Well, you need to bring your dog! Ideally, you’d also bring a stool sample. I know that sounds kind of weird, but it would be beneficial if the dog's due for a fecal check that you would bring that sample along. That way, we don't have to have you come back again to drop off a stool sample. That would probably be it.

During the wellness exam, we're going to be doing a complete physical exam on your pet. So we're going to start with getting the dog’s body weight on the scale and then take them into the exam room. I'm going to do a complete exam, checking everything from the tip of their nose to the tip of their tail. We take their temperature, listen to their heart, look at their eyes and ears, and all of that, so it’s a full physical exam.

There are so many things being sold out there that are utter nonsense. I know back in the day, people used to say that brewer’s yeast or garlic works, and none of these things work. I'm sorry, just don't even bother. Some of these things are dangerous. People have a thing about diatomaceous earth. If you put that in your carpet, every time you vacuum, you're breathing that in yourself, and I don't think that's healthy at all, so I really don't recommend those things. Please work with your veterinarian to find the safest and most effective product.

Yes, there is a vaccine for Lyme disease. Fleas and ticks will not resolve on their own. They will just get worse.

We recommend a product called Sentinel, which every time a flea lays 30 to 50 eggs a day, those eggs never hatch out. That's essential for environmental control. If you come to us and you already have an infestation of fleas or ticks, what we're going to recommend is that you do a lot of vacuuming. You do not need to spray and bomb your house or spray your yard because very few adults are part of the problem. In the pupal stage, nothing kills it except fire, so I tell people not to bother with using poisons in the environment. Let them just hatch out, as there is a product that your dog or your cat is treated with so that, as they jump and hatch out and they get on your dog, they're going to die. Then again, using both that with a combination of a preventative product will get the problem under control very quickly.