wellness recommendations for cats

Comprehensive Physical Exam and Consultation	47
The physical exam is the most important part of annual wellness care for pets. This process includes weighing your pet, assigning a Body Condition Score, pain scoring and completing a comprehensive 12 system exam. We will also address any behavior changes and discuss any issues you have noted since the last examination.

Vaccinations

25 each

Although vaccines are not recommended annually, vaccinations are still an important part of wellness care to prevent disease. We tailor vaccine protocols to meet the individual needs of each patient based on their age, medical condition and lifestyle.

FVRCP: Core vaccination is recommended for all cats including Rhinotracheitis (Herpes Virus), Calici, and Panleukopenia also known as FVRCP, HCP, or upper respiratory vaccine. We use a non-adjuvented, FDA approved, 3-year vaccine.

Rabies: Rabies vaccination is important especially for cats that have unsupervised outdoor exposure. We use a 1 year non-adjuvented vaccine. It is also recommended that indoor cats receive regular Rabies vaccination as there is no cure for the disease and it is transmissible to humans. In May 2008, a rabid bat was found in a home in SE Portland - so the exposure risk is real, even for indoor cats.

FeLV: The Feline Leukemia Vaccine is recommended for cats that are at risk including indoor/outdoor cats with unsupervised outside time. This is a virus that is spread through cat to cat contact so it is not recommended for indoor cats. We use the only non adjuvented vaccine available and it is given via a pneumatic device with no needles.

Annual Deworming	20-25
The CDC (Center for Disease Control) and CAPC (Companion Animal Parasite Control Council) recommend annual deworming of all pets to protect people. We recommend annual deworming to protect pets and their people. We use a medication called Drontal Plus which treats roundworms, hookworms, whipworms and tapeworms.

Intestinal Parasite Screening	25
Annual fecal testing is recommended for all cats to check for internal parasites. Although we deworm annually, it is important to know if parasites are present for follow-up treatment and to ensure that your cat does not have Giardia or Coccidia, two parasites our dewormer does not cover.

Annual FeLV/FIV Testing

Feline Leukemia Virus and Feline Immunodeficiency Virus are spread through cat to cat contact so annual FeLV/FIV testing is recommended by the American Association of Feline Practitioners for all cats that have unsupervised outdoor exposure. Although we recommend annual FeLV vaccines for outdoor cats, no vaccine is 100% and there is not a reliable FIV vaccine at this point (the Fort Dodge Vaccine appears to be efficacious but will result in a positive FIV test which cannot differentiate between vaccinated and infected cats) so we recommend, along with the AAFP, annual testing.

Annual Blood Testing

mature 108
young adult (includes fecal) 84

We recommend annual blood testing for all cats to ensure that they are as healthy on the inside as they appear during their physical examination. For young adult cats this blood testing is often normal and serves as baseline testing. As cats age we can recognize changes in lab values that help us to intervene early for prevention rather than waiting for crisis treatment when they are ill from their condition.

Blood Pressure Testing	22
The number one cause of blindness in mature cats is high blood pressure. We recommend annual testing in all mature cats and regular testing for cats at risk including those with high blood pressure, kidney insufficiency, and thyroid disease.

Flea and Heartworm Prevention

varies

We recommend year round flea prevention for all cats. We offer a variety of options for cats and individualize recommendations based on each patient’s lifestyle and desires of their family. All flea and heartworm medications we carry are FDA approved medications (and not EPA approved pesticides).

Our favorite product for indoor-outdoor cats is the spot on Revolution. It is a topically applied systemic product absorbed quickly (within 2 hours). It is a monthly flea preventative for all lifestages of fleas, is a monthly dewormer, treats ear mites and is a heartworm preventative.

For indoor cats our product of choice is Program. This is a monthly oral product that acts as a flea birth control. Because indoor cats have less flea exposure, controlling the indoor flea population offers sufficient protection. For flea allergic indoor cats or cats that are difficult to medicate we recommend the topical Revolution.