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Originally Posted by mama2yorkies  We would skip bordatella but the day care they go to once in a while and the grooming both require it.
I'm curious about doing blood profile as part of the annual exam that 107barney suggests. I haven't heard of that before and would love to know more. |
All of my dogs have annual blood work done at their wellness visits. Some vets do this routinely for every dog but others do it only with older dogs. I like my Heartworm tests to be performed by outside labs not by in-house snap tests. Since the vet has to poke my dog for blood to do a heartworm test, I just have them do a regular chemistry with blood counts and also a urinalysis is performed. I don't like surprises and if my dog has fatty blood or elevations in liver enzymes, or is harboring a subclinical urinary tract/bladder infection, or the many other things that a yorkie can show up with, I want to know about it sooner rather than later. I have seen my dogs' blood work change dramatically from things like diet change -- things I would not have known if I was not doing blood work.
The wellness visit therefore in my view should include a full exam by a veterinarian who is thorough and also should include annual heartworm testing and routine blood work. My idea of prevention is that a stitch in time saves nine.