A routine veterinary check-up includes a full physical examination — eyes, ears, mouth, skin and coat — along with auscultation of the heart and lungs, temperature, weight and, where appropriate, a faecal analysis. The first visit should happen while your pet is still a puppy or kitten, and senior animals need check-ups more often. The point is simple: catching problems before they become expensive, painful ones.
Key facts:
- First visit: while your pet is still a puppy or kitten — start early.
- Physical exam: eyes, ears, mouth, skin and coat.
- Also: auscultation, temperature, weight and a faecal analysis.
- Senior pets need more frequent, more thorough check-ups.
- The goal: detect problems before they get worse.
Animals are very good at hiding illness — an evolutionary habit, since a visibly sick animal is a target. By the time you notice something is wrong, the problem is often well advanced. That is what the routine check-up is for.
When should my pet first see a vet?
Early — while it is still a puppy or kitten. That first visit sets up the vaccination and deworming schedule, confirms the microchip, and gives the vet a healthy baseline to compare against later. It also does something less obvious but valuable: it teaches a young animal that the clinic is a normal, unfrightening place, which makes every future visit easier.
What does a check-up include?
A thorough physical examination: the vet will look at the eyes, ears, mouth, teeth, skin and coat, feel the abdomen and lymph nodes, and check the joints and mobility. They will listen to the heart and lungs, take the temperature and record the weight — weight trends over time are one of the most useful early-warning signs there is. Depending on the animal, they may also ask for a faecal analysis to check for internal parasites, or blood work.
How often should my pet have a check-up?
For a healthy adult, once a year is the usual minimum, generally combined with the annual vaccination. Senior animals need more: from around 8 years in dogs and 12 in cats, twice-yearly check-ups are advisable, because at that stage a lot can change in twelve months — kidney function, joints, heart, teeth, cognition.
Why does prevention pay?
Because almost everything is cheaper, and kinder, when it is caught early. Dental disease treated at the tartar stage is a cleaning; left alone, it is extractions and a heart at risk. A kidney problem picked up on routine bloods can be managed with diet for years; found in crisis, it is hospitalisation. The check-up is the cheapest appointment you will ever make.
What should I tell the vet?
Everything you have noticed, even if it seems trivial: changes in appetite or thirst, in energy, in sleep, in toilet habits, a new lump, a change in behaviour or a reluctance to jump or climb the stairs. You see your animal every day; the vet sees it for fifteen minutes. Your observations are half the diagnosis.
Frequently asked questions
How often should my dog see the vet?
At least once a year as a healthy adult, and twice a year once it is a senior.
What does the vet check in a routine exam?
Eyes, ears, mouth, skin and coat, plus heart and lung auscultation, temperature, weight and, where appropriate, a faecal analysis.
My pet seems perfectly healthy — do I still need to go?
Yes. Animals hide illness, and the check-up is designed to find what you cannot see.
When is a pet considered senior?
Roughly from 8 years in dogs (earlier in giant breeds) and 12 years in cats.
Consultations, tests and treatment all add up across a lifetime. Petplan España (Petplan Ibérica, S.L.) reimburses 100% of the vet bill up to €3,100 a year, with a €45 excess, at any vet you choose. See the policy terms.
