The holistic approach advocates treating the whole pet plus promoting wellness first to prevent sickness later. Just like people have a wellness plan pets need one too.
Animals can have many of the same diseases as humans including diabetes, kidney, liver and heart disease, thyroid problems and cancer. As you know pets age faster than humans. Do you remember how you figure your dog's age in dog years - one of our years is seven years for a dog? Since you take your pet to the vet once a year for an annual check up that is like taking them once every seven years. So when you do go for the check up you need get all the important information.
Your pet should get routine diagnostic testing consisting of a complete blood cell count and a serum chemistry profile. These results will give the vet information regarding specific organ functions and your pet's overall health. Wellness testing helps find disease in the early treatable stage and helps your vet get a baseline measurement to detect subtle changes over time. Plus the vet should take a complete history of your pet's activity and behavior and give, a thorough physical exam. Wellness plans are a bit different depending on your pet's age. Many vets are now offering specific programs geared toward senior dogs.
Though this all sounds great, the question many of us have is how do we pay for all this? We are not alone. According to the Bayer 2011 Veterinary Care Usage Study (recently published on Market Wire), the high price of vet care often overrides an owner's loyalty to their veterinarian.
The study shows that 26 percent of pet owners surveyed are now trying to find ways to save money on veterinary care and would consider switching to a practice that was more affordable.
With that said, almost half of the pet owners surveyed replied that they would bring their pets to their vet on a more regular basis if the practice offered a monthly-billed annual wellness plan.
Fortunately there is a way to make a wellness plan economical. Some of the pet insurance companies actually offer some type of Wellness Rewards plan. Though it is not insurance; it's more like an allowance (with bonus cash) that you can spend towards routine care such as wellness exams, preventive surgery and prescription diet food.
You make payments monthly so you are never hit with that huge bill for the routine check-up. Plus vets say it really does help extend your pets life and improve their quality of life as the preventive care helps them catch the bad things early on.
Pet insurance has come a long way and some of the policies now cover such things as chiropractic, acupuncture, homeopathic, holistic, veterinary orthopedic manipulation (VOM) and massage therapy, hydrotherapy and rehabilitation. According to claim histories pet insurance companies report that vets are using alternative therapies to treat such conditions as: post-operative pain from orthopedic illness or injury, cancer, allergies and skin issues and epilepsy.
So if you want to protect your pet and not have to worry about having to lay out a lot of cash unexpectedly consider purchasing a pet insurance plan that also includes a wellness program.
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