Elizabeth Animal Hospital Offers Three Ways to Protect Your Pets
We don’t stop at treating your pets for illnesses and injuries. We also offer you three ways to make sure your pet is protected from loss, with improved nutrition, and with insurance against expensive treatments.
Protecting the Bond Between Pets and Owners
You can find story after story in newsletters published by rescue groups and shelters telling about lost pets being reunited with their owners because the pet had a microchip. The microchip is a permanent pet identification. It is about the size of a grain of white rice and is implanted under your pet's skin between the shoulder blades. This system is much more reliable than collar tags and invisible fencing. Petlink™ uses technology that complies with international standards (ISO). It is the same microchip used by the Dumb Friends League. Look for stories on their web site: www.ddfl.org.
We recommend all pets be implanted with a microchip. Please call to schedule your pet for a microchip. We recommend you have your puppy or kitten implanted with a microchip when he or she comes in for their puppy/kitten wellness check or spaying or neutering.
Please remember: Only 22% of pets that go missing every year ever come home. Please don't let that happen to you and your pet. Protect your pet with Petlink™ and help bring your lost pet home. Even pets in the country need to be microchipped. It isn't always true that lost pets are coyote food but there is no way of knowing because most pets taken to a shelter do not have a microchip.
What to expect when you have your pet implanted with a microchip at Elizabeth Animal Hospital:
- Your pet is implanted with the microchip.
- You are given your pet's unique ID number.
- Elizabeth Animal Hospital will register your pet on PetLink.net at no additional cost.
- You will be provided a free lifetime registration and free lifetime updates.
- You will be provided free 24/7 support for your pet and for you.
- You can even add pets that were chipped using a different service to keep all their records together.
Keep Your Pet Healthy With the Correct Nutrition
On the list of the top five factors that affect your pet's health, nutrition is the first:
- Nutrition
- Check-ups
- Exercise
- Oral Care
- Skin Care
Healthy Pet Diets Start With Careful Research
Your pets don't know if a food is good for them or not (although, sometimes they won't eat a food that is suspect), so you'll have to make sure you pick the best diet for them. If you look hard enough and long enough, you will find countless brands of pet foods and endless recommendations for diets for pets. The veterinarians and staff at Elizabeth Animal Hospital have done their research into pet foods on your behalf. Those companies that continuously invest in the best nutrition for your pets receive our recommendation. There is no company that invests more in their pet food, supports the animal-human bond and works more with the veterinary community than Hill's®. Along with Hill's®, we recommend three other companies: Iams (Eukanuba), Purina, and Royal Canin. All of these companies manufacture high-quality foods for your healthy pets.
It is important for you to provide pet food with a precise balance of nutrients, not just the quantity of a particular nutrient or ingredient. The precise balance of nutrients a pet needs will vary with the age and breed of your pet. Good puppy care and kitten care starts with good nutrition, such as Science Diet® or Iams®.
A dog that will weigh 10 pounds as an adult will need much different nutrition than a dog that will weigh more than 100 pounds as an adult. And a 3-year-old cat will need much different nutrition than a cat the age of 13 years. Please call us at Elizabeth Animal Hospital to discuss our recommendations to help keep your pets healthy and active throughout their lives.
Prescription Pet Diets
Many common ailments in pets can be managed with good nutrition. There are special diets for managing all of the following:
- Canines with arthritis
- Cardiovascular disease
- Feline lower urinary tract disease
- Adverse reactions to food
- Inflammatory skin conditions
- Gastrointestinal disorders
- Hepatic (liver) disorders
- Obesity
- Oral health problems
- Renal (kidney) disease
- Recovery/Cancer treatment
- Urolithiasis (bladder stones)
- Diabetes Mellitus
- Dental health
Hills® research has brought a new level of understanding to canine osteoarthritis. They have developed a canine diet called Hills® Prescription Diet j/d which applies nutrigenomics. It contains high levels of EPA, the omega-3 fatty acid that has been demonstrated to reduce cartilage degradation in dogs. The diet has proven to reduce pain in dogs with arthritis, helping them to walk and run better, play better and climb stairs more easily. It is also useful as a nutritional aid for pre- and post-orthopedic operative care. It is a great food for athletic dogs even before they show signs of arthritis.
Protect All Your Family Members with Pet Health Insurance
More and more pet owners are buying Pet Health Insurance for their beloved pets. With proper coverage, pet owners can better afford the highest standard of care they want for their special family members.
Pet Health Insurance has been around for a long time. There are many companies that currently provide pet health insurance and many different options for policies. The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has provided special guidelines for pet owners looking into Pet Health Insurance. Those guidelines can be reviewed at the AVMA website www.avma.org. Search for "Pet Health Insurance." Please be sure to follow these guidelines when choosing an insurance provider.
Elizabeth Animal Hospital has seen an increase in the number of clients using Pet Health Insurance. We supply brochures for Nationwide (previously know as VPI) at the hospital, which is the company we have worked with the most. We include brochures in our puppy care and kitten care packets. The best time to buy pet health insurance is when your pet is young.
When you use Pet Health Insurance, you pay your invoice first. Then we assist you in completing your claim form. You receive reimbursement from the company after you submit the completed claim.
Following are links to some companies to help you get started:
- www.petinsurance.com
- www.petsbest.com
- www.akcpethealthcare.com
- www.trupanian.com