Happy New Year!
It’s time to check in on everyone’s health—-even yours! Schedule your pet’s yearly checkup today to find out how your pet's health affects YOU!
Daily interactions with your pet can be one of the best parts of life. Your dog sleeps with you. Your cat licks you. You go on walks in the woods together.
The human-animal bond is a strong one. For many owners, their pet is considered a family member. So we feel it’s important to give you the facts about a group of illnesses that are passed from animals to people (called zoonotic diseases or zoonoses) that may cause health concerns for you and your pet. You may have heard of some of them: Lyme disease, Cat scratch disease, ringworm, Giardiasis (stomach illness), tapeworm and heartworm infections.
These illnesses are passed from pets to people in a variety of ways:
1. Contact with the infected pet themselves
2. Contact with urine, feces or respiratory droplets of an infected pet
3. Contact with items in the pet’s environment
4. Scratches or bites by a pet
5. Scratches or bites by an insect (such as the Lyme-disease tick) that carries the infection from pets to people
6. Contact with infected wildlife that pass the disease to pets to people
Even the most observant pet owners may not realize their pet has a zoonotic disease. They can be tough to spot! Your pet may look absolutely fine but be carrying an infection that can spread to you and the rest of your family.
That’s why it is important that your pet visits us for their annual checkup. During the checkup, we’ll perform your pet’s physical exam and do the right lab tests if needed.
Please read this CDC article that discusses what zoonotic risks are with pets and the importance of seeing your veterinarian: http://www.cdc.gov/features/healthypets/index.html
We respect the bond you have with your pet and want to help you preserve it for as long as possible! Schedule your pet’s yearly checkup today because everyone’s health depends on it!
