Pet Wellness Care in St. Louis, MO

Proactive Protection: Personalized Preventative Veterinary Medicine

At Hillside Animal Hospital, we firmly believe that it is much easier to prevent diseases than it is to treat them. Just as routine checkups with your doctor are vital to your own long-term health, wellness exams are imperative to keeping your pet happy, healthy, and by your side for years to come.

We recognize that veterinary medicine is not a “one size fits all” practice. Every patient is an individual with a unique set of circumstances. When designing your pet’s preventative care plan, our highly experienced veterinary team carefully evaluates a variety of personalized factors, including:

• Breed and genetic predispositions
• Age and current life stage
• Daily lifestyle and environmental exposure
• Diet, weight, and reproductive status
• Your personal preferences and goals as a pet owner

What to Expect During an Annual Wellness Exam

During your pet’s routine wellness visit, our dedicated team takes a thorough, nose-to-tail approach. We perform a complete physical assessment to monitor your pet’s vital signs, joint mobility, dental health, and internal organ changes. Beyond the physical exam, we take a collaborative, team-oriented approach. We dedicate time during each visit to educate and empower you, ensuring you have the knowledge needed to make the most informed choices regarding your pet’s ongoing care.

Core Pillars of Our Wellness Services

Individualized Veterinary Vaccines

Our pets face exposure to numerous deadly infectious diseases, but routine immunizations offer powerful protection. Over the years, veterinary vaccines have saved millions of lives and virtually eliminated once-common fatal illnesses. Because every pet’s risk factors are different, we customize a vaccination schedule tailored precisely to your companion’s specific lifestyle to help them live a longer, healthier life.

Year-Round Pet Allergy Management

While many pet owners associate itchy skin with the changing seasons, pet allergies are a prevalent issue all year round. Allergies can severely impact your pet’s quality of life, leading to discomfort, skin damage, and secondary infections. Common symptoms to monitor at home include:

• Excessive licking, biting, chewing, or scratching
• Constant rolling or scooting
• Flaky skin, sores, scabs, or a poor coat condition
• Thinning hair or localized bald spots
• Redness on the skin or a distinct, unusual odor
• Recurring ear infections

Comprehensive Parasite Prevention

You cannot always tell if your companion is harboring dangerous pests. Fleas easily hide deep within thick fur, and certain tick species are as tiny as a pinhead, making them incredibly difficult to detect. Furthermore, intestinal parasites like roundworms can cause severe internal issues like diarrhea, vomiting, and dehydration-yet many infected pets show no outward symptoms at all. Our knowledgeable staff provides professional parasite testing and tailored preventative programs to eliminate these hidden threats inside and outside your home.

Professional Pet Nutritional Counseling

Nutrition plays a critical role in the overall vitality of your dog or cat. A pet’s nutritional requirements change naturally with age and activity level. Additionally, specially formulated therapeutic diets can actively assist in managing chronic medical conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, and kidney failure. We work closely with you to pinpoint the ideal food type and physical requirements alter significantly as they grow older. From shifting nutritional needs and modified exercise habits to a changing daily routine, older pets require specialized attention.

At Hillside Animal Hospital, we recognize that the aging process in pets is a unique journey for every individual animal. Our highly experienced veterinary team is dedicated to identifying the incredibly subtle changes in behavior or physiology that often signal underlying medical conditions before they turn into serious health crises.

Frequently Asked Questions