Coats
Veterinary Hospital welcomes your new puppy into the practice.Part of the joy of practicing veterinary medicine is watching your
puppy grow and mature.We recommend deworming your puppy and performing stool
parasite checks as early as 2-6 weeks of age, as well as checking your
puppy for any birth defects, ear mites and fleas.
Vaccines:Your puppy receives its first distemper/parvo vaccines at 6,
9, 12 and 16 weeks of age and 1 year rabies vaccine at 16 weeks of
age.(If your puppy is
older than 6-9 weeks of age, then three vaccines are still
recommended to insure adequate immunity.)
NOTE:If you have a large breed puppy, a fifth vaccine is recommended at
21 weeks of age.
We
also recommend vaccinating your puppy against kennel cough (which is a
contagious bronchitis) every 6 months starting with the last distemper/parvo
vaccine.Even though kennel
cough is most common for dogs where they are kept in large numbers, it can
also be carried through neighborhoods where backyard dogs have contact.
Your
puppy becomes full-grown at 1 year of age and will receive yearly
boosters.
Heartworm
Testing/Prevention:If your puppy is less than 4 months of age, it is too young
to have adult heartworms and will be started on heartworm prevention
during the administration of its puppy vaccines to prevent their
development.Your puppy will take this prevention once a month for life.(See heartworm handout.)
Nutrition:Your puppy needs to eat preferably a dry puppy food only
until 1 year of age.Then
it can be slowly switched to an adult dog food.We recommend Hills Science Diet Canine Growth for superior
quality nutrition.
Spaying/Neutering:Your puppy will need to be spayed (female) or neutered (male)
as early as 5-6 months of age (before heat cycle or puberty occurs).
Our
mission statement is practicing quality veterinary medicine while serving
you and your pet with friendly, personalized attention.We look forward to helping you any way we can.
