Silver Screen: For Senior Health

Older man with cat sleeping on his lap.Age is not a disease.

Medical and Veterinary students have been taught this for generations. Age may not be a disease, but things tend to happen more often, more quickly and often more seriously in older patients, both human patients and our animal friends.  Older dogs and cats, when they do get sick, deal with it in different and more stressful ways than younger dogs and cats often do.

On a related note, we at the Cuyahoga Falls Veterinary Clinic believe that preventive medicine is the best medicine. Sickness and disease can be more easily managed, treated and sometimes cured when it is caught in the early stages. Waiting until a disease has significantly damaged the body makes reversing course very difficult.

In applying our philosophy of preventive medicine to our geriatric population, we’ve developed a comprehensive preventive health care package for our senior patients called a Silver Screen. For patients 7 years and older, a Silver Screen takes a broad look at the outside and inside of your dog and/or cat friend.

Silver Screens consist of a

*complete physical examination
*complete blood count (CBC) – evaluates sizes, counts and ratios of red blood cells, white blood cells & platelets; this aids in the diagnosis of anemia, infections, inflammation, some forms of cancer, and bleeding disorders
*blood chemistry profile – evaluates electrolytes, kidney values, liver enzymes, blood glucose, and blood proteins
*urinalysis – looks for evidence of infection, bladder stones, some forms of cancer, as well as evaluating the ability of the body to concentrate the urine
*fecal test – looks for intestinal parasites
*thyroid profile – evaluates cholesterol and thyroid level; many older kitties develop hyperthyroidism while some older dogs develop hypothyroidism
*tonometry – screens the pressures within the eye to look for early signs of glaucoma or uveitis
*radiographs of the chest and abdomen – evaluates organ size, shape, position, and relative density

Add-on tests include: ECG (electrocardiogram), orthopedic radiographs, adrenal function tests, blood pressure, liver function tests and/or pancreas function tests.

The primary goal of our Silver Screen is to establish a normal, healthy baseline for your pet. But should there be an underlying disease or condition, the goal then shifts to detecting and quantifying it early. Early detection is best!

The benefit to bundling these tests is that each test performed is discounted 12%. That is savings that could pay off in a big way as your pet moves through the senior years!

Remember, we want to help your pet enjoy a long, happy, healthy life with you. We know that your senior pet-friend is important to you, and we want you to have many good years with your pet.

Comment on "Silver Screen: For Senior Health"

  1. […] Taking good care of our senior patients is a top priority at the Cuyahoga Falls Veterinary Clinic. We’ve touched on a number of senior-related issues in previous blog posts (such as Silver Screen: For Your Senior Pet’s Health). […]

  2. […] the quality-of-life of the patient, your pet. Managing chronic kidney disease is easier when it is caught early on in the process rather than late. Routine screening in senior patients is so important in maintaining health. […]

  3. […] refered to as simply arthritis or degenerative joint disease) is a result of normal wear-and-tear associated with age. Sometimes it develops secondary to obesity. For other pets osteoarthritis is a result of an injury […]

  4. […] disease and extreme dental disease in these patients. All of these are chronic conditions that could have been caught early and addressed with a good degree of success. Instead, the cats hid their illnesses through the […]

Subscribe now!

Sign up to receive a notification when we update our blog.