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| Lab Checked! Ha! |
So, I started with my pet health checklist, which goes through the 7+ tips to perfect pet care. So, my pets are vaccinated, are wormed, flea controlled, microchipped etc.
I then went onto my emergency pet plan, which is always important to keep updated each 3 months at least, or at the worst, each year with your pet's annual vet check.
What is the essential part missing out of these? It is budgeting for your pet's veterinary needs - everyone complains that vets are expensive, but so is buying a car if you crash yours (that is why you have insurance), and yet, many people don't consider pet insurance for their pet, and many don't put money aside to cover the vet bills.
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| Emergency Pet Plan includes a Fire Alert on the house! |
So, I then pondered, is loving your pet enough to make you a responsible pet owner, even if you don't do anything of the worming, fleaing or microchipping? I don't think love, the love that the a small number of owners often talk about, is enough.
Just to make it clear.... I don't care how much you love your pet, if you allow them to walk around with severely arthritic joints, too painful to move, or leave them to die at home, because you are opposed to euthenasia, or with rotting teeth and gums, because you wouldn't dream of subjecting your baby to an anaesthetic. Because if you allow any of these (and other) situations to occur, then, you may love your pet, but you are not a responsible pet owner. And if I could charge you with subtle cruelty to animals, I would. But, as a society, we only recognise the obvious cruelty - the failure to feed, or provide shelter.
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| Responsibility is... not allowing your cat to lounge around and watch TV! |
As for keeping them in at night, we do try, but only Pusski and Dash sleep at nighttime at home, and Pandora, 9 times out of 10, she is locked up too. Fitzgerald Darcy, our problem child, does as he chooses, and comes in and out at night time.
We are not perfect, we are human. As are you. But it isn't easy, this responsibility stuff. It takes a bit of effort, an ongoing effort, and that is where your vet can help you!
A check up each year, makes sure that you are kept up to date on all of the preventative things that you need to do, such as the latest worming, heartworming, flea control, vaccination protocols.... the whole lot. It also means that we, as vets, can do the check over, and find stuff, that you, as an owner, may not see - after all, how often do you really check the state of your pet's teeth? or their weight? or scan their microchip and check the databases for accuracy?
So, if I honestly thought about all of the things that really annoys me about pet owners, it is that some fail to realise the importance of the annual vet check.
It works both ways too..... say, your pet visits your vet each year (or even each 6 months) on a regular basis. And, say, your pet is unwell, and you need to be seen urgently, or you are running low on funds, and can't quite afford the vet visit on that day.
If you are a regular client, then many vets will be flexible in the payment department, or supply of prescription medications in an emergency. If your pet visited Russell Vale Animal Clinic every year, and if, for some reason, you needed some help, then we would help you, because you are family.
