SENIOR PET WELLNESS

“Age is not a disease.”

We’ll be there for your senior pet.

We want our senior patients to be just as healthy as our young patients. To aid in earlier disease detection, we recommend more frequent exams, proper weight and nutrition, and prevention of parasites. We recommend performing annual bloodwork to help us screen for serious health issues such as liver disease, kidney disease, or thyroid dysfunction. Arthritis can really slow down a senior pet, but we have ways of easing their pain. We are aggressive with our arthritis treatments, and we see results. Our new therapeutic laser has soothed many achy joints in our arthritis patients. We also strongly recommend Adequan injections for any patient showing signs of arthritis. It is the only drug FDA approved for canine arthritis – and it works!

Why do senior blood work?

Did you know that the incidence of diabetes in dogs has increased by 32% in the past 5 years? And that 1 in every 3 cats gets chronic kidney disease? Annual blood work is part of preventative care, ESPECIALLY in pets over the age of 7 years. Preventative care diagnostics help pets live longer, healthier lives. This is why at every annual visit, no matter what the age, we are offering you the chance to run a total wellness panel on your pet. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could know if your pet is getting sick BEFORE it’s too late? Blood work is very helpful with this, especially if we perform it every year. We can use blood work as a baseline, and when we start to notice even just a mild change in something, we can investigate it much sooner. If we weren’t checking this yearly, we probably wouldn’t find any disease until the animal is already showing signs. Once the disease has progressed, it becomes much harder and more expensive to treat. A common problem in cats (and some dogs) is chronic kidney disease. In the past, we couldn’t detect kidney disease until 75% of the kidneys were destroyed, and this means we had a sick animal to deal with, which didn’t always turn out well. IDEXX has developed a new test called SDMA which gives us the ability to detect kidney disease at 40% destruction of the kidneys, which is YEARS earlier than when we could previously detect it. Catching kidney disease much earlier allows us to get a head start on treatment, ensuring more high-quality years left with your pet. ​​

These are just a few examples of how preventative care can really change your pet’s life and yours. There are many other diseases and problems we can detect with some blood work. To show you the value of blood work, here is a handout that shows you all of the information we can obtain from blood work alone: Understanding Your Pet’s Blood Work

Laser Therapy

Laser therapy has proven to be a big relief for the pet’s suffering from arthritis. It is a non-invasive way to help manage pain and inflammation. Laser therapy increases blood flow and oxygenation in the tissues. The laser that we use in our clinic is the K Laser. We have gotten great results with laser therapy, sometimes within just a few hours of the animal’s session. For more information, click here.

Arthritis

Arthritis shouldn’t have to be a part of your senior pet’s life. Many pets are euthanized every year because arthritic pain makes getting around and doing activities they love impossible. Fortunately, there are many things we can do to help prevent the fast progression of arthritis, as well as treat what damage has already developed. In order to get the best results for your pet, we use multiple therapies in combination. In addition to prescribing medication, we will work with you on a complete long term plan for conquering your pet’s pain. We are aggressive with our treatment to ensure that your pet has the best quality years. If you are seeing signs of arthritis in your pet, make an appointment to speak with one of our veterinarians for the best plan for your pet.

Thank you for choosing Crossroads Animal Hospital!

Our team works hard to ensure that your pet received the absolute best care during every single visit to see us.

Contact Us

Hours

M - F: 7:30 am - 5:00 pm (The Lodge is opened until 6:00 pm)
Sat: 8:00 am - 12:00 pm
Sun: 8:30 am and 5:30 pm (boarding pick up ONLY)

Visit Us

466 Highway 6 West
​Oxford, MS 38655
Click here for directions.

If you are not a client of Crossroads, please go to one of these 24 hour facilities:

Memphis Veterinary Specialists & Emergency

555 Trinity Creek Cove,
Cordova, TN 38018

901 624-9002
memphisveterinaryspecialists.com

Have questions?

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We take pet dental care very seriously.

According to the American Veterinary Dental Society, 70% of adult cats and 80% of adult dogs show symptoms of oral disease.

Proper dental care can extend your pet’s life by YEARS! Animals can suffer from plaque and tartar build up just like us. They can also get broken and infected teeth that can abscess and be very painful. Gum disease or abscesses can result in an infection that spreads to the heart, lungs, kidneys, and other organs and cause life-threatening illnesses. We recommend dental cleanings as soon as we see plaque and tartar buildup. This helps to PREVENT any dental disease such as gingivitis, abscessed (infected) teeth, fractured (broken) teeth, or loose teeth which are all painful conditions.​

What happens during a dental cleaning?

  • A thorough physical exam is performed prior to the dental procedure.
  • Pre-anesthetic bloodwork is ALWAYS recommended – this helps us formulate an anesthetic plan that tailors to your pet’s physical health needs.
  • Your pet is sedated, a catheter is placed, then your pet is anesthetized and intubated. Once your pet has been anesthetized, we fully monitor your pet under anesthesia, and they are provided with warmth and IV fluids.
  • All teeth are scaled, polished, examined, and treated with fluoride.
  • After recovery, a dental discharge appointment is scheduled that day to discuss with you what was achieved during your pet’s dental cleaning.

    Crossroads Animal Hospital recommends that your pet’s wellness plan includes annual dental cleanings. For more information concerning animal dentistry, please see AVMA – Pet Dental Care. ​