to our Wellness Care Center

Westonka Animal Hospital & Laser Surgery Center 4861 Shoreline Drive Mound, MN 55364 Phone: (952) 472-4900

Life Stage Wellness Care^©makes early disease detection & injury prevention easy and affordable

The Key To A Long and Healthy Life is "Wellness".

Wellness is created through prevention and early detection, as in human medicine

Table of Contents

Why Wellness Care

What Are Life Stages

What Is The Big Book of Wellness

Wellness Care Helps Older Pets Also

Why Wellness Care?

Helping pets stay healthy and happy is our responsibility and our goal. We know first hand how special your relationship is with your friend and companion.

Just like people, pets, too, have various life stages they go through. Each stage is unique and has it's own benefits and challenges. For example, the needs of a young adult cat 4 year old cat are much different than an 18 year old cat. Another example is that juvenile dogs require much more behavioral training, than, let's say, an 11 year old dog. With the juvenile dog, more emphasis is placed on social training and with the 11 year old dog, more emphasis is placed on the early detection of subclinical diseases.

Regular, routine examinations, both internal and external, are one of the most important tools for catching the early sign of many medical problems and diseases. A slight change here or a little skin bump there may be the first signs of what could become a serious health issue later.

Rapid Aging

Our animal companions age at a much faster rate than we humans do, especially large breed dogs. One year to us can be as many as six to eight or more years biologically for a pet. Because of this rapid aging, putting off that doctor visit for even just a couple of months or being a few months behind on either vaccinations or laboratory tests will be a human equivalent of putting off needed tests for years.

A pet's biological age is a more accurate reflection of the conditions and the requirements that a pet needs. A giant breed dog at eight years of age is much older biologically than is an eight year old Pomeranian or is a cat. That is why we have created wellness strategies based upon what we have termed, "Life Stages". We have divided a pet's life into four different "Life Stages" based upon his or her biological age.

We have divided up a pet's life into four different stages, I, II, III, and IV.
1. Life Stage I is the juvenile stage.
2. Life Stage II is the young adult life stage.
3. Life Stage III is the older adult life stage.
4. Life Stage IV is the much older adult life stage.

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What Is The Big Book of Life Stage Wellness Information?

This is our contribution to the pet loving community. The information in this book is designed to guide you through the recommended wellness care, those preventative recommendations to help your dog or cat live a longer, healthier, and happier life. This book is designed to give you information to prevent disease and injuries, in other words, the book is designed to create Wellness. It is our goal to make improve the lives of your family. This book is given to you at no extra charge with your first pet's enrollment fee.

The Big Book Of Wellness contains information about:

Many older pets do not receive life enhancing care simply because wellness measures are not utilized. There is a significant gap between the number of wellness visits recommended by experts and the number of actual wellness visits made. This is due to habits and preconceptions about disease and "old age" pet owners have developed during life stages requiring less preventative care.

Owners know that they will need to take their new puppy and kitten frequently to their veterinary care provider for wellness care.Infectious disease, nutritional, and behavior concerns are common. The second Life Stage requires minimal wellness care. This is when many owners establish behaviors regarding wellness care. They typically seek veterinary medical care for their pet once a year for wellness and when there is an dramatic illness or injury. In Life Stage II, illnesses are often sudden and dramatic, easy for the pet owner to spot. It is usually ONE condition that is causing all the problems for the pet.  The difference between Life Stages III and IV when compared to the Life Stage II is that the illness and injuries are subtle and build up slowly over a long period of time.These slowly developing problems which are not yet showing symptoms are called "sub-clinical" diseases. The problems are not dramatic in Life Stages III & IV as is seen in Life Stages I or II. Unlike Life Stages I & II with only one problem causing all the pet's symptoms, in Life Stages III and IV, there are usually several problems affecting the pet's overall wellness level.

The problem with older pet wellness care arises from the fact that many pet owners have established habits and preconceptions about pet care and conceive old age as something that is a "disease" and is a reason for ignoring problems. 

The good news is that the quality of life can be enhanced with proper diagnostics and treatments of chronic conditions, subtle problems if they are detected early.

"Old Age" is NOT a disease but the term "old age" is often used when people unwilling to seek care for their older pet. Owners are often afraid of what may be found when their older pet is ill. Owners must realize that many of these conditions are treatable, if not curable, if detected and treated early. Older pets can have healthy, happy lives when they are cared for properly. Preventative care designed for younger pets is inadequate when applied to older pets.

For injuries or illness conditions, we recommend a pet insurance policy such as VPI Pet Insurance.