Crater Animal Clinic strives to help keep our patients happy and healthy throughout their lives.  Annual wellness examinations and preventative care are the best methods for helping us keep your pets healthy and to identify any potential illness or condition early before your pet begins to show symptoms.  When caught early, many of these conditions can be effectively managed by medication, dietary management or supplementation.  By taking a preventative approach, you provide your pet with the best chance of a long, happy, healthy life!  Call us to schedule a wellness exam today.

What is a wellness exam?
A wellness exam is a thorough physical exam aimed at assessing the overall health and quality of life of your pet.  This exam includes a thorough dental exam, complete physical exam, brief orthopedic exam and assessment of your pet’s nutritional status, body condition and more.  This exam allows us to help your determine your animal’s optimal care and to identify any problems or illnesses before they become an issue.

Please click on a species below to see our preventative health care recommendations:

Feline Preventative Health Program
The following information is our guideline for preventative health.  All cats are unique and thus we tailor our preventative care program to meet the needs of your pet.

Kittens (top)

Adult Feline (top)

Aging Chart for Cats

Canine Preventative Health Care Program

The following guidelines are our general recommendations for preventative health for your dog.  Because each animal is unique, we will tailor your pet’s health program as needed for optimal care.

Puppies (top)

Adult Canine (top)

Canine Aging Chart

There are two points to notice on this chart.  First, your pet’s age is based on body weight.   Not only is this true for small v large breed dogs, but also overweight dogs as well.  Overweight dogs have more health problems, including heart, respiratory, orthopedic (arthritis, ligament damage, etc.), and others.  Second, dogs are considered senior at around 6-8 years.  This is the time period when a large portion of health problems begin to appear in our canine pets.  For this reason, we stress annual wellness exams and bloodwork screens to help identify those health issues before they become a problem.

Equine Preventative Medicine Program (top)

Equine Annual Wellness Exam:

Horses, like humans, are living longer and healthier lives. In order to achieve these extended healthy lifetimes, preventative health care and improved nutrition are vitally important. To ensure the optimal health and longevity of your equine companions, Crater Animal Clinic stresses a thorough wellness examination so that any abnormalities can be addressed in a timely fashion, before they develop into more severe problems.

The equine wellness exam includes examination of the eyes, mouth, teeth, lymph nodes, skin, heart, lungs, abdomen, and genital areas. A brief exam of the limbs for joint effusion or bony or soft tissue abnormalities is included. Any problems will be noted and treatment options discussed with you.  We will also discuss your horse’s body condition and nutrition to give recommendations on feeding your horse for optimal health and performance. This is also a good time to review your equine parasite prevention program.

A locomotion exam of your horse can be scheduled at the time of your wellness exam. This exam includes observation of your horse at the trot in straight lines and in circles on the lunge line to watch for any abnormalities in locomotion. If abnormalities are seen, a more in depth lameness exam can be scheduled for another time.

Selenium is a micronutrient that is low in the soils of the Pacific Northwest and therefore can also be low in the feeds grown here. Deficiencies in selenium can cause weight loss, ill thrift, performance problems, reproductive problems as well as numerous other health issues. Your horse’s diet should include a selenium supplement. We recommend testing your horse’s selenium via a blood test. At this time, a full complete blood count and chemistry panel can also be performed to further evaluate your horse’s overall health.
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The annual wellness exam can be scheduled at the same time as vaccination appointments. The wellness exam fee is reduced when performed at the same time as vaccinations.  Our recommendations for vaccinations are listed below and are part of the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) vaccine guidelines.

Equine Parasite Prevention Program

Parasite control is important to the health and well being of your horses. We recommend semi-annual fecal testing two weeks before your next deworming as follow-up to make sure the program is working for your horses. You can bring 2-3 fecal balls with you to your appointment, or you can drop them off to have a fecal test performed without brining your horse. Since parasites are primarily transferred through manure, a good pasture management program is key. Along with clean, plentiful water, high quality feed, love and attention, an effective control program can help your horse be as healthy on the inside as he appears on the outside.

Rotation of deworming products every 2 months is recommended to aid in the control of parasites, and to help prevent drug resistant parasites.

Dental Care

Annual dental exams should begin at birth to check for malocclusions. Wolf teeth can be extracted at 1-2 years of age or at the time of castration if your horse is male. Teeth should be floated on an as needed basis, but we recommend having them done annually for optimum health and performance. Performance dentistry includes creating bit seats and doing reconstructive work as needed.

Foal Health Program

We know just how long you’ve waited for your foal to arrive and we are ready to help adjust your new baby to life outside the womb. Neonates have special needs that can be addressed by the veterinarians at Crater Animal Clinic. Post foaling exams are an important part of your foal health program and should be performed shortly after birth. Besides a clean area in which to be born, foals also need good mothers, plenty of colostrum and should have their umbilicus disinfected shortly after birth. During a post foaling exam we can assess whether the foal has any angular limb deformities or congenital disorders that may need to be addressed early. We also check out the mare and make sure that she was not damaged during the birth process, that she has passed her placenta and that she will be ready and healthy to be bred in the coming year. Twenty four hours after birth we recommend having an IgG blood test performed to determine if your foal received enough colostrum antibodies from its dam.

Goat Preventative Medicine Program (top)
Kids

Adults

These recommendations are general preventative health recommendations.  Additional vaccinations (ex. Soremouth, resptiratory disease vaccines), deworming or other recommendations may be made depending on your herd situation.  Please give us a call for consultation regarding a herd specific health program, establishing a CAE-free status and for dairy considerations.

Coccidiosis prevention: Coccidia are a parasite that can affect goat herds and cause illness and mortality in young goats. To help reduce the risk of coccidial infections, try reducing your pasture populations, minimize environmental stress and feed your goats in a feeder off the ground. If any goats have diarrhea, bring a fecal sample to Crater Animal Clinic for a fecal exam.

Sheep Preventative Medicine Program

Lambs (top)

Adults

Other vaccinations may be considered for breeding flocks or flocks with specific disease problems.  Call us for a consultation for your flock health.

Ewes:
Waiting until lambing has occurred, or until ewes are turned out of the lambing barn with their lambs results in considerable contamination of the environment prior to treatment.  If prelambing deworming is not possible, ewes can be dewormed at lambing and moved to safe pastures.  It is important that animals be treated with a dewormer that is effective against hypobiotic larvae.  Levomisole and ivermectin are approved products which have this ability.  Thiabendazole does not remove hypobiotic larvae when given at approved dosages.  Sheep kept in dry lots do not pick up larvae from grazing and need only be dewormed when moved from pasture to dry lot.

Swine Preventative Health Program (top)
Recommended dewormers for common parasites

The deworming schedule should include prebreeding for all breeding stock and prefarrowing for gilts and sows, prevention of Strongyloides and roundworms in baby pigs, and one or more dewormings in weanling and growing pigs.  Specific strategic deworming schedules should be arranged with your veterinarian due to variation in herd size, property size and layout, housing and feeding situation, intended use of the pigs, and more.
Formulations for group administration are provided as well as for individual treatment.  Remember to use only label-approved drugs via label-approved routes of administration.  Use approved formulations and appropriate drugs for the target parasite species and stages.

Coccidia: Neonatal (baby pigs) coccidiosis caused by Isospora suis is found wherever pigs are raised in confinement.  Clinical signs of yellowish or gray pasty to liquid diarrhea appear at 1 to 2 weeks of age with dehydration.  Contact your veterinarian if symptoms persist for more than 24 hours.

The other coccidia, Eimeria, which are found in weanling and older pigs, apparently cause little or no damage, but sanitation of farrowing crates by thorough cleansing can be successful in its control.  Control is best achieved by, thorough cleaning and sanitation between each farrowing, monitoring of movement of personnel and supplies, and control of pests and rodents to reduce mechanical transmission of the oocysts (eggs).

Piglet Health Program
(Market, Breeding and Show pigs)

Additional Vaccinations for Gilts, Sows, and Show Pigs

We recommend that intramuscular vaccines be given in a spot on the neck just behind and below the ear so as to not scar the ham which could result in condemnation of the cut at processing time.  Subcutaneous injections should be given into the loose flaps of skin in the flank or elbow.

Source: Oregon Pork Producers and Extension Animal Sciences Department at Oregon State University (top)

Camelid Preventative Medicine Program (top)
*Note: These are general guidelines, which may be adapted to the needs of individual farms.

Crias:
Post criation exam 24 to 36 hours after birth to include evaluation of dam, cria, and IgG test (antibody test for passive transfer of antibody from dam to cria)

Cria’s navel should be dipped 3-4 times within a 24 hour period with chlorhexidine or dilute betadine solution.

BoSe (selenium injection) should be given to aid in prevention of white muscle disease.

Dental Care:
Canine teeth or “fighting teeth” are present in all adult male camelids. These teeth are razor sharp. To avoid injuries, they should be trimmed or cut. After being trimmed once they should be examined yearly as they continue to grow for several years and may need to be cut again.

Camelids with incorrect alignment of incisor teeth should be examined; if alignment is poor, incisors miss the dental pad, continue to grow, and need to be trimmed periodically.

THESE ARE THE MOST BASIC elements of a camelid health care program. Please do not hesitate to contact us to schedule a consultation if you have special circumstances or have any further questions. (top)