This is a very general question, but if your dog was coming in for a well-check, we would routinely do a yearly heartworm test, which is a blood test. If they're coming in sick, we may want to look internally at what's going on with them to determine what might be causing that. If they're vomiting, we can look at a blood test to look for pancreatitis. There are many tests that we can do to determine what might be going on.

It depends on the type of blood test that we're running. A complete blood count, for instance, would perhaps detect anemia, which is a low red cell count, or it might detect infection, which would be a high white cell count.

Chemistry would be another example, and for that we would look at the organ values. There are many different blood tests that we can do to look at a pet’s hormones and look for diseases that a pet might be carrying. So there's a variety of blood tests.

There are certain lab tests that we may recommend across the board for any dog, and then there are certain lab or blood tests that we would recommend depending on your dog's risk or what's going on with your pet. If your dog is sick or the area you live in may determine the type of lab work that we run.

So that's very dependent on each groomer. I have a groomer that I use, and I work with personally, and she takes each pet as they come. We offer sedated grooms here. That could be something that an owner feels like their pet needs to be groomed, as their pet gets a little stressed out, or maybe they get a little nippy, and sedation is the best way to go. But there are also some safe medications that your veterinarian can prescribe that your dog can take maybe an hour or two before going to the groomer to make it a more enjoyable experience and make it safer for everybody.

So it's really dependent on each and every groomer. I would encourage you to select a groomer that does require vaccines for your pet. The reason is that they care about your pet's health and safety and the other pets coming into the facility. Like boarding facilities, many animals in a small space can make it easy to cat or transmit some contagious diseases, and vaccines can generally prevent many of those. So I would look for a groomer that does require vaccines. And in terms of flea and tick prevention, being on flea and tick prevention is going to be the best thing for your pet regardless. A groomer may not require it, but if a pet has a flea infestation or maybe even what we call a flea allergy dermatitis, meaning your pet is allergic to the saliva of the flea, it can cause a severe skin rash or infection that could be uncomfortable to your pet to make things challenging for their visit at the groomer.

So that's your comfort level. I have owners that take their dogs to a professional groomer, and we have owners that do the grooming at home because their dog is stressed or at the groomer. I would also encourage you to make sure that you are comfortable doing it as well. Of course, what we don't ever want to see is somebody accidentally cutting an ear with a pair of scissors or maybe getting too short on their nail trim or things like that. And so, the best thing to do is maybe if you're not comfortable in doing it is to seek help from somebody that can help you or find those professional groomers out there.

Yes, there is such a thing as a dog that’s bathing too often. It's dependent on what kind of shampoo you're using. Some dog shampoos are safe to use on your pet and bathe them every day. Sometimes we recommend a medicated shampoo for your dog, and we may have you bathe your pet every other day for a period of time. But if you're using human shampoos or Dawn dish soap, or anything like that, many of those can be drying to their skin. And so we don't really recommend using those, but if you do use them, we definitely don't want you to use them super frequently. I would say no more than once a month, but the best thing to do is talk to your veterinarian about what product you want to use, or they can even make suggestions for you. I love this shampoo by Decora. It is safe if we had to use this one every day, but I like this for my general once-monthly bathing.

No, I would say it's not optional. It's something that we need to do for every pet that we have, whether it be a dog or a cat, or maybe you have some pocket pets or a ferret. But the wonderful thing for these guys is that I know cost is a big thing with many owners. Sometimes finances are a little tight, but everybody loves having a snuggly little kitten like this. And we love those who carry pet insurance, or we work with this pet insurance provider called Pumpkin. And the thing that I love about Pumpkin is that they have preventative care packages. So they have insurance programs that help with those annual wellness visits and that wellness blood work. And they have a lot of options that can help owners out with all of this preventative care management when it comes to the vet.

The biggest thing you can do at home is to make sure that your cat has a good diet. Your veterinarian will be the best one to give you advice on that for your cat, but good nutrition is essential, as well as good enrichment, so making sure that they have areas to play with and toys to play with. You probably want to have a cat tree or a place where they can kind of perch or look outside and watch birds out through the window. And that they've got a good cozy place to sleep and that they have plenty of litter boxes with a type of litter that they like to use where they can feel comfortable to go to the bathroom. And then the other thing that we can do at home is keeping them up on things like flea and tick prevention. And a lot of those also prevent ear mites, and we want to do some intestinal parasite prevention.

As some cats get older, I like to be proactive about their dental health. And so we carry these little dental treats here that work great for cats to work on that dental tartar and help with their fresh breath. And those are some things that you guys can do at home to help cats out.