Looking at yearly pet exams
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| Marklee VonEshen at the vet |
Statistics point to an interesting trend in pet health care. A recent study, commissioned by Bayer HealthCare LLC, Animal Health Division and conducted by Brakke Consulting in collaboration with the National Commission on Veterinary Economic Issues, indicates that even though the population of pet owners has increased, the number of dogs and cats receiving veterinary care has sharply decreased.
The idea behind an annual checkup is simple: in order to prevent more costly future problems, your dog should visit your vet every year, even if he is healthy. This catches disease at its earliest treatable stage. This seems like good sense and money well spent. We humans after all, visit our doctors annually and that benefits our health, right?
There are many studies that say the contrary. A study by Danish researchers analyzed data from 183,000 people who took part in 14 trials carried out over a number of years. After examining the data, the researchers concluded that the patients who received routine health checks were just as likely to die over a none year period as those who didn’t receive health checks. Moreover, routine health checks seemed to have no effect on hospital admission rates, referrals to specialists or time lost at work. The researchers summarized, “General health checks are unlikely to be beneficial…A physical exam is a pretty meaningless thing to have done.”
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