Have you ever heard the phrase “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”? This statement is credited to Benjamin Franklin and identifies how being proactive is more advantageous than being reactive. This could not be more true in veterinary medicine! Let’s take a look at why spending time at the vet when your pet isn’t sick can save you money, time, and heartache down the line.
A Positive Perspective
Often called “wellness” visits, these are trips to the vet that generally occur once a year to monitor your pet’s health. Your pet may be in good health and can receive their vaccines and an overall exam. But these visits are also important for monitoring your pet’s health in case things do change. For example, your vet may recommend annual bloodwork, even for healthy pets. This allows your vet to establish a baseline for your pet’s internal health and also detect small changes before they become big problems. This is especially important for senior animals (which starts around age 7 for both cats and dogs) who are at higher risk for certain diseases and conditions as they age.
Another reason wellness visits and regular veterinary care is important is to make vet visits less scary for your pet. Most vets encourage “happy visits”, which are short visits of just a few minutes where your pet receives nothing more than a few treats and friendly greetings. This helps your pet see that the vet isn’t always just needle pokes, nail trims, and other scary things, and can help reduce fear and anxiety. While this is easier for dogs than cats, there are ways to make vet visits easier for cats too that don’t involve additional visits (keep an eye out for another post about that topic!). While wellness visits often involve vaccines, bloodwork, and an exam, they are often less stressful than the handling involved for urgent or emergency issues. And, when your pet isn’t feeling well, going to the vet can be a really terrible experience so the more you can take your pet to the vet when they are healthy and happy, the easier those sick visits may be. In conjunction with happy visits and knowledge of Fear Free practices, more frequent trips to the vet can actually be a positive thing for your pet!
Building Relationships
Another important reason to visit your vet regularly is that it helps build a relationship with your pet care team. Just like in human health care, having trust and confidence in your veterinarian and their nurses is a critical component of positive visits for both you and your pet. Important things can be missed if you don’t feel comfortable asking questions or understand what your vet is saying to you about your pet’s health. These regular conversations and visits help give context and details to your vet about your pet’s overall health and lifestyle, which can have the added benefit of catching health problems early. Having a good relationship with your veterinary team is also empowering because it supports pet parents in learning about their pet’s health and in making decisions.
The Real Cost of Care
An important consideration of more frequent vet visits is of course the cost. Like everything, veterinary costs are rising and even basic care can be hard on the wallet. However, a few hundred dollars a year for vaccines and bloodwork may save you thousands in associated urgent/emergency care, surgery, and other procedures to treat disease. Catching problems early can also help keep your pet comfortable, as they are often very good at hiding pain and discomfort. Pet parents may not know their pet is unwell until it shows up on a test, so getting those tests done to prevent further illness can go a long way.
While some of the rising cost of veterinary care is due to the overall increase in cost of goods and products your vet uses, some of this is also because of a more recent acknowledgement of wage disparities in veterinary care. While human doctors work with only one species and tend to specialize their focus on a specific body system, veterinarians must be familiar with the physiology of multiple species, body systems, diseases, and all ages of these animals. As an example, a pediatrician likely does not have the specialized knowledge to treat elderly patients, but a general practice veterinarian must provide care for dogs and cats from birth all the way to euthanasia. Similarly, while a human technician or nurse is specially trained in phlebotomy (drawing blood) or radiology, but rarely both, veterinary nurses must be able to capably do both of these, as well as collect urine and feces, trim nails, give fluids, perform dental cleanings, run lab work, monitor anesthesia, assist with surgery, etc., and all with a patient who doesn’t speak human and has four legs and sharp teeth! Despite this, both veterinarians and veterinary nurses earn much less than their human medicine counterparts (some vet nurses and assistants still make less than someone who works at McDonalds!).
There has been a recent shift in this though and more and more vet clinics are dedicated to providing living wages and benefits to all veterinary staff. While this does increase the cost on the client/patient end, keep in mind that a big part of what you are paying for is caring, competent staff who can focus on providing the best care for your pets because they feel safe and secure in their jobs. Having consistent staff at your vet clinic also helps with the other things mentioned above – building trusting relationships and reducing fear for your pets with familiarity of friendly faces. If you had a different doctor or nurse every time you went for your own checkups it would make confident and continuous care more difficult, and the same is true for your pets.
Regular veterinary care is a critical component of the health and wellness of your pet. Monitoring your healthy pets for changes, building relationships with your care team, and reducing anxiety and fear of the vet clinic are all benefits of going to the vet more often. Just like human screening and prevention, catching problems early can save you time and money, and reduce pain and illness for your four-legged family members. If you haven’t been to your vet for a while, why not give them a call or just stop by for a happy visit? They would love to see you!
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