We love seeing our patients, but visits to see us can be stressful for pets, and when they are poorly it is better to see them as little as possible but as much as necessary.  

Pets with sudden, serious, changing or chronic conditions will undoubtedly benefit from seeing a vet early on and more frequently as that allows us to regularly reassess our treatments and identify emerging issues early on.

With less serious conditions, most pets, like their human owners, will benefit more from rest and being given time to heal and recover. 

Due to these considerations, while members of our Ultimate and Ultimate Senior plans benefit from unlimited consultations, our vets will still advise you on how often it would be sensible to review pets to balance the stress of a visit with the benefit of a consultation.

Nail clipping and anal gland expression with a nurse is a service that is available as part of our Ultimate and Ultimate Senior plans. For the vast majority of pets, these are not pleasant procedures and it is not beneficial to do these more than is absolutely necessary.

Moderately overgrown nails will cause no discomfort to a pet in most circumstances and our vets and nurses will advise you if they think a nail is not too long. If it is unclear if a nail is too long, it is usually fine.

Anal glands requiring expression more frequently than a few times a year is commonly a sign of an allergic dermatological condition, a dietary issue or anal gland disease. If your pet requires expression more frequently than two or three times per year please speak to one of our vets. 

Learn more about our Lifetime Care Club.