Many of us embrace the idea of preventive wellness as an integral part of long-term health. Maybe you have decided to implement daily exercise into your family’s routine, or opted for healthier whole foods and organics. It’s likely, too, that you have a trusted family physician with whom you’ve built a rapport and preventive care plan.
The same should be true for our pets, too; especially when maintaining ongoing pet health.
In recent blogs, we discussed such topics as establishing a baseline of health for your pet, the perils of pet obesity, and other wellness-based or preventive care topics. But, what role does the partnership between you and your pet’s veterinary team play in improving quality of life and health?
The Pet Health Advantages of an Established Veterinary Care Team
For those of you who have perused our website, you may have noticed our tag line, “Your pet’s family doctor”. We take the role seriously and believe in the importance of building trust and an open dialogue with the pet families we serve.
But, there are also some tangible reasons for maintaining your pet’s veterinary team through his or her life. Some of these are *warm and fuzzy* while others actually contribute to better health and longevity.
Let’s explore…
- Establishing a relationship helps maintain a history of care for your pet, with complete health records that show previous injuries, illnesses, treatment plans, lab tests and vaccines administered, and so forth.
- An ongoing relationship is integral to establishing a baseline of health for your pet where subtle changes to physical and behavioral health are more likely to be caught early.
- You reduce the risk of drug contradictions or opposing treatments since your primary veterinarian maintains all direction in medication and treatment planning.
- By knowing you and your pet, your veterinarian can better customize vaccination and parasite preventive protocols, dietary options, and wellness care plans that are tailored to lifestyle, age, health, and your preferences.
- You as a pet owner will feel more confident in the care your pet receives and will be able to access pet health education resources not often offered when there is no history between veterinarian-client-patient.
- Your pet will likely be calmer and more relaxed during examinations, since there will be a level of familiarity. Likewise, the veterinary team will grow to know and love your pet as a member of the family of pets under their care.
- You will be much more empowered to understand and inquire about the depth of knowledge, training, and accreditation of the veterinarian and clinic team.
- Better channels of communication will be established and trust increased over the years as you continue to develop the relationship.
At Billings Animal Family Hospital, we truly honor the important role we play in your family member pet’s life. It is important to us that you feel comfortable, supported, and encouraged to ask questions to help you provide the daily care your pet requires through all life stages.
To learn more about our practice and approach, we invite you in for a tour and to meet our team. We look forward to working with you and getting to know your sweet pet companion.
