As a pet parent, you understand just how important it is to provide your animals with the best veterinary care and wellness resources available. Still, organizing the regular care routine your pet needs can feel daunting.
The right information and vet care provider can make all the difference for you and your best friend. The team at Sploot Veterinary Care — a provider with 12 Colorado vet location clinics — covered all the bases for us, touching on everything from the importance of a trusted vet to how frequently you should be scheduling wellness visits.
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by establishing a wellness and preventative care routine, check out this list of essential annual action items that will help you stay on top of your pet’s health.
Action Item 1: Schedule (At Least) Yearly Wellness Visits
Many pet parents may feel skeptical about seeing a vet, but the experts at Sploot know that regular visits are key to giving your pet a happy, healthy life.
“I recommend at least one wellness visit per year for most adult pets. Puppies, kittens, and senior pets may need to be seen more frequently because their needs change quickly,” said Dr. Jessica Apted, Regional Medical Director at Sploot.
Apted shared that at annual physical examinations, vets will:
- Review your pet’s overall health, checking out their skin and fur, dental health, heart, and weight
- Look for any concerning symptoms like pain or abnormal lumps and bumps
- Administer up-to-date vaccines (like parvo, rabies, distemper, and more) and parasite preventatives
- Check in on your pet’s diet, nutrition, and urinary and bowel health
Sploot does provide sick visits and surgery if your vet finds a problem, but annual physicals and preventative care can keep serious issues from piling up. Annual vaccines alone “are one of the best tools we have to keep pets healthy,” said Dr. Apted, who noted that regular vaccination protects both your pet and other animals and people around you.
“It’s kind of like your own health, right? You go to your annual physical. Your pet should go to an annual physical. You go to the dentist twice a year. Ideally, your pet should have their teeth cleaned at least once a year,” said Haleigh Watts, Brand & Community Engagement Manager at Sploot. “The sooner you can start getting on top of that preventative maintenance, the less likely you are to encounter a more serious health problem down the road.”
If paying for regular care is a hurdle for your household, there are options, including:
- Pet insurance, which can help ensure that big vet bills aren’t solely your responsibility. Sploot accepts all major carriers.
- Payment plans. Sploot works with CareCredit and Scratch Pay, giving customers the option to pay for their expenses in interest-free installments.
- A membership plan. Sploot’s new membership program runs for $299/year, with a goal of saving clients $600-700 annually. This plan provides members with three free exams, discounts on all services, medication credit, and more.
Action Item 2: Stay on Top of Dental Care
You know dental maintenance is essential for humans, but did you know that your dog or cat also needs eyes on their pearly whites? If not, your pet’s annual well visit is a great place to start learning about their dental health.
“At yearly wellness appointments, it’s important to discuss dental cleanings and screening bloodwork, because these preventive measures help detect hidden disease early, maintain overall health, and reduce the risk of serious issues developing later,” Dr. Apted said.
If an animal isn’t receiving proper dental care, their teeth can accumulate plaque and tartar, which can cause tooth loss, gum disease, and even internal organ issues, Dr. Apted said. Sploot provides professional cleanings — which Dr. Apted recommends annually — and even dental surgery.
Aside from a yearly deep clean at the vet, Dr. Apted recommends that pet parents provide regular dental maintenance at home via brushing or oral health treats.
Action Item 3: Keep an Emergency Vet on Call
Any longtime pet owner knows the feeling: It’s after business hours, your pet just got hurt or started showing alarming symptoms, and you’re scrambling to find an animal hospital that can take them.
Keeping an emergency vet’s contact info on hand can be a time- and stress-saver at critical moments like that. If you don’t have a regular or emergency clinic, there’s no need to search for “vet near me” or “emergency vet near me” — Sploot can do it all.
“One thing that really sets us apart is the fact that we are both primary and urgent care under one roof,” Watts said. “That’s not something you see very often. A lot of times you have your primary care, then you have urgent cares, and then you have your true emergency centers.”
While Sploot clinics are open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day of the week, they also recognize that some emergencies require a different facility or occur late at night. That’s why Sploot already has emergency veterinary partners in place that can assist on those cases. That kind of emergency is rare, though — thanks to its in-house services, Sploot is able to cover 97% of urgent care needs.
Action Item 4: Care for the Coat via Grooming and Parasite Prevention
Your pet’s wellness isn’t just about what’s on the inside, though neglecting their skin, coat, and nails can have internal wellness implications. That’s why it’s important to:
- Provide a monthly flea and tick preventative that keeps your pet pest-free and prevents them from contracting serious diseases. Dr. Apted noted that Colorado ticks can carry anaplasmosis and Lyme disease, which could sicken you and your pet.
- Care for their coats with regular brushing at home or with professional grooming. Either approach can reduce your pet’s shedding and keep their fur from forming painful mats. Frequent brushing also takes care of coats during the fall, when Dr. Apted said many animals shed more as they prepare their coats for winter.
- Trim their nails or have them trimmed. Chronically long nails can make it hard for your pet to walk and can impact their joints.
While this checklist may not cover all of your pet’s specific needs, it provides a great starting point. If you need more guidance or are ready to find a regular, trusted vet, Sploot Veterinary Care can help.