Pet Wellness Care in Bellingham, WA
Regular pet wellness exams are one of the best ways to keep your dog or cat healthy. At Mountain Veterinary Hospital, we use these checkups to catch concerns early. Often, we spot them before your pet even shows a sign of serious illness.
What Is a Pet Wellness Exam?
A wellness exam is a head-to-tail physical check of your pet’s overall health. During pet checkups, we examine your pet’s eyes, ears, teeth, heart, joints, and skin. We also talk with you about diet, behavior, and any changes you’ve noticed at home.
Routine exams help us find issues early, when treatment is often more successful. It’s not unusual for our team to uncover a serious problem during a simple checkup. Catching it sooner gives your pet a better chance at a good recovery.
What Happens During a Wellness Exam
Every visit is calm, gentle, and thorough. During a routine wellness exam, we typically:
- Check your pet’s weight, temperature, and body condition
- Listen to the heart and lungs for any irregularities
- Examine the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth
- Feel the abdomen to assess internal organs
- Look over the skin and coat for lumps, rashes, or parasites
- Check the joints and muscles for stiffness or discomfort
- Review dental health and look for tartar or gum disease
- Update vaccinations and discuss parasite prevention
- Talk through diet, weight, behavior, and any changes at home
If anything needs a closer look, we’ll explain what we found and walk you through the next steps.
How Often Does My Pet Need a Checkup?
The right schedule depends on your pet’s age and health. As a general guide:
- Puppies and kittens: every 3 to 4 weeks until about 4 months old, for their vaccine series
- Adult pets: once a year for a full wellness exam
- Senior pets: twice a year, often with added screening tests
For older pets, more frequent visits help us stay ahead of age-related changes. We’ll recommend a schedule that fits your pet’s individual needs.
Pet Vaccinations: Core and Non-Core
Vaccines are a key part of preventive care, and wellness visits are the right time to keep them current. We tailor pet shots to your pet’s age, lifestyle, and risk—never a one-size-fits-all approach. Vaccines fall into two groups: core and non-core.
Core vaccines
Core vaccines are recommended for nearly all pets. They protect against widespread, serious diseases.
- For dogs: rabies, plus distemper, adenovirus, parvovirus, and parainfluenza (often combined in one shot)
- For cats: rabies, plus feline viral rhinotracheitis, calicivirus, and panleukopenia (often combined in one shot)
Non-core vaccines
Non-core vaccines depend on your pet’s environment, habits, and risk. Based on your pet’s daily life, we may also recommend:
- For dogs: Bordetella (kennel cough), leptospirosis, canine influenza, or Lyme disease
- For cats: feline leukemia (FeLV)
Your veterinarian will help you decide which pet vaccinations make sense and how often your pet needs them.
Preventive Care Beyond the Exam
A wellness visit is also a good moment to plan the rest of your pet’s preventive care. Depending on your pet’s needs, we may also recommend year-round parasite prevention or lab work. These simple steps help us protect your pet’s health throughout the year.
What to Expect at Your Pet’s Visit
We keep every visit calm, gentle, and unhurried. Your veterinarian performs a full physical exam, updates any vaccinations, and answers your questions. If we notice anything that needs a closer look, we’ll walk you through the options, their benefits, and the costs. Most visits are quick, and many pets leave with a clean bill of health.
