Today the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, for short) asked Americans to prepare for “severe” disruptions in our daily lives as they anticipate that the novel coronavirus will eventually begin spreading in the U.S. On that scale, Chanticleer Veterinary Hospital asks you to be sure that we have your email address and or current phone numbers on file and that your pets’ annual exams are current. With that information if, and we all hope this doesn’t happen, quarantines are put in place and we’re not able to meet you in our office for your veterinary needs, we’ll still have enough of a current veterinary-client-patient relationship that we can provide what will hopefully be useful advice by phone or email. We will make sure we have communication lines open for that purpose.
On a much smaller scale, though, preventive care has always been and will continue to be the best path to meeting our shared goals of keeping your pets with you for as long as possible and at as high a quality of life as possible. “A year in a dog’s life equals 7 years in our lives” may be a cliché, but it rings true and applies (approximately) to cats as well. We don’t ask that you let us examine them once a year, ill or not, for the revenue it drives, although we acknowledge our need to make a living at our chosen profession. We ask that because they become less than healthy in subtle, hidden ways and if we find those health concerns early we can make so much difference in what happens over time – for their health, your joy, and your pocketbook. In a world where you don’t “flip their lips” (because why would you??), they can’t tell you they have an ache in their belly (and no one wishes they could talk more than us!), a declining appetite because of illness is attributed to being finicky (unless you’re a Labrador!), and weight loss and changes in behavior are chalked up to old age, a once a year physical exam is the best use of $60 we can imagine. Let us do our best work for you…
