Health examinations and vaccinations for your pet

Health examinations and vaccinations are an important part of every pet’s life. At ABVC, we do recommend a bi-annual health check to ensure any changes in your pet’s health status are picked up early. During the consult, our veterinarian may ask about your concerns to carry out a routine health check to collect information on the overall body condition, temperature,  heart and circulation, respiratory system, stool and urine production, skin and coat, abdomen, chest, extremities, ears, eyes, and mouth e.o. to exclude any problems or signs of illness as well as check on the vaccination status, weight and anti-parasite treatment.

Vaccinations
Many pet owners in Dubai are asking why does my pet need this physical exam before receiving vaccines. Some, they think their pet is perfectly healthy and simply not necessary to undergo a vet examination. Vaccinations, however, should not be given without a prior health check and often our vets do pick up problems that clients did not realise had started to develop. We, therefore, advise you to forward any questions you might have about your pet, or related to his/her everyday care during the consult to get the best possible outcome and information.

Benefits of giving cat or dog vaccination
1. Vaccinations protect your pets from many diseases
2. Vaccinations prevent the spread of disease to other animals too and if many pets are vaccinated in an area this lowers the exposure to diseases in your area
3. Properly vaccinated pets can travel more easily with their pet parents to other countries
4. Some vaccinations are to protect people from zoonotic risks (diseases spreading between humans and animals)

To develop a strong immunity, several injections are necessary to be given followed by a booster vaccination and then a regular annual/bi-annual or tri-yearly vaccination is given to remain at a protective level of immunity for this disease(s) throughout your pet’s life. Maintaining your pet’s annual vaccination status can help to prevent the spread of potentially life-threatening diseases. We refer to our previous blogs for more information about the vaccination for dogs or cats, which we administer in Al Barsha veterinary clinic.

How frequently should your pet have a check-up?
Generally, healthy animals will usually attend the annual appointment. All pets are different. Even when you keep a close eye on monitoring them. Elderly pets, pets with immunodeficiency disease or pets who had prior adverse reactions to vaccinations might benefit from one vaccine at a time. Remember you see your pet every day, so although you will pick up on obvious changes, small changes over time might go unnoticed, your vet is trained to see these changes, as not every change is a normal ageing change but can already be a first symptom which when picked up early can stop a disease from progressing unnoticed.