Wellness Plans are now available for your beloved cat or dog at Safe Haven Veterinary Hospital.

You may ask, what is “wellness”? That’s such a good question and a point to ponder… and possibly one you might not have even thought about unless you’ve lost it! This is what Stedman’s Medical Dictionary, 27th Edition says about wellness: (Wellness is the) “fullest realization of physical & mental potential; attitude, fitness, diet, avoidance of unhealthy practices. It is not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Consider this portion of a version (adapted) by Don Aredell, PhD: “Wellness is first and foremost a choice to assume responsibility for the quality of your life. It begins with a conscious decision to shape a healthy lifestyle. Wellness is a mindset, a predisposition to adopt a series of key principles in varied life areas that lead to high levels of well-being and life satisfaction.

Yes, “Wellness” and “Sickness” are two entirely different areas of medicine. The first involves prevention and/or the slowing of existing disease processes where the other entails the effort to halt an existing disease process and establish systems for a return to maximum allowable health when possible. Wouldn’t you rather do what you can as long as you can to stay healthy? That’s the aim of our new Wellness Plans.

We have five plans for dogs and five plans for cats. The first and second involve different levels of maintainance care for younger animals. The third plan includes a dental at a reduced cost. The fourth plan is advanced prevention for older animals, and the fifth plan adds a dental to all the other services the fourth plan has to offer. Most plans involve unlimited Wellness visits – not to be mistaken for sick or urgent care – but discounts are provided for that necessary sick or urgent care. These plans can also be paid for in automatic monthly increments on a charge or debit account. Come by the office for more information. This is new for all of us, so matter how well we’ve tried to think it out, you may initially have more questions than we have answers, so be patient if our staff needs to get back to you on a particular matter.