Wellness Exams for Pets in Oakland, CA

One of the most important elements of pet care is the annual wellness exam. During these exams, we evaluate your pet from nose to tail, beginning with a weight check and assessment of the skin and coat. We also check the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth (visit our Dentistry page for information about our dental services). Your pet’s legs, joints, lungs, heart, and abdomen will also be evaluated. These wellness exams allow us to determine if there are any health issues so we can treat them as soon as possible.

Vaccinations protect pets from viral and bacterial diseases by using weakened viruses of these diseases to trigger your pet’s immune system to recognize and fight the infection. Vaccine protocols will vary for each pet, depending on species, age, and lifestyle. We base our vaccine protocols off of the recommendations from the AAHA-AVMA Preventive HealthCare Guidelines Task Force for both dogs and cats. You can learn more on our Pet Vaccinations page.

If your pet is found to be overweight, we can provide nutritional counseling to help them return to a healthy weight. A typical counseling session includes a discussion about food types, the amount of food that should be given on a daily basis, and exercise recommendations. We can also provide information on the ideal weight for your pet’s specific breed and age and give tips for how to determine if your pet is overweight.

Intestinal parasites like roundworms and hookworms can cause a number of health problems for your pet, ranging from vomiting to weakness to intestinal blockage. Some parasites are also zoonotic, which means they can be passed on to humans. Most parasites are visible in the stool of an animal, so it’s important to have your pet screened once a year, both for their health and that of your family. Thornhill Pet Hospital is equipped with a fecal loop to extract samples from most pets we see, so bringing in a fecal sample is typically not necessary. If your pet is found to have parasites, we can treat them accordingly.

Heartworm is a disease that affects the hearts, lungs, and blood vessels of a dog or cat. It’s caused by parasitic worms that are spread through mosquito bites. Year-round heartworm prevention is critical to your pet’s health, so we recommend preventives like Heartgard and Tri-heart, which we have available at our animal hospital. We also offer Trifexis and several other preventives, which are available in-house or for free home delivery for current clients. It’s also important to have your pet screened annually for heartworm.

Fleas are prevalent in shady, moist areas and can cause allergies. Ticks can transmit Erlichia, Lyme disease, and other potentially life-threatening conditions to your pets. To prevent fleas in both dogs and cats, we recommend topical preventives like Activyl and oral prescription flea medications like Comfortis. To protect dogs from fleas and ticks we recommend oral prescription medications like Bravecto (one dose for 12 weeks of protection) and Activyl Tick Plus if you prefer a topical product. We also recommend treating the premises for fleas to ensure they are all eradicated.

Learn more about tick prevention

Dogs and cats are considered seniors at about 10 years of age. In addition to the standard wellness exam, nutritional assessment, and parasite screening/prevention, we recommend senior blood panels and a urinalysis to detect any chronic diseases. We also recommend a digital x-ray screening to view your pet internally. If your pet has arthritis, we have steroidal and non-steroidal medication options to treat it, including Rimadyl, Metacam, Dasuquin, and Flexadin.

The city of Oakland requires that all dogs and cats be microchipped prior to being licensed. No larger than a grain of rice, a microchip is a device that serves as a permanent form of identification for pets. It’s implanted just beneath a dog or cat’s shoulder blades and is encoded with the owner’s contact information. Here at Thornhill Pet Hospital, we use the Home Again microchip for our patients.

In-house digital radiography and ultrasonography are two forms of diagnostic imaging technology that allow us to safely examine your pet internally. This enables us to diagnose conditions of the bones, kidneys, liver, bones, and other internal organs. 

We perform a number of soft tissue surgeries, including spay and neuter surgeries, in-house. We also have a board-certified veterinary surgeon available by appointment only to perform orthopedic surgeries in-house. For more complex surgeries, we can refer out or have a surgical specialist perform the surgeries in-house.

Our hospital is equipped with an in-house pet laboratory, where we can administer pre-operative and pre-dental blood panels. We also collaborate with commercial and veterinary school clinical laboratories.

To give your pet the most effective state-of-the-art care, we work closely with area veterinary specialists. Caring for your pet is a collaborative effort between our veterinarian and veterinary specialists so that both parties can have a full understanding of each dog and cat’s clinical condition.