We recommend at least once a year getting your healthy cat into the vet to check their body weight, go over their diet and nutrition, and conduct the physical exam to ensure there isn't a problem that you just can't see.

We’re initially going to see kittens right after you adopt them. And then we need to see them every three weeks until they're four months old for their vaccine series. And then when they're about six months old, they're going to be examined again, and that's the time that we do the spay or the neuter.

If there's a disease process going on, the doctor will recommend seeing your pet again. Again, we recommend exams every six months for a cat that's eight or older, but let's say the cat has a kidney problem, then we might want to see them every three or four months.

How often a cat should get a wellness exam depends on the age of the pet. If it's a kitten, we recommend them coming in very frequently up until about six months. We might even see them every three weeks for a checkup while they're getting their boosters. Once they're an adult, we recommend once a year, and then, once they become a senior, we recommend wellness exams every six months. Cats are considered seniors around the age of eight years old.

I would consider a baseline diagnostic test with a blood panel, checking their organ function, blood sugar, a complete blood cell count, and I’d look at all of the red and white cells. That's something that we recommend as a baseline, even in puppies. And then, depending on if they're on long-term medication, we might need to do that more frequently. That would be what I would consider a baseline. Depending on a puppy’s breed, we also sometimes recommend a baseline hip x-ray, looking for hip dysplasia or other orthopedic problems that might come up.

If we find a problem during the exam, we're going to talk about the treatment options and how often the dog needs to come back. These things would depend on what we found on the exam.