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Preventive care is the foundation of a Long, healthy life
Pets age faster than people, which means a year between visits can hide changes that are easy to miss at home. Routine preventive care gives your dog or cat the best chance at catching small issues before they turn into bigger ones, and it keeps vaccinations, parasite protection, and weight management on track all year long.
At Horse Heaven Hills Pet Urgent Care & Veterinary Center, our team partners with pet owners across Kennewick, Richland, and Pasco to build wellness plans that match each pet's age, breed, and lifestyle. From a puppy's first visit to a senior cat's biannual check-in, every appointment is built around prevention first.
What a preventive care visit typically covers
Every wellness appointment at our Kennewick clinic is built around a thorough, head-to-tail look at your pet's health, with each step tailored to their age, breed, and lifestyle.
- Nose-to-tail physical exam
- Weight, body condition, and nutrition review
- Core and lifestyle-based vaccinations
- Heartworm, flea, and tick prevention
- Intestinal parasite screening
- Dental health assessment
- Bloodwork and diagnostic screening when recommended
- Behavior and lifestyle conversation
Personalized wellness care for your pet
Annual or biannual wellness exams give your veterinarian a clear picture of your pet's current health and a reliable baseline to compare against over time. At our Kennewick clinic, we check the heart, lungs, eyes, ears, skin, joints, teeth, and abdomen, and we talk through any changes you have noticed at home, from appetite shifts to new lumps to changes in energy level.
These visits are also when we plan ahead. Together, we map out which vaccines are due, whether bloodwork makes sense this year, and how your dog or cat is doing with weight, dental health, and parasite protection.
Customized vaccine plans for dogs and cats
Vaccines are one of the most effective tools we have to protect cats and dogs from serious, sometimes, fatal, diseases. At Horse Heaven Hills Pet Urgent Care & Veterinary Center, we follow current AAHA and AAFP guidelines and tailor each vaccine plan to your pet's age, lifestyle, and risk of exposure in the Tri-Cities region.
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Core and Non-Core Vaccines for Dogs
- Core vaccines are recommended for every dog, regardless of lifestyle. These include Rabies, Distemper, Hepatitis, Parainfluenza, and Parvovirus/ Distemper, Adenovirus, Parainfluenza, and Parvovirus, and Leptospirosis.
- Non-core vaccines are recommended based on where your dog spends time, who they spend time with, and the conditions common to our area. These may include Bordetella (Kennel Cough), Leptospirosis, Canine Influenza, and Lyme Disease.
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Core and Non-Core Vaccines for Cats
- Core immunizations are recommended for all cats. These include Rabies, Feline Herpesvirus, Calicivirus, and Panleukopenia, typically administered together as the Feline Viral Rhinotracheitis, Calicivirus, and Panleukopenia combination vaccine.
- Non-core vaccines are recommended based on your cat's outdoor access, contact with other cats, and individual risk factors. These may include Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV) and Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV).
Parasite prevention for cats and dogs
The Tri-Cities climate, with its warm summers, mild shoulder seasons, and active wildlife, keeps fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, and intestinal parasites in play for much of the year. Year-round prevention is far easier, and far less expensive, than treating an active infestation or a heartworm infection.
We help you choose the right combination of heartworm, flea, tick, and intestinal parasite prevention based on your pet's size, age, lifestyle, and how much time they spend outdoors in places like Columbia Park, Badger Mountain, or your own backyard.
Guidance on spay and neuter timing
Spaying and neutering offer lifelong health and behavior benefits for cats and dogs. The procedure reduces the risk of certain reproductive cancers and uterine infections, helps prevent unwanted litters, and often lowers the likelihood of behaviors like roaming, marking, and certain forms of aggression.
There is no single right age for every pet. Timing depends on your dog's breed and adult size, your cat's living situation, and individual health factors. Our veterinarians will walk you through the most current recommendations for your pet and schedule the procedure at our veterinary center on Clearwater Avenue when the timing is right.
Microchipping to help lost pets find their way home
A microchip is a small, permanent ID that gives your pet the best chance of making it home if they ever slip out of the yard, bolt during a storm, or get separated from you on a hike. Collars and tags can fall off, but a microchip stays with your pet for life.
The chip is placed quickly with a small injection, similar to a vaccine, and can be done during a wellness visit, a spay or neuter, or any other appointment. Once it is in, you register your contact information with the chip's database and update it any time you move or change phone numbers.
Make preventive care easy and predictable
Wellness care should fit your life, not work against it. Ask our team about Snout Wellness Plans, a membership option that spreads the cost of annual preventive care into manageable monthly payments. It is a simple way to stay on top of your pet's health without rearranging your budget every visit.