes, bats, and even bears.

• Domestic animals like cattle, horses, dogs, and cats that lack proper vaccinations are also at risk.

• We encourage responsible vaccination to ensure the safety and well-being of both pets and the community.

DA2PPV

• Required at 8 weeks, 12 weeks and 16 weeks old. Requires a booster 1 year after puppy series and then every 3 years thereafter.

• Protects against Distemper, Adenovirus-the 2 means type 2, Parainfluenza and Parvovirus.

• Distemper can affect a number of different systems in the body- respiratory system, GI system and the central nervous system. No treatment, can only offer supportive management and keep comfortable. May not fully recover if patient does come through-may have permanent deficits.

• Adenovirus can cause liver issues and inflammation (hepatitis) in dogs. Another form of adenovirus can also affect the respiratory system (type 2) however the vaccine for type 2 also protects against the more severe adenovirus that affects the liver with less side effects.

• Parainfluenza causes respiratory illness in dogs.

• Parvovirus-affects the GI system of patients-vomiting and diarrhea. This is VERY contagious and can live in environments and on objects or materials for years. Immunocompromised dogs and cats as well as certain breeds are much more susceptible to parvovirus.

o Any patient not fully vaccinated who is having vomiting or diarrhea requires a test to rule out parvovirus prior to entering our hospital to ensure proper isolation procedures are followed for the safety of other patients.

Non-Core Vaccines

Bordetella bronchiseptica

• Yearly oral vaccine.

• Bordetella bronchiseptica is a bacteria that can cause kennel cough which we can vaccinate against however there are other bacteria and viruses which can still cause kennel cough.

• Affects the respiratory system-coughing, often described as a “honk”, sneezing, retching, nasal discharge.

• Can progress into pneumonia so better to vaccinate for the one strain than to not vaccinate at all.

• Affected dogs should be kept away from others for at least 2 weeks.

Lyme

• Requires a booster 2-4 weeks after initial vaccine then yearly thereafter.

• Caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi.

• Vector borne-transmitted by ticks

• Can affect the kidneys and musculoskeletal/joints.

• Vaccine is about 80% effective but highly recommend to use along with oral preventions to decrease risk, especially for dogs in high tick areas or outdoor dogs.

• Lyme disease can also affect people but cannot be transmitted from dog to human.

• High prevalence within our region.

Leptospirosis

• Not common in our area

• Some countries require it before an animal can enter

• Affects liver and kidneys

• Public health concern as humans can get it (zoonotic) and can be transmitted through contact with urine.

• If requiring this vaccine, please let us know as it is not a vaccine we normally carry

There are many different parasites, both internal and external that can affect our pets.

Internal parasites such as round and flat (most commonly tapeworms) worms, can affect their health if not routinely dewormed. As puppies we recommend deworming a minimum of twice usually in conjunction with their puppy series of vaccines.

Heartworm is transmitted by mosquitoes and is very much a concern in Manitoba. If a pet is found to have heartworm, it means they have adult heartworms in their heart and could/will be affecting the health of the patient. Both dogs and cats can get heartworm disease however it is more prominent in dogs. Best prevention of heartworm in pets is to have them on a prescribed product that kills the parasite at a certain life stage to stop them from developing into adults. This is done through either a topical or oral chew given over the course of the season that runs from end of May to November.

Ectoparasites or parasites that are on the patient such as fleas, ticks, lice or mites can cause serious issues with not only your pet but some can also carry zoonotic diseases which means they can transmit disease to humans. Prescription topical and oral products are recommended to either inhibit the lifecycle of the parasite or completely kill the parasite.

In order to help us diagnose and safely monitor our patients, we offer many in house diagnostics. If there is special testing that is recommended by your veterinarian and not able to be ran here, we work with the reference laboratory to collect and ship the samples.

• Complete blood count that checks the pets’ red and white blood cell counts as well as platelet count.

• Chemistry panels that check internal organ function

• Eye testing including Schirmer’s Tear test, fluorescein stain, tonometry

• Blood pressure

• Electrocardiogram

• Pulse oximetry

• Digital radiography (including dental)

• Abdominal ultrasound

• Cytology

• Fine needle aspirate analysis

• Additional blood, fecal and urine analysis

• Spay and neuter on cats, dogs, pigs, rabbits

• Brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS) corrective procedure

• Exploratory and foreign body removal surgery

• Emergency procedures such as GDV, cystotomy, c-section

• Lump removal

• Wound repair

• Dental cleanings with or without extractions

• Orthopedics-limb amputation and femoral head ostectomy

• Specialist consultations and procedures

• Ophthalmic procedures such as cherry eye, enucleation, entropion