An annual exam is a thirty-minute conversation about your pet's next year.

Clinically reviewed by Dr. Sara de Wet, DVM, MPH · Medical Director · Last updated 2026-05-25

A wellness exam is the only time most pets see us in a calm year. It is also the appointment where most problems get caught — a heart murmur that wasn't there last year, a thyroid level drifting in a cat who has lost half a pound, a lump that wasn't a lump six months ago, a dental tartar progression that has crossed the line from observe-it to address-it. For exotic patients, a yearly hands-on exam is even more critical: prey-species animals like rabbits and birds instinctively hide illness, meaning subtle weight changes or subtle behavioral shifts are often the only early clues.

We schedule thirty minutes for a wellness exam on dogs and cats, and up to forty-five minutes for exotic-species patients. We do not double-book. The doctor doing the exam is not racing through a backlog. The technician taking the patient history is allowed to ask follow-up questions. If the visit needs to run longer because there is something to discuss, the visit runs longer.

For most healthy adult pets, that one annual exam is the entire medical relationship for the year. We take that seriously. Almost everything we end up treating, we find at wellness — and the earlier we find it, the more options the patient has.

What's included in a wellness visit.

Head-to-tail exam

Performed by the DVM, not the technician. Includes oral exam, ophthalmic exam, cardiac and pulmonary auscultation, abdominal palpation, lymph-node check, musculoskeletal assessment, and skin/coat exam. For exotic patients, the exam is species-adapted — feather condition, beak alignment, shell integrity, or dental occlusion as appropriate.

Weight & body condition

Recorded at every visit, with a 9-point body-condition-score and a muscle-condition assessment for senior patients. For small exotic mammals and birds, gram-scale weights are tracked at every visit — trends matter more than single numbers, and in small animals even modest weight loss is significant.

Dental assessment

Visual grading of dental disease and recommendation for cleaning if indicated. For rabbits and guinea pigs, dental malocclusion is among the most common health problems we see, and early assessment changes outcomes dramatically. We do not over-recommend dental work; we tell you exactly what we see and why we're recommending what we are.

Vaccination review

Lifestyle-tailored protocol review. Your indoor cat doesn't need everything a puppy needs. Core versus elective vaccines reviewed annually. Dogs and cats only — exotic species do not receive standard vaccines but do require preventive health monitoring.

Parasite prevention

Conversation about heartworm prevention, flea and tick control, and intestinal parasite screening based on your pet's exposure profile. For exotic species, parasite screening is tailored to the species (mites in birds, pinworms in rabbits, internal parasites in reptiles).

Diet & weight

Honest conversation about body weight, diet composition, and treats. We are matter-of-fact and unjudgmental. Improper diet is among the top causes of illness in exotic pets — we take the time to walk through species-appropriate nutrition at every wellness visit.

Bloodwork

Recommended annually after age seven for dogs and cats; baseline once around age three. Senior panels include CBC, chemistry, T4 thyroid, electrolytes, and urinalysis. For exotic species, bloodwork intervals and panels vary by species and age. Our in-house IDEXX laboratory returns most results same-day.

Written visit summary

Emailed to you the same day. Includes findings, recommendations, vaccine record, and any follow-up plan. We do not rely on you remembering what we said.

What does a wellness visit cost?

The office visit for dogs and cats is $95. Vaccines, if elected, are $28 to $72 each depending on the vaccine. Bloodwork, if elected, runs $145 to $220 depending on the panel. A typical adult wellness visit with full vaccines and senior bloodwork runs $285 to $365. A wellness visit on a healthy 3-year-old indoor cat with only the rabies booster due runs about $135. Exotic-species exam fees vary by species — please call us at (804) 594-3545 for current pricing on avian, reptile, or small-mammal visits. We give a written estimate before any procedure and we do not charge for diagnostics you did not approve.

• Office visit (dog or cat): $95 — the thirty-minute exam, with the doctor.
• Single vaccine: $28–$72 depending on the vaccine (rabies on the low end, leptospirosis on the high end).
• Annual bloodwork (senior panel): $145–$220 — CBC, chemistry, T4 thyroid, electrolytes, urinalysis.
• Heartworm + tick panel: $58 — annual snap test for dogs.
• Adult cat with rabies booster only: about $135 total.
• Senior dog with full vaccines & bloodwork: $285–$365 total.

If those numbers are not workable for your household, our Adult Pet Plan covers two wellness exams, annual vaccines, annual bloodwork, and nail trims on a monthly membership basis. See /wellness-plans for full comparison.

"The exam is the appointment. Everything else is downstream of catching the thing in the exam."

Lifestyle-tailored vaccines, not a one-size protocol.

Vaccines fall into two categories: core (vaccines every dog or every cat should have, regardless of lifestyle) and lifestyle (vaccines we recommend if your pet's exposure pattern warrants them). For dogs the core vaccines are distemper-parvo-adenovirus and rabies. Lifestyle-elective vaccines include Bordetella (kennel cough — for boarded or daycare dogs), Leptospirosis (for dogs who drink from puddles, hike with you, or live near wildlife), Lyme (for tick-exposed dogs), and canine influenza (for dogs who travel or attend high-density grooming or boarding facilities). For cats the core vaccines are FVRCP and rabies. FeLV is a lifestyle vaccine for cats with outdoor exposure or multi-cat households.

We do not recommend every vaccine for every patient. We re-evaluate the protocol every wellness visit because your pet's lifestyle changes. Indoor-only kitten becomes a screened-porch cat at age four. Sedentary house dog starts hiking the trails at Pocahontas State Park at age six. These are the conversations we want to have.

Exotic species wellness — why it matters more, not less.

Rabbits, guinea pigs, birds, reptiles, and amphibians are prey animals. They are biologically programmed to hide signs of illness from predators — which means that by the time an owner notices something is wrong, the disease process is often well advanced. Annual wellness exams for exotic species exist precisely to find the things the animal is hiding: the early weight loss in a rabbit, the subtle beak abnormality in a parrot, the beginning of metabolic bone disease in a reptile who isn't getting quite enough UVB.

Our exotic-species doctors see birds (parrots, chickens, and other avian species), reptiles (lizards, turtles, snakes), amphibians (frogs and salamanders), and small mammals (rabbits, guinea pigs, ferrets, rats, mice, hedgehogs, and other pocket pets). When you book an exotic-species wellness visit, let us know the species so we can schedule the right clinician and prepare appropriate equipment.