Springtime and Your Pet

By Jennifer Herne, LVT

Spring has arrived and your pet is probably just as excited as you are. Though spring brings us fresh air, sunshine and cool breezes, it can also bring hazards to your pets. Make sure your pet has their monthly preventative applied for fleas, ticks and heartworm preventative and are up to date on their vaccinations. Keep all medical records handy and keep track of when you have applied monthly heartworm preventative and flea and tick medications. Remember heartworm disease is difficult to treat and costly, using monthly preventative is much easier and cheaper.

Keep identification on your pet at all times. This should be at minimum a Rabies tag. You should receive one when you have your pet vaccinated. You can also have one made with your phone number and address on it. Microchipping is a more permanent means of identification. You can have your pet microchipped at your local veterinarian. The good thing about microchipping is that if the collar ever falls off, the microchip can be scanned and tracked back to you. We recommend to use an Identification tag AND microchip to ensure safe return to you in the event your pet is lost.

Just like us, your pet can have allergies. If you notice obvious signs of allergies like swollen eyes, frequent scratching, fur/skin conditions or sneezing, you may want to take your pet to the vet to explore those allergy symptoms.

Grooming is not just about vanity. Keeping your pet clean and groomed prevents skin irritations, fleas and ticks and keeps his temperature regulated. Make sure his nails are trimmed, but not too short.

The outdoors is not the only thing pets get a fever for in the spring. Springtime is mating season! Make sure your pet is spayed or neutered so that they don't contribute to the overwhelming pet overpopulation problem.

And lastly, springtime is a great time to get your pet signed up for training and obedience classes or even an agility class would be fun. Who knows, you may have the next K-9 agility champ on your hands!