With recently skyrocketing inflation and the COVID-19 pandemic, more people are struggling financially. When the time comes for your pet’s annual wellness check and screening tests, you may contemplate skipping this year to help you save some money. After all, your pet is young and healthy, so what could possibly go wrong? The West Vets ER team understands that times are tough, but you can hurt more than help your pet—much more than you realize—by cutting back on their regular care. Here are the top reasons why you should invest in your pet’s wellness care and how our membership options can save you money.

#1: Wellness visits prevent common problems before they start

During a routine wellness visit, our veterinary team completes a full physical examination to look for common changes, such as dental problems, arthritis, or a heart murmur, to ensure your pet is healthy. We will also administer needed vaccine boosters and discuss a parasite control program. Many serious infectious and vector-borne diseases, such as parvovirus or Lyme disease, are easily preventable if you practice good vaccination and parasite control, whereas skipping routine care can put your pet’s life at risk.

#2: Wellness screening tests facilitate early disease detection

Wellness screening tests most commonly include routine blood and urine testing, which help us evaluate your pet’s internal organ function that we cannot check during a physical exam on the outside. Many chronic diseases that can significantly shorten your pet’s life, such as kidney, thyroid, or endocrine disorders, begin damaging your pet’s organs before you notice outward clinical signs. Blood and urine testing for a pet who looks healthy will often reveal these subtle changes early, and we can intervene sooner. Treating disease in the early stages is far less expensive—and usually more successful—than treating late-stage diseases.

#3: Wellness screening tests provide a baseline for young pets

“OK,” you say, “my pet’s routine wellness screening tests came back normal—as I expected. Why were they necessary in the first place?”

In this case, these test results are still extremely valuable to you and your pet’s healthcare team. Normal results provide a baseline for comparison if your pet gets sick in the future. Repeating the wellness tests each year allows us to watch for slowly increasing or decreasing values that could indicate a problem, but we can’t track trends unless we have baseline results to start with.

#4: Wellness visits provide an opportunity to ask questions

The focus of your pet’s wellness visit is to evaluate their current health, but these visits are also a great opportunity for you to ask questions and actively participate in your pet’s ongoing care. Nutrition, weight control, dental health, behavioral issues, training strategies, and grooming skills are popular topics you can discuss with our expert team.

#5: Wellness screening tests can help prevent unexpected emergencies

Wellness screening tests are also crucial for preventing some common pet emergencies. When diseases aren’t addressed in their earliest stages, they can progress to acute illness that requires immediate veterinary care and possible hospitalization. The following emergencies are often preventable with routine wellness screening tests:

  • Diabetic ketoacidosis — A diabetic pet can go into a state of metabolic turmoil if they are left untreated, which could be life-threatening.
  • Acute-on-chronic kidney failure — Chronic kidney failure can acutely worsen, causing your pet to feel suddenly ill.
  • Respiratory distress from heart failure — Heart diseases are usually detectable on physical exam and with additional testing, but untreated, can rapidly progress to disease fluid buildup in or around the lungs and restrict breathing. 

Our unique membership option provides your pet with affordable care

Here at West Vets, we understand that veterinary care is becoming increasingly more difficult for some pet owners to access and afford. We want the best possible care for your pet whenever necessary, so we’ve designed a comprehensive membership program to spread out the costs of care and save our members money. For a low monthly fee, we cover all your pet’s routine care, sick and routine examination fees, X-rays, twice-yearly blood work, emergency visits, dental care, and some surgical procedures. Because your cost each month is fixed, you can worry less about unexpected expenses and instead focus on the benefits of wellness and preventive care.

Together, the Westerville Veterinary Clinic general practice team and the West Vets ER emergency team can provide for your pet’s needs, day or night. While we are always available to care for your pet during urgent situations, we recommend annual wellness screening tests to help detect chronic diseases sooner and to prevent some emergencies. Contact West Vets or West Vets ER to schedule a visit, or for additional information about wellness care, wellness screening tests, and our emergency veterinary services.