Palm Beach County Veterinary Care Specilists

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Medical Care & Diagnostics

• Wellness Program
• Vaccinations
• Internal Medicine
• Puppy And Kitten Care
• Senior Pet Care
• Pharmacy and Prescription Diets
• Telemedicine & Veterinary Specialists
• Microchipping
• DNA Testing

Wellness Program
One of the most important things you can do for your pet is to bring him or her in for regular wellness visits. The focus of a wellness visit is the maintenance of optimal health.
The answer to "how often should my pet have a wellness visit" depends on your pet's age and current health status. During early puppyhood wellness exams are recommended on a monthly basis, while for the average adult dog annual wellness examinations are the norm, and for middle aged or geriatric dogs semi-annual examinations are recommended.

Pets cannot tell you how they are feeling, and as a result, disease may be present before you are aware of it. To further complicate matters, as part of their survival instincts most dogs will hide signs of subclinical disease (i.e., a disease that is in its early stages and is only causing minimal symptoms). This means that a health condition may become highly advanced before your dog shows any obvious or recognizable problems. Some early warning signs may be detected by your veterinarian during the physical examination, or subtle changes that are suggestive of underlying issues may be found, prompting recommendation for further testing as outlined below.

If a disease or condition can be detected before a pet shows signs of illness, steps can often be taken to manage or correct the problem before irreversible damage occurs, thus improving the prognosis for a successful outcome. In addition, early detection and treatment is often less costly than waiting until a disease or problem becomes advanced enough to affect your pet's quality of life.

Pets age at a faster rate than people. It is a popular misconception that one calendar year equates to seven years in a dog's life. In actual fact, in one calendar year a dog may age the equivalent of four to fifteen years in a human's life. The reason for this dramatic difference is that puppies reach maturity very quickly, and are essentially adolescents or young adults by a year of age - thus they are considered to be the equivalent of a 15 year old by their first birthday. During the second year, the rate of aging slows down a little so that the average dog is considered to be the equivalent of a 24-25 year old by their second birthday. After that, the rate of aging is estimated to be 4-5 dog years per calendar year, depending on the size and breed. Large breed dogs age relatively more quickly than small breed dogs. By the time your dog reaches its 6th birthday, it will be either middle-aged (if a small or medium breed dog) or geriatric (if a large breed dog). Here's another way to look at the importance of regular wellness visits: if you don't bring your pet in for a couple of years, it's like you not visiting your doctor for fifteen or twenty years!

Your veterinarian is in the best position to recommend how often your dog should have a wellness examination, based on its specific breed, health status and lifestyle. At Harmony Animal Hospital we customize care for every patient but generally we know that wellness examinations and testing are particularly important in the geriatric pet, since there is a greater chance that underlying disease may be present. This is the reason why semi-annual examinations are recommended for senior pets.

During a routine wellness examination, your veterinarian will ask you questions about your dog's diet, exercise, thirst, breathing, behavior, habits, elimination patterns (i.e., bowel movements and urination), lifestyle, and general health. Your veterinarian will also perform a physical examination of your dog. Based on your pet's history and physical examination, your veterinarian will then make recommendations for specific preventive medicine treatments such as vaccination, parasite control (including preventive treatments for fleas, ticks, intestinal parasites and heartworms), nutrition, skin and coat care, weight management or dental care. In addition, your veterinarian will discuss your pet's individual circumstances and decide whether any other life-stage or lifestyle recommendations would be appropriate.

Your veterinarian will recommend that a fresh sample of your pet's feces (bowel movement) is examined as part of every wellness examination. This sample will be processed and microscopically evaluated for the presence of parasite eggs. In puppies, monthly fecal examinations are extremely important since many pups will have intestinal parasites. Your veterinarian will also recommend heartworm testing on a yearly basis.

As part of a complete wellness examination, your veterinarian will usually recommend "wellness screening tests". There are four main categories of wellness testing recommended for the dog: complete blood count (CBC), biochemistry profile, urinalysis, and thyroid hormone testing. Within each category, your veterinarian will advise you about how extensive the testing should be. In younger dogs without noticeable health complaints, relatively simple testing may be adequate. In middle-aged or geriatric dogs, more comprehensive testing is advisable. For older dogs, additional wellness screening tests may include chest or abdominal x-rays to assess the size and appearance of the internal organs (heart, lungs, kidneys, liver) or x-rays of the skeletal system to look for degenerative changes in the bones or joints. Abnormal values are often uncovered even when an exam is normal or when the client does not anticipate any problems with their pet, such as low thyroid, early-stage kidney or liver disease and anemia. Our extensive diagnostic laboratory services provide information that is critical not only to a sick or injured pet, but for wellness purposes as well.

Make your veterinarian your partner in your pet's care because we share the desire to keep your pet healthy and happy for years to come.

Vaccinations
Primary vaccination is essential in order to prevent from returning the once common puppy and kitten diseases that caused high levels of fatality. Some of these diseases can be passed from dogs to people — so pet's vaccinations have protected human health as well.

Recently, studies have shown that vaccines protect dogs for longer than previously believed. There have also been improvements in the type of vaccines produced. In addition, there is increased awareness and concern that vaccination is not as harmless a procedure as once thought. This has led us to recommend reduced frequency of vaccinations and tailoring them to your pet's specific risk situations.

The research indicates that not all vaccines require yearly boosters. In most cases, fewer and less frequent vaccinations are the way to go. Most animals need only what are known as core vaccines: those that protect against the most common and most serious diseases. In dogs, the core vaccines are distemper, parvovirus, hepatitis and rabies. In cats, they are panleukopenia, calicivirus, rhinotracheitis (herpesvirus), and rabies as required by law. The need for feline leukemia vaccination will be decided based upon your cat's lifestyle and risk factors.

Our current vaccine protocol is to properly immunize puppies and kittens with two or three doses, starting later than we used to, around eight weeks and not earlier than six weeks. Then we give a booster one year later. Thereafter we repeat every three years by staggering the individual vaccines, i.e., by giving one vaccine per year instead of combination vaccines. Giving more vaccinations increases the likelihood of side effects. That said, we still consider the wellness examination to be the most critical part of each yearly visit.

We always make recommendations based upon the age, lifestyle, and risk factors of your particular pet. We vaccinate appropriately based on each pet's individual needs so please ask our staff what is recommended for your pet.

Internal Medicine
Harmony Animal Hospital is a full-service veterinary facility capable of providing treatment for your pet in a number of different areas. We cover all aspects of internal medicine and can treat a variety of conditions in the following areas:

Cardiology
Ophthalmology
Neurology
Dermatology
Gastroenterology
Orthopedic Surgery
Oncology
Endocrinology
Many more

Puppy And Kitten Care
Congratulations on the acquisition of your new puppy or kitten. Owning a pet can be an extremely rewarding experience, but it is also a large responsibility that lasts the entire lifetime of your new family member.

When you bring a new puppy or kitten into your home there will inevitably be a period of adjustment. Your goals are to help your youngster quickly bond to its new family, and to minimize the stress associated with leaving its mother, littermates, and former home. Chewing, play, exercise, exploration, feeding, social contact and elimination, and good veterinary care are basic requirements. By providing appropriate outlets for each of these needs, few problems are likely to emerge. New tasks, new routines, new people and new forms of handling can be associated with rewards to ensure success. And, of course, your new puppy or kitten will need to be provided with an acceptable area for elimination, and will need guidance until it learns to use this area.

We are here to help you navigate the physical and behavioral needs of your new family member. We will spend time with you each visit and answer your questions to get your newest family member off to the best start. We will set up a personalized program of veterinary care just for your puppy or kitten. A thorough physical examination is a great start on the road to good health. This should be done within a few days of bringing your new baby home. We will discuss a vaccination protocol with you and other important health issues such as intestinal parasite control and heartworm prevention. Our Puppy and Kitten Pediatric Packages can save you 30% on the care of your new family member, including vaccines and laboratory testing. Ask us about it when you come in for your visit. And on your first visit we will provide you with a packet of information and free samples to help you with the care of your precious pet.

Be sure you enroll your puppy in a socialization and training class as soon as possible. Critical behavioral milestones will soon be reached and gone forever. These classes can help your puppy become an emotionally stable lifetime companion.We recommend Lucky Dog Sports Club in Jupiter.

Senior Pet Care
Pets are living longer and have a higher quality of life than ever before, thanks to better preventive care, advances in veterinary medicine and better nutrition. As a caring owner, you play a key role in helping your senior pet remain healthy. Generally, around the age of seven, dogs and cats begin to enter their “golden” years, although giant dog breeds reach senior status at age 5. Since your pet doesn’t suddenly become old at a certain age, you should look for the physical, behavioral and metabolic changes that signal the aging process.

A touch of gray around the muzzle, increasing cloudiness in the eyes and a less-frisky gait are some of the more obvious physical changes you might see in your senior dog or cat. Other changes may be more subtle. It takes a watchful eye to recognize what may be early signs of disease or health problems. Often when you see outward signs of disease, your pet has already lost significant organ function and has actually been dealing with this disease state for some time. Early disease detection and establishing a baseline for organ function is important.

Your veterinarian can run a variety of blood chemistries, hematology, urinalysis, and electrolyte profiles that will check the function of your pet’s blood, liver, kidney, heart, pancreas, electrolyte balance, and thyroid function. These tests, and others such as radiographs, tonometry, blood pressure, and ultrasound, will provide your veterinarian with an excellent picture of your pet’s current health status. We recommend yearly laboratory testing, as well as twice-yearly examinations for senior pets.

Exactly when these changes occur will vary from pet to pet, influenced by factors such as genetics, the environment and nutrition. By reporting changes in your senior dog or cat to your veterinarian as early as possible, you can help improve your pet’s quality of life and keep potentially serious conditions under control. The decisions you make regarding exercise, nutrition, and health care have a big impact on your older pet.

Pharmacy and Prescription Diets
We have a modern and comprehensive pharmacy that allows you to effectively begin your pet's medications as soon as possible. We purchase only from reliable manufacturers so you can be assured of high quality pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals that have also been stored and handled properly. Get your pet's medications from a source you know and trust, your pet's care providers at Harmony Animal Hospital. And best of all, we can make getting your pet's medications as easy and stress-free as possible.

Pick them up at our drive-up window!
Ask for our EZ Fetch Refill Programwhere your pet’s medications are filled and automatically mailed to you at no extra charge. Stop running out of your pet’s medications! They will be there when you need them.

Many pets have dietary needs that can only be met by prescribed nutrition. Our hospital carries a number of prescription diets that are often part of a total health care plan for your pet. Our veterinary staff is able to tailor individual nutrition plans based on your pet's health needs.

Telemedicine & Veterinary Specialists
The veterinarians at Harmony Animal Hospital stay up to date on the most current treatment and diagnostic modalities. However, some medical conditions require specialized knowledge and training. Telemedicine allows us access to a multidisciplinary team of board certified veterinary specialists from across the country to confer on complex cases or receive a confirmation of diagnosis. Sometimes the best option for your pet is to be seen in person by a specialist and your veterinarian will let you know when this is the case. We use board certified veterinarians in a number of specialties including orthopedics, radiology, neurology, behavior, oncology, ophthalmology, and internal medicine. Access to specialists is done by either securely sending diagnostics electronically or by having the pet visit them locally. This team approach ensures the highest possible medical care for your pet.

Microchipping

If your pet wanders off and is picked up and brought to a shelter or animal hospital, how will they find you? You want a safe and effective way to be located for a successful and fast reunion. Collars and tags can fall off but a microchip will always be a permanent means of identification. It is a tiny transponder, about the size of a grain of rice that is encoded with a unique identification number. For dogs and cats, the standard site for microchip placement is in the subcutaneous tissue between the pet's shoulder blades. The procedure is fast, safe, and appears to be relatively pain-free in most pets. The chips are usually inserted without incident, even in the tiniest kittens and puppies.

Once your pet is microchipped, you must register him or her with the appropriate agency. Your veterinarian will provide you with the relevant documents and contact information and will tell you if any fees are required. Failure to register your pet's microchip identification will render the entire process useless so we can't stress enough to keep this information up to date. Harmony Animal Hospital uses the HomeAgain microchip. HomeAgain provides an inexpensive lifetime registration with its information database. It is an ISO microchip, which allows for easy travel into other countries. Please ask our staff for more information about microchipping your pet.

DNA Testing
Do you want to know know more about your mixed-breed dog's background? Harmony Animal Hospital now offers DNA testing for mixed-breed dogs. Our hospital uses the Wisdom Panel™ MX test. Based on years of extensive research, this genetic test can identify your dog's breed mix from more than 130 AKC recognized breeds. Using a small amount of blood drawn from your pet, Wisdom Panel™ MX can produce a detailed report identifying the breeds detected in your dog's background. Knowing the breed make-up of your dog can provide insight into your pet's behavior and appearance, as well as help identify potential health problems associated with your dog's background.

Harmony Animal Hospital is a full-service veterinary hospital located at 1401 W. Indiantown Rd., Jupiter, FL 33458 offering veterinary medicine and surgery, laser surgery, dental treatment and x-rays, ultrasound and endoscopy for dogs and cats. Call the hospital at 561-746-5501.

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Harmony Animal Hospital - 1401 West Indiantown Rd. - Jupiter FL 33458 - Phone (561)-746-5501 - Fax (561)-746-6114
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