Last time we talked about the many benefits of scheduling your pet’s annual wellness visit with the veterinarian, including crucial tests that could save their lives, plus finding preventative measures that will save both your animal and your wallet from a lot of pain later on. Today, I want to offer a few tips for how to get the most out of your pet’s annual checkup.
Bring past records if you are trying a new vet.
If you recently moved to town or are just trying a new veterinarian, bring a copy of your animal’s health and immunization records from your previous animal hospital. These will contain crucial information on not only your animal’s background and potential conditions that may need a closer look, but also information that will let your animal surgeon know which vaccinations your animal is due for this year.
Write down questions.
If you have questions about anything from diet to behavior, write them down in a notebook before you arrive. Managing a nervous animal on the examination table makes it hard to remember every little item you meant to discuss, so having a jotted list of things you want to ask will help the visit go more smoothly. It will also enable you to take notes on the same paper, which will make answers easy to find later if you want to review.
Don’t be afraid to ask!
The annual visit is your time to ask anything and everything about your animal, so don’t feel intimidated. This is the time to bring up any questions or issues. If your pet has been behaving strangely, eating differently or doing anything to cause concern or just plain make you wonder, bring it up. Your vet is here to help, but he or she can’t if they don’t know what’s on your mind.
Be honest.
Your vet will ask questions about diet, treats, table food, and exercise. Though it’s oh-so-tempting to fib, you’re not doing Fido or Fluffy any favors if you tell a few white lies. Fork over the truth about how many tidbits of table food or treats your pet gets and how often they exercise.
Have a handful of treats ready.
Fido or Fluffy likely won’t love every minute of the veterinarian’s exam, but bringing a few special treats may help soothe nerves. These can also serve as a distraction for certain points in the exam, or to help take the taste of vaccines out of mouths or noses. Treats may also help your pet see annual visits to the vet clinic as not so bad after all. Think of treats as lollipops at the pediatrician!
Support your pet, but don’t coddle.
Your pet looks to you, the leader, for cues on how to behave. Often, annual exam procedures and vaccines are harder for pet-parents to handle than they are for the animals. Though it may be hard not to overreact, keeping a calm, “you’re fine, this is normal” tone and demeanor will help your pet know everything is under control and they can trust the vet. If you act like the roof is falling off, your animal is going to think something horrible is about to happen. Stay calm and be cool.