Protecting pets from nasty, invasive parasites might require extra vigilance and planning this year.

This is according to the Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC). To adjust for COVID-related delays from last spring and avoid lapses in preventative dispensing, the group recommends veterinarians proactively reach out to clients and move up 2021 appointment reminders.

“For those pets whose care was delayed, veterinary appointment/software reminder systems will automatically schedule 2021 annual exams later in the year,” CAPC said in a statement. “This may create scheduling difficulties and lapses in accurate scheduling for critical parasite testing and preventative prescriptions.”

To avoid this, veterinarians should consider adjusting those patients’ reminders to spring 2021.

“We believe every pet needs to be tested annually and receive parasite preventives in a timely manner,” says CAPC’s president and CEO, Chris Carpenter, DVM, MBA. “Our concern is delayed veterinary visits in 2020 may cause difficulties in pets getting access to healthcare in 2021.”

Moving up appointments will also help to prevent potential backlog for annual diagnostics and wellness checks in the summer and fall, the group says.

“Patients’ whose care was delayed during March and April 2020 contributed to overwhelming our schedules last summer and fall,” says CAPC board member, Rick Marrinson, DVM, a practitioner in Longwood, Fla. “To prevent both a lull in our spring 2021 schedule and an overly busy summer and fall, we are manually adjusting appointments, where applicable, back to March and April of 2021.”