Annual examinations with your pet's Veterinarian are important for your pet's health.  Here at Atwood Animal Hospital puppies and kittens begin their first examinations and vaccines at 8-10 weeks of age.  Ideally, both kittens and puppies visit the doctor a total of four times, three weeks apart.  At 8-12 weeks of age, rabies vaccinations are started; as well as optional but recommended vaccines such as lyme vaccine for dogs and feline leukemia and feline AIDS vaccines for cats. 

It has been the norm for pets over one year of age to visit their Veterinarian once a year.  Recently however, the AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association) has recommended to have pets examined every 6 months due to their rapid aging process.  On average, our pets age 7 times faster then people.  By age 5 our pets are considered to be middle age and by 8 to be considered a senior.  Annual wellness visits are especially important with our older pets.  Senior wellness includes bloodwork along with their examinations.