San Diego Humane Society

Just as preventive health care is important in humans, it is equally important for our pets. Studies have shown the human-animal bond is linked to many health benefits, including reduced blood pressure and improved mental wellbeing. Pets keep us active and healthy, and it’s important that we ensure their health by keeping up with their preventive care.

It’s easy to skip preventive care, especially if your pet appears healthy. And in these challenging times where it can be increasingly difficult to get an appointment with your veterinarian due to clinics struggling to meet an increasing demand for care while dealing with staffing shortages, it’s vital that preventive care not be put to the wayside.

One critical challenge facing the veterinary industry is accessibility to care. We know that one in four pet owners (which equate to nearly 25 million pets) are unable to obtain preventive veterinary care due to a variety of factors, cost often being the main one. This is the largest issue facing the profession today, and one that will have dire consequences on the healthcare of millions of pets in the United States if not corrected.

At a minimum, pets should receive an annual veterinary examination to evaluate for underlying health conditions. Many animals will mask illness and you may not realize something is wrong until the disease is already advanced. It’s also important that pets stay up to date on vaccinations. Just as with human health, vaccinations are one of the cornerstones to disease prevention.

Vaccines of importance for dogs and cats include rabies, parvovirus in dogs and panleukopenia virus in cats. Depending on the animal’s lifestyle and geographic location, your veterinarian may recommend other vaccinations as well. 

Similar to trends we have seen on the human healthcare side, when preventive vaccines are not kept up, we can see infectious disease outbreaks.

Parasite prevention is another important aspect of pet healthcare. There are many diseases (some that are zoonotic) that are transmitted by fleas and ticks, and some pets can develop allergies to their bites, which can cause painful skin disease. It’s important to keep pets on monthly flea and tick preventives and to only use the veterinary approved products, as some over the counter products can be toxic to some pets. Heartworm is another preventable parasitic disease that is expensive and potentially painful to treat, and fatal if left untreated. Routine deworming against intestinal parasites can also improve the health of pets as well as prevent spread of zoonotic parasites to humans.

Pets, like dogs and cats, frequently suffer from similar ailments as humans, including obesity (and sequalae related to obesity like diabetes mellitus and arthritis) and dental disease (which left untreated increases the risk of kidney disease and endocarditis). It’s important to provide ongoing dental care, both at home and through your veterinarian. Preventive health care is essential to maintaining your pet’s health and wellbeing. It’s also less costly to prevent disease than to treat it. And we all want our beloved pets to live longer happier lives. Let’s stay healthy together– by keeping up on preventive health care.