From a veterinary perspective, dogs are considered to be entering their mature years from 7 years old and cats from 10 years. Just like humans, all pets benefit from regular health checks. These allow us to better manage age related changes in your pet – ensuring that you are able to continue enjoying their companionship for many years.

Common signs of age-related illnesses:

  • Change in appetite/weight gain or loss
  • Increased or decreased thirst
  • Uncharacteristic, antisocial behaviour
  • Difficulty getting up from resting or increased sleeping
  • Difficulty climbing stairs, jumping onto surfaces or getting in/out of the car
  • Reluctance to exercise or lagging behind on walks
  • Appearance of lumps and bumps
  • Increased vocalisation or separation anxiety
  • Disorientation, staring at walls, looking distant
  • Change in toileting habits
  • Bad breath

To help support our senior patients and their owners, we offer Senior Clinics, designed for older, yet still healthy, cats and dogs. The Senior Clinics are run by our experienced nursing team and the consultations are free of charge. We will cover all aspects of your pet’s health (see below) and provide advice on how to help your pet in their later years.

Our Senior Clinic exam will include:

  • Coat & skin
  • Weight & body condition
  • Eyes
  • Teeth
  • Ears
  • Blood Pressure
  • Review of habits/ behaviour
  • Nail clipping

We recommend that a free of charge urine test is completed, so please contact the practice, and we will provide clear collection instructions together with the necessary collection equipment! A simple urine test can give us a good indication of kidney function and also test for diabetes and other problems. We are also able to offer Senior Clinic patients a 15% discount on our comprehensive, in-house blood tests.

Senior Clinics are currently run from our Kingsbridge or Ivybridge branches and the appointment will take approximately 30 minutes. All dogs that are aged 7 years or over are eligible, as are cats aged 10 years or older. Please contact Kingsbridge on 01548 852766 or Ivybridge on 01752 892390 for further information or to book your pet into a clinic.