Yearly Vet Visits

[RamblingMad]

Yep.

And mine is going in for dental cleaning next month.

 

[Lilsia]

While our cat is out of date on his vaccinations (pandemic further delayed it though he was only a few months out of date when the pandemic started) our cat just doesn't do well at the vet. The last time he was there they had to sedate him to just do a check up. It's a very stressful thing for him. As he ages though (he's 9 now) though there will be more frequent visits. We may need to look into more seriously certain things to pay extra for the vet's office to send someone to our house which they can do for select clients and select services.

How do you get away with out of date vaccinations? We have to license our pets every year and you have to have proof of vaccination. If you are past the due date, they charge you an extra fee and keep hounding you for it. Does your city not have that?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

How do you get away with out of date vaccinations? We have to license our pets every year and you have to have proof of vaccination. If you are past the due date, they charge you an extra fee and keep hounding you for it. Does your city not have that?

You can do a 1,2 or 3 year license. Depending on when you get the license and when you get the vet visit for the rabies it's not necessarily going to be matched up perfectly (the requirement is when they are 6 months and older). During the pandemic they haven't really been up and up in it as many vet offices have had such scheduling issues and the two to three times a year the city themselves puts on for rabies and microchipping (just typically lower fees than vet or shelters) hasn't occurred since the pandemic started.

 

[tzolkin]

Even though heartworm disease has been reported in all 50 states it definitely is more prevalent in certain areas (like the south where I am) compared to others (like the Pacific Northwest). Or some areas only recommend heartworm prevention during certain seasons to pair with the mosquito population rise.

This was the situation where we previously lived. We did not have pets, but my family members with dogs only gave heartworm preventative for half the year. It was below freezing/snowy there from early October through May and the number of heartworm cases was almost non-existent.

We now live in North Carolina. Basically every adult dog in a rescue has heartworms, so we know the risk is very high.

How do you get away with out of date vaccinations? We have to license our pets every year and you have to have proof of vaccination. If you are past the due date, they charge you an extra fee and keep hounding you for it. Does your city not have that?

I'm not the poster you mentioned, but I have never lived anywhere that required licensing for pets. When we first moved here and adopted a dog, I found info on the neighboring county about license requirements but couldn't find anything online for mine. When I called they acted like I was some crazy city-slicker for even asking. They said unless my dog was considered a "dangerous animal" with a history of attacking someone, they do not register/license any pets in this county. (Knowing that, I assume many people around here do not give heartworm preventative or have up-to-date vaccinations, so I make sure my dogs are.)

 

[MrsPete]

Even though heartworm disease has been reported in all 50 states it definitely is more prevalent in certain areas (like the south where I am) compared to others (like the Pacific Northwest).

We now live in North Carolina. Basically every adult dog in a rescue has heartworms, so we know the risk is very high.

I didn't know this. I am in the South, and I thought heartworms were just as big a problem everywhere. Yes, we just adopted a puppy last November from an NC rescue, and, yes, pretty much every adult dog had heartworms.
That's why we ended up going with a puppy, when we really had wanted to avoid that craziness: the rescue people told us that puppies might have the heartworm larvae in their bloodstream, but they cannot yet have heartworms -- so if you start puppies on heartworm treatment right away, they'll never develop heartworms.
A friend of mine's dog had heartworms, and the treatment was awful: It cost over $2000, and she had to keep the dog crated /still /calm for something like two months. Thankfully it worked for her -- that's not a given. Prevention is sooo much better than cure.

My dog also hates the scale. Everything else is fine (the vet has a steady stream of biscuits during the exam and shots), but she's so scared of getting on the scale.

We had a dog who wouldn't walk across bridges. I wonder if the scales feel sort of "unstable" to your dog in the same way my dog felt about bridges?

 

[Mango7100]

After years of caring for geriatric pets, they finally all died off and I was looking forward to adopting young healthy kittens and having a break from all the vet visits and medical care. Those kittens are almost two now and one hasn’t had platelets since she was 5 months old.

Oh poor girl! Yea, that’s a big deal. We have 3 cats under the age of 5 now, and we just adopted two guinea pig sisters.

 

[Cadiewampus]

Yes for visits. Also yearly dental cleaning.
No on the added meds, we feed better food.

What the heck does better food have to do with heartworms?

 

[kidshop]

My dog has epilepsy, so we go to the vet a lot as we manage it. I am cautious with any chemicals, so I do heart worm and flea every 45 days instead of 30 and not in the winter. Sure it’s slightly risky, but life is risky and it is a balance. I also do the heart worm blood test once a year. The treatment for an early heart worm infection is just the regular monthly treatment. It is only the really far gone cases that need the extreme expensive treatment.

our rabies shots are 3 year here. I only do the core vaccines, and now it is recommended those are every three years as well. My vet has not caught up with that but I am following the aaha. They don’t seem to like it, but too bad!

 

[DisneyHardin]

We have 3 indoor cats (that don't ever go out, even on the porch). The 2 younger ones go to the vet yearly just for regular check ups. Our old lady (she will be 20 next week), goes more often because she is on blood pressure and thyroid medication and needs more checkups.

Our vet has never mentioned heartworm treatment to me for our cats.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Maybe @Mango7100 can speak to this, but a couple of years ago, my dog became quite ill and listless with a temp over 105. After they took him inside, the vet herself quickly came out to my car. My heart dropped when she said, “You have a very sick little boy here”. Long story short, he had tick borne illness (anaplasmosis) despite being on flea and tick preventative. (We’ve done all types - pills, collars and liquid.) I felt awful.

My SON had been in the hospital, quite sick, for the very same thing shortly before that. (By the time we got to the ER his platelets and white blood cell counts were halved, and dropping; his LFTs were elevated, his spleen was enlarged, and his kidney function was diminished. Scary how quickly these bacteria can wreak havoc in a body - animals and humans alike!) Apparently the ticks in our area are quite prevalent. Most people and dogs I know have encountered Lyme disease in their circles. My dog had tested positive for Lyme before this, as well, but this was way worse and I would not want to live through it again with either my furry or human family members.

At any rate, what I had never really thought about was that, with the pill, the fleas/ticks actually have to be on and bite the animal to consume the flea and tick medicine, whereas with the collars and liquids, those (ideally) repel fleas and ticks so they don’t have a chance to bite the animal. There seem to be pros and cons to each. We had been using the collar (one of the vets in our practice switched my dog over from the pills to the collar after he tested positive for Lyme) but with the recent Soresto scare we switched over to the liquid. That seems to be working pretty well and it’s convenient to buy through Amazon, but summer’s coming (dog swims daily and is outside a lot) and it’s time to either buy more liquid or go back to the collar. I’m not as worried about cost (they are all fairly pricey) as much as I am about effectiveness.

 

[tinkerbellandpeterpan]

We have two indoor only cats. And they literally have never been outside except in a cat carrier to go to the vet and once when we moved. They don't show any interest in even trying to get out so no escape artists over here. They get the required rabies shot, but no heartworm preventative.

When we have had dogs in the past (before these cats came on the scene), they got their rabies shots, year round heartworm preventative, and flea and tick medication during the spring and summer (until the first hard frost) based on the vet's recommendation.

 

[Mango7100]

Maybe @Mango7100 can speak to this, but a couple of years ago, my dog became quite ill and listless with a temp over 105. After they took him inside, the vet herself quickly came out to my car. My heart dropped when she said, “You have a very sick little boy here”. Long story short, he had tick borne illness (anaplasmosis) despite being on flea and tick preventative. (We’ve done all types - pills, collars and liquid.) I felt awful.

My SON had been in the hospital, quite sick, for the very same thing shortly before that. (By the time we got to the ER his platelets and white blood cell counts were halved, and dropping; his LFTs were elevated, his spleen was enlarged, and his kidney function was diminished. Scary how quickly these bacteria can wreak havoc in a body - animals and humans alike!) Apparently the ticks in our area are quite prevalent. Most people and dogs I know have encountered Lyme disease in their circles. My dog had tested positive for Lyme before this, as well, but this was way worse and I would not want to live through it again with either my furry or human family members.

At any rate, what I had never really thought about was that, with the pill, the fleas/ticks actually have to be on and bite the animal to consume the flea and tick medicine, whereas with the collars and liquids, those (ideally) repel fleas and ticks so they don’t have a chance to bite the animal. There seem to be pros and cons to each. We had been using the collar (one of the vets in our practice switched my dog over from the pills to the collar after he tested positive for Lyme) but with the recent Soresto scare we switched over to the liquid. That seems to be working pretty well and it’s convenient to buy through Amazon, but summer’s coming (dog swims daily and is outside a lot) and it’s time to either buy more liquid or go back to the collar. I’m not as worried about cost (they are all fairly pricey) as much as I am about effectiveness.

So sorry about your experience! Yes, there are tons of tick borne diseases beside Lyme. And it is true that some products require the flea or tick to bite while some do not. However, a tick has to stay attached for a minimum period of time to transfer bacteria (like a day or more), so even if a tick bites the tick preventions will kill it before it can transfer any infectious agents.

Heartworm prevention does not stop mosquitos from biting. Heartworm preventives actually kill all the baby heartworm larvae in your dogs or cats bloodstream that they have become infected with over the last month. It kills the larvae before they mature to become adult heart worms. Heartworm preventions do not kill mature larvae or adults. So when you give the heartworm prevention you are killing the baby heartworm larvae from the previous month. So if you miss doses some baby heartworms have a chance to slip through and mature. The heartworm prevention shots that last 6-12 months depending on what you get slowly release medication over time to keep killing the baby heartworms for that period.

I’m sure that is way more info than anyone cares about

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I’m sure that is way more info than anyone cares about

Nope, it’s important information for people to know! Thanks for weighing in!

 

[dclpluto]

Please everyone don’t listen to some of they crazy posts on here. Do what is best for your pet. Any doubt ask your vet.

 

[nw6675]

Now I am curious - do you get bordatella 2x a year? And influenza? Feeling nickle and dimed!!

 

[Moliphino]

Now I am curious - do you get bordatella 2x a year? And influenza? Feeling knickle and dimed!!

Bordetella is once a year, same for parvo/distemper. Rabies is every three years now (Leota's first shot was only 1 year). My vet doesn't have influenza vaccine as one of their standard recommended ones.

 

[tzolkin]

Now I am curious - do you get bordatella 2x a year? And influenza? Feeling knickle and dimed!!

I think most vets default to 6 months on their bordatella due dates. So unless you specifically ask for them to list it as due annually, whatever boarding facility or groomer you go to will require it to be 6 months since that's what's listed on your vet records. Our facility actually recommended to us to just buy the vaccine at Tractor Supply and administer it ourselves if we want to give it less frequently. (They only require it annually, but if the vet says 6mos then they will consider it "out of date" even if it has been less than a year.)

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

Yes to both - all 3 dogs go yearly and take monthly heartworm preventative.

When we had cats I had one (100% indoors) who didn't go after the first few visits, she had extreme allergic reactions to any and all shots. That wouldn't have been an issue, a shot of benedryl before hand would keep it under control. The issue was that she was fine for 1 shot, would usually take a swipe at the vet tech after the second, then went full on satan's kitty after the 3rd. Soooooo, adding an extra shot wasn't a good idea. Other than that, all of our animals have been kept up to date.

 

[Jennasis]

Our boarding kennel requires bordatella every 6 months so we get that too for our dogs.

 

[mrs. magoo]

My older dog had not been to the vet in 2 years when he went in January. It is such an ordeal for him. He has a canine form of Autism and he is so stressed that it just wasn't worth it to have him drugged to go to the vet. He needed his Rabies so I made his appointment and then then would not give him the shot due to a slight fever. He was also itching non stop so I wanted that addressed but the vet really did nothing for him. I have put him on a daily yogurt regime and a supplement from Costco. It has made such a difference. He is going to be 11 this July and we will not go to any extreme measures with him but he has made such a turn around with the supplements. He does not limp as much and the itching has basically stopped. Both Max and Hamilton, the puppy will get everything that they need immunization wise and heartworm wise. We only do heartworm during the summer months since the winter is so cold up here.