Hundreds of pages and photos of real animal hospital cases The Internet Animal Hospital Dog and Cat Health Care...  written and photographed by veterinarians  in actual animal hospital settings Dog and cat health care articles written by veterinarians ThePetCenter.com is presented to you as a free pet care resource by PetFoodDirect.com and NationalPetPharmacy.com

America's Pet Store On The Web 87 Brands of Pet Foods! Treats, Supplies, Accessories for Birds, Fish, Pocket Pets, Horses, and Wellness/Holistic Products

Find Vets Near You Zipcode:

Pet Prescription and non-Rx Meds Prescription and Non-Rx Medications For Pets. Advantage, Capstar, Heartgard, FrontLine, Animal Wellness Center

---

INDEX OF ARTICLES

WAITING ROOM

EXAM ROOM

SURGERY ROOM

X-RAY ROOM

GENERAL TOPICS

IMPORTANT TOPICS

LAB and PHARMACY

PET PHOTOS

PET SUPPLIES

PET PHARMACY

All About Puppies

 
Puppy vaccinations, diseases and health care are important topics for any new puppy owner.  There's lots to learn so let's get started!  We'll begin with the topic of ...

GETTING A NEW PUPPY
Well, you've really gone and done it now, haven't you?  You just had to have a new puppy.  If you are a veteran of the puppy rearing scene you surely can recall the excitement and enthusiasm you felt when you brought that furry little bundle home for  the first time.  And if this is your very first pup... there may be just a bit of "What have I done?" anxiety about this major moment in your life.
And well you should be just a bit anxious... owning and caring for a puppy is a huge responsibility.  And with a bit of luck and good health care you should see that little rascal live well in to it's late teens. ThePetCenter is here to help you all along the way!

In this section about Puppy Care we will provide you with links to articles in ThePetCenter that you will want to read, give you guidelines about vaccinations, worming, and training and link you to our  Pet Products Department where you can order all your puppy equipment and food online!  The electronic age allows us to make immediate decisions about buying pet products, ordering and paying for them, and having them delivered right to your door overnight!

PUPPY HEALTH CARE

Note! Need info on how to raise an orphan pup?  Dr. Smith-Reed tells you what to do.  One of the first things puppy owners want to know is "What shots does the puppy get and when does the puppy get them?"

If your dog or cat is sick, call your local veterinarian!  If you have any other type of question for an expert, type your question  in the box below and you will receive an answer ASAP!  J When you click on the Ask The Experts button below you will have even more space to add details about your question.

Ask Your Dog Question. Dog Experts Answer You ASAP! Type your question here  letters left

DISEASES TO PROTECT AGAINST
Take a look at the table below and you'll see an explanation of the different diseases that veterinarians can help protect your puppy against.  A few of these are quite common, some are very deadly and an understanding of these diseases is important in puppy health care.  You and your veterinarian can talk about which vaccinations should be given, how many times the vaccine should be administered to insure good protection, and when "Booster" shots should be done. (A "Booster" shot refers to giving a vaccine more than one time.  The follow-up vaccinations will BOOST the immune level up higher and the patient will be even better protected from the disease.  The word "SHOT" is rather slang.  Injection is the better term.)  Most puppies will get a combination vaccine, called a MULTIVALENT vaccine, which protects against more than one disease.  This combination vaccine allows the puppy to be vaccinated via a single injection rather than having to receive four or five separate inoculations.

WHEN TO VACCINATE

The best advice is to call your veterinarian before you pick up that new member of the family and ask to have the puppy examined as soon after you become the owner as possible.  Each veterinarian will have a preferred protocol for vaccinating puppies and for follow-up vaccinations throughout life.  On your way home from the breeder/seller is actually a good time to have the pup seen by your veterinarian, and if you are able to you should bring in a stool sample from the pup for analysis for worms.   For information on worms in puppies, look at ThePetCenter's page on worms.  Getting rid of any intestinal parasites is the first step in having the pup's nutritional efficiency at an optimum level.

During the examination the veterinarian will look at the pup's medical/vaccination history.  If the breeder has given vaccinations just recently, and your veterinarian is confident that it was done properly, a recommendation will be made regarding when to come in for the next "booster" injection of vaccine.  If the pup is healthy and unvaccinated, your veterinarian will suggest vaccinating right away.  One or more of the vaccines listed in the table above will be administered and a suggestion made as to when the next visit should be scheduled.  To see what is involved in a good physical exam look at this page.

We will have more info on puppy diseases soon!

Vaccination Protocols and Schedule
Presented below is just one veterinarian's general schedule of vaccinations for puppies.   Your veterinarian's vaccination protocols may be different. 

Vaccination protocols for dogs are changing almost yearly as new research is done on duration of immunity.
Take an in-depth look at an article about vaccinations.

6 to 7 weeks of age:   Give first combination vaccine.  (Distemper, Hepatitis, Parvovirus, Parainfluenza, Coronavirus)
9 weeks of age:  Give second combination vaccine.
12 weeks of age:  Give the third combination injection and possibly a LYME Vaccine inoculation.  Generally a LYME vaccine is then repeated two weeks later, then once a year.
16 weeks of age:  Give the last combination vaccine.
12 to 16 weeks of age:  Rabies vaccine is given.  (Local and State laws apply regarding Rabies vaccine since this can be a human disease, too.   Your veterinarian will tell you the proper time intervals for booster vaccines for Rabies.)
Special considerations:  Many veterinarians believe some breeds such as Rottweilers and Dobermans should have at least two Parvo vaccines with the last one being given at 20 weeks of age.

If you are thinking about giving your pup the vaccinations yourself, there are few things you should know first.  Be sure to read ThePetCenter.com's advice about vaccinating your own dogs.  Take a look at photos and two movies showing a real vaccination reaction!

Why so many vaccinations?   Good question! The reason is that no one can be sure that the pup will actually mount a good antibody response to the disease just from one vaccination.   The age of the pup and just how much immunity it has received from its mother will complicate the "probability of protection".  So... if the pup has lots of immunity (called PASSIVE IMMUNITY) that was borrowed from the mother during early nursing, this immunity will actually interfere with the pup's ability to make its own immunity from the vaccine challenge.  The idea is to get the vaccine into the pup just as soon as the mother's passive immunity wears off (NOW the pup is very susceptible to sickness if it is exposed to the disease!) so that the pup can make more lasting immunity of its own.  The precise time when a pup can respond well to a vaccine is variable... it might occur at 6 weeks of age or might be 12 weeks.  So to be as safe as possible, why not start vaccinating at 6 weeks and end at 16 weeks?   Almost 99 per cent of puppies will develop a good immune level to the various disease from a vaccine schedule similar to the one above.

On very rare occasions any animal or human may have a reaction to a vaccination.  See a photos and a short movie of a German Shepard in the midst of a vaccine reaction here. These are just like the reactions that can occur after an insect sting or medication hypersensitivity.  This kind of reaction can be very serious and life-threatening and thankfully is very uncommon.  If your pup simply seems a little tired or slightly uncomfortable where it was vaccinated, that is an entirely different and mild response to the vaccination.  If you are not sure that your pup is OK, call your veterinarian for advice.

*****************************************************************************

Other topics for new puppy owners... "What about worms?" Have a look...  "Housebreaking" This will tell you how... "What about feeding and special diets?" All about nutrition... "What about bathing and grooming?" Sharon knows all about that... "What about crate confinement?" A professional's advice...

PUPPY SKIN DISORDERS

The best assurance against puppy skin disorders is to be certain that the mother is in a good state of health and is parasite free.  Born with a good immune status, ingesting colostrums rich in passive antibodies from the mother and a clean, stress free environment all help to insure that newborn pups are ready for the real world.  And their best barrier against pathogenic invaders is a healthy skin. Unfortunately, not all pups, even ones born into a good environment, may find themselves in trouble from a skin disorder.  Let’s take a look at a few of the more common skin disorders of puppies:

JUVENILE CELLULITIS also called PUPPY STRANGLES
These sad looking pups begin to have noticeable skin trouble at about five weeks of age.  One or more pups in a litter may be affected.  What the veterinarian sees at examination is usually a well fed, otherwise healthy pup that has massively enlarged lymph nodes, swelling of the skin and often wet oozing sores.  Marked swelling is usually most pronounced around the head and neck and the ears (pinnas) are thickened, scabs form and a thin fluid seeps from the pathologic tissues.  In some cases the skin will crack open the swelling is so severe. The lymph nodes under the jaw (submandibular lymph nodes) become extremely swollen and painful and may actually drain to the skin surface.

Cultures of these open sores rarely indicate a bacterial component and newer research seems to point to an immune dysfunction as the root cause of the puppy’s uncomfortable medical condition.  Since bacterial origins seldom play a role, administering antibiotics rarely has any effect on the condition.    Instead, treatment with Prednisone, an cortisone-like drug, works very well if given in higher than usual doses for two weeks, then the dose is tapered off as the dog matures and the condition resolves.  Sometimes dramatic improvement is noted after just a few doses of the Prednisone.

Therapy also entails routine cleaning of the skin and hydrotherapy where the pup is soaked in warm water with just a small amount of antiseptic added.  If a particular case seems to have a secondary bacterial infection, which might be expected with such skin stress and exudative material present on the skin, antibiotics may be needed to assist resolution of the overall problem.

Fluid therapy and Vitamin administration may be helpful for pups that are dehydrated and not eating well.  And a high quality, meat-based diet is indispensable in helping the pup to recover form Juvenile Cellulitis.  Almost all pups will recover but permanent scarring, lack of hair production and pigment changes can be a reminder of this nasty puppy skin disease.

SCABIES MITES                For a full discussion, visit this page.
Scabies mites, also called Sarcoptic mites, can survive off of a dog at room temperatures for two to six days.  Their life cycle takes about twenty-one days from egg to skin-burrowing adult. Most scabies mite infestations are specific for their host and do not do well on a different species host.  That’s why most canine scabies cases can be transmitted easily to other dogs but these mites do not thrive very well on cats or humans.  Often mistaken for a skin allergy case, dogs with Scabies do not fare well if given Prednisone or other cortisone-like medications and in fact administration of these drugs can have a worsening effect in these cases.  The real hallmark of Scabies mites is intense and constant itching as a result of their burrowing activities deep into the skin.  Puppies and adult dogs with scabies mites… also called Sarcoptic Mites and Red Mange… will display patches of thin hair coat, dry scabs, sores from self-inflicted scratching, and crusts.  This patchy and scabby dermatitis is usually noted along the belly, at elbows and hocks and around the face.  Scabies mites are especially prevalent along the ear margins; one simple but rather accurate way to know if Sarcoptic mites are present on a dog is to gently scratch along the outer edges of the ear.  If vigorous scratching of the pup’s ear margins produces an involuntary rear leg scratching motion, called the Pinna-Pedal Reflex, there most certainly are mites present.

Treatment is begun even if no mites are identified on repeated skin scrapings.  Most veterinarians will treat for these mites based upon circumstantial evidence.  For example, itchy skin allergies are exceedingly rare in young dogs, but Sarcoptic mites are common.  It makes sense to treat for them is they are suspected.  All other dogs in contact with the affected dog should be treated, as well.  Cats in contact with an affected pup may need to be treated but veterinarians treat each case individually since the canine scabies mite does not thrive on healthy felines.  So it may not be necessary to treat a housemate cat… but surely all canines in contact with the affected dog should be treated for scabies mites even if no signs are obvious in the other dogs.

Treatment for scabies is usually Ivermectin; the dose must be calculated precisely to avoid a dangerous overdose, too.  Ivermectin can be injected or given orally weekly for six weeks.  Revolution, a topical antiparasite medication, is indicated for scabies treatment.  It needs to be applied more often than monthly and each veterinarian has a favorite dosage schedule.  Milbemycin Oxime, an oral worm medication, has been used as a scabies treatment when given weekly for six weeks.  Lime Sulfur shampoos and dips can work but are less often used than those already mentioned.

Often overlooked as an adjunct to scabies therapy is the importance of a high quality, meat-based diet.  These skin mites are very stressful to the pup and adult dog so these patients really require optimum nutrition, rich in Omega Fatty Acids and digestible meat protein.  Environmental cleanup is important, too, since the mites can survive for a few days off of the host.  Simple cleaning of surfaces, washing of bedding, removal of hay or chip bedding from doghouses is important factors in ridding the environment of Sarcoptic mites.  And make sure the adult dog(s) in the household are not roaming in the woods and exploring fox or coyote dens, a common source of scabies for dogs.  Contact with a carrier dog in the neighborhood as a primary source needs to be evaluated, too.

DEMODEX
Demodex mites are very commonly seen in puppies.  These mites live in the hair follicles of their hosts and are most often transmitted from the pup's mother at birth and while nursing.  Even perfectly healthy and normal appearing dogs can be continuous carriers of small numbers of Demodex mites and not show any signs at all of the parasite.  In fact, many, many healthy dogs harbor these mites in skin follicles and suffer no consequences at all.  In genetically predisposed animals, especially some lines of Poodles and Dobermans, specific immune proteins may be present in abnormally low levels, which can allow these mites to proliferate and cause  serious, difficult-to-treat Demodecosis.  Every case of Demodex in a puppy needs to be watched closely in case it becomes generalized.  Most veterinarians will treat the small, dry, circular patches of hair loss once Demodex mites are seen under the microscope.  These mites can readily be identified in skin scrapings taken from the lesion; Sarcoptic mites rarely can be seen via skin scrapings.

Treatment for Demodex varies and ranges from Ivermectin to topical antiparasite medications.  Fortunately, as the pup grows up, most cases of Demodex mites resolve on their own with no treatment.  Generalized and severe cases are rarely seen and occur mostly in severely stressed, malnourished or genetically immune depressed animals.  Most responsible breeders will not breed any dog that displays chronic Demodex problems.  Since Demodex can be associated with inherited immune deficiencies, there really should be careful consideration given to keeping these dogs out of any breeding program.

(There will be much more posted here soon about PUPPY CARE.  Watch for the additions.)

DYSTOCIA:  For info about (difficulty with whelping) look here.
PYOMETRA: Dangerous uterine infection in dogs is shown here.
ORPHANS:  Pups and kittens how to raise them is explained here.