Preventative Care:  Wellness Exams, Vaccinating, and Fecal (Stool Samples/Parasite Screens)

We perform full examination on all of our patients before vaccination.  An exam is required due to the fact that vaccinations are not without their side effects, and we want to make sure animals are healthy before vaccination.  At this visit, we also talk about a patient’s lifestyle, arthritis concerns, growths, weight concerns, and dental disease.  We tailor a patient’s vaccination to its lifestyle, because all patients are not the same. 

Fecal samples are recommended at least once yearly.  We are checking for intestinal parasites, protozoan, and bacteria.  Some of the things we find in stool samples as well as some of the bacteria and virus that we vaccinate against are zoonotic (transferable to people); therefore, we are protecting you as well as your pets from disease.

Ingham County License: We are one of the few hospitals that partner with Ingham County to provide licenses.  We license our patients only.

Preventative Care:  Heartworm Tests & Tick Titers, Heartworm Prevention, Flea Prevention, Tick Prevention, & Intestinal Parasite Control

A heartworm test is performed yearly on blood, and as part of our commitment to quality care we also perform tick titers for Ehrlicia and Lyme disease at the same time as the heartworm test.  We recommend year round heartworm prevention, flea prevention, and intestinal parasite control.  I see intestinal parasites and fleas every month of the year.  At this time we only recommend tick prevention to dogs that hunt or travel outside the Lansing area, but ticks are slowly moving toward us and this recommendation may change in the next few years. 

We are currently screening all dogs in which we run heartworm tests for tick born diseases, so we know when to make this change.  We have had both positive heartworm and positive Lyme disease cases this year.  Prevention is much less expensive than treatment of these diseases.  Heartworm prevention is recommended for both dogs and cats.  Dogs can be treated for heartworm cats can’t and 50% of the time cats die of the disease.  For dogs, we carry Interceptor for heartworm and intestinal parasite control and Sentinel which adds additional flea prevention, and we carry Interceptor as heartworm prevention for cats.  For dogs, we carry Comfortis an oral pill for flea infestations and Vectra 3D which is a topical flea and tick prevention. 

In cats, we recommend either Program injectable which lasts 6 months for fleas or Revolution which is a monthly topical that prevents fleas and heartworm and is an intestinal parasite control product.