Having a cat or dog in your family can make your household come alive and fill every day with a remarkable sense of joy. But welcoming a pet under your roof comes with a lot of responsibility about providing proper care to these furry friends.
This can feel overwhelming, especially if you have never had a pet before. To make sure that you can be the best pet parent to your new cat or dog, here’s a list of vet-approved tips to prevent common health issues in pets.
Visit the Vet Regularly
When you keep up with regular vet visits, you can help your vet detect health problems in your pet before they get out of hand. With physical examinations, bloodwork, as well as understanding the connection between diet and dental health, your pets can get the care that they deserve and steer clear of painful conditions. Depending upon the age and general health of your pet, these visits may be once, twice, or a few times a year.
Stay Up to Date on Vaccinations
Besides regular vet visits, you also need to stay up to date on your pet’s vaccinations. Some of these vaccines are administered multiple times a year, while others are needed once a year. Similar to cat and dog allergy medicine that saves your beloved pet from painful allergy symptoms, vaccines can protect them from harmful conditions including but not limited to rabies and feline leukemia. This helps your little ball of fur a long and healthy life with you.
Don’t Fall Behind on Parasite Prevention
While vaccinations stop a variety of diseases, they don’t actively target dangerous parasites that cause a myriad of conditions. This includes the deadly heartworm disease. By reminding yourself to give your pets necessary parasite prevention care, you can safeguard them from these conditions. You can track upcoming prevention treatments through a pet health journal that helps you stay on top of these visits. This journaling method can also help you keep up with vaccinations and regular vet visits.
Spay or Neuter Your Pet
If you are not a pet breeder, you may want to spay or neuter your pet. In male pets, this can prevent diseases like testicular cancer. In female pets, it lowers the chance of developing breast cancer. Besides these advantages, it also improves your pet’s behavior and prevents problems like territorial marking. Similar to questions about disc surgery, you can ask your vet what spaying or neutering surgery may entail for your pet to feel more confident about this decision.
Give High Quality Food
While you can buy kibble from any pet store, it can sometimes cause issues like urinary tract problems. In contrast, making fresh food from appliances like a cat or dog food maker can help you whip up healthier alternatives for your pet that could improve their overall wellness. Besides helping with digestive health, this practice also prevents unwanted weight gain. In turn, your pets can steer clear of obesity and all the risks that it brings to the table.
Pay Attention to Dental Care
The wonders of cosmetic dentistry can improve your oral health for years to come. But when it comes to pets, there’s not much in cosmetic dentistry except dental cleaning that can help them. That’s why it’s essential that you pay attention to your cat and dog’s dental care. In addition to regular dental cleaning, you should also look into brushing their teeth when needed and perform any other practices that are advised by your vet to keep your cat or dog’s dental health in check.
Offer Ample Exercise
To make sure that your pets stay fit and steer clear of various health issues that are mainly associated with weight gain, you should offer them plenty of playtime. While you can buy toys for your cat to play indoors, you can take your dog on long walks through a route planner app. By looking at different ways to keep your pets active, you can give them a thriving and fulfilling life that is filled with happiness.
This advice not only helps you prevent common pet health issues, but also provides you with the comfort that you are providing the best care to your pets that you can. You can also reach out to your vet to discuss additional tips that are specific to your pet and their wellbeing.
