| PET TALK
A Wellness Fair and Farewell to ‘Toby the Clinic Kitty’ BY CHERYL RAHAL, D.V.M.
(With sidenotes from Toby the clinic kitty)
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eterinarians have so much we like to educate our clients about, but sometimes we just don’t have enough time to review it all in one visit. Here at The Pet Wellness Center we like to host wellness fairs open to the public. Wellness, or preventative medicine, can look different for each individual pet based on breed, personality and lifestyle. On Saturday, Oct. 2 we will host our next community wellness fair. Visitors can meet our newest doctor, Dr. Carly Hohorst who will explain how acupuncture can help your pet. Dr. Yan Lee will discuss wellness in reptiles and will likely have little critter friends assist her. We will also have some amazing raffle give-a-ways. Hospital tours will show you what we do behind the scenes and the importance of wellness and prevention.
Why Prevention is Key The wellness exam is a noseto-tail exam checking your pet’s eyes, ears, teeth, heart, lungs, abdomen, skin, fur and feet. With the exam comes lots of questions from the veterinarian and staff, allowing them to determine lifestyle and reveal some of the behaviors that might be associated with specific diseases or risks of disease. This check should be done annually in young, healthy pets and every six months in senior pets, or more often for pets with a chronic health condition. This might seem like a lot, but every year of a pet’s life ages is equivalent to about seven years for humans. Can you imagine only seeing a doctor every seven years? (If you just said yes, you better get scheduled with your own doc!) A wellness exam is the time the doctor and staff have to educate you on endemic diseases in our area, such as periodontal disease, Heartworm disease, Ehrlichiosis or Tick Fever, and Coccidiomycosis or Valley Fever, discussing risks, testing and providing preventatives. Understanding how your pet could get these diseases is the first step of prevention. This is also a good time to discuss whether your pet needs
Toby’s Take W
ell folks, they say if you put your nose to the grindstone and work hard, the Toby the rewards are clinic kitty bountiful and retirement could come early. As much as I love my job at The Pet Wellness Center, retirement is here! I’m leaving assured they will do just fine without my supervision, and I’m looking forward to relaxation at the foot of Dr. Rahal’s bed. I hope to see you at the wellness fair, which is really my retirement party. Shhh! Don’t tell Dr. Rahal, but the cat’s out of the bag about the surprise party.
Wellness Fair & Toby’s Retirement Party
9 a.m.–1 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 2 lab work, and how that might help manage your pet’s health in the future. Having normal findings on lab work is a great thing and finding disease early by watching year-to-year trends is equally as rewarding.
Dr. Cheryl Rahal is a doctor of veterinary medicine at The Pet Wellness Center in North Phoenix. Her sidekick, Toby, spends his days alongside her at the clinic.
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SEPTEMBER 2021
