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Puppy/Dog
Vaccinations and Preventive Care
Puppy shots:
Puppies need a series of shots
to protect them against the terrible
and widespread canine deseases that
could kill them otherwise.
Do not set your puppy on the ground
in an area where unvaccinated dogs
might have walked or defecated until
all puppy shots are complete.
This may seem extreme,
but it is a serious warning!
The precaution may save your puppy's life!
Many puppy socialization classes will not
even accept a puppy until after the fourth shot
for fear of these common and dreaded diseases.
Meanwhile you can ivnite lots of people
to your house or carry him to the park
and keep him on your lap for socialization.
Puppies Shots...
(Veterinarions may have slightly varying
approaches to the series of puppy shots...
do to living in different states
or climates etc)
6-10wks
DM(Distemper/Measles)
10 wks
DHPP(Distemper/Hepatitis/
Parvovinus/Parainfluenza)
13wks
DHPP again
16wks
DHLPP(Leptospirosis added)/Rabies Vaccine
20wks
DHLPP/Bordatella(kennel cough)
Heartworm protection should start at 16wks.
(There are pills available for this
ask your vet.)
Worming your puppy...
Young puppies almost always need at least
one worming and this propably was given to
puppy by the breeder you recieved your
puppy from.
The veterinarian can tell wheather
your puppy has worms by examining
a fecal (stool) sample under a microscope.
Adult worms may be passed in the stool.
Tapeworm segments are large and can be
seen with the naked eye.
They look like small grains of rice
and may turn up in feces or crawling
around your dog's anus.
Worms seriously compromise the
health of a your puppy and should be
taken care of as soon as possible!
Your vet will give you everything you
need to de-worm your puppy!
Signs of worms could be ....
Dry Caot, swollen belly and of
course worms in his stool.
After your puppies first shots and worming...
You will have follow up visits for the rest of
the series of puppy shots and then
you will need to give your dog...
Rabies:
12 months old....
He will recieve a 1yr Rabie shot
24 months
He will recieve a 3 yr Rabie shot
Your puppy must have a rabie shot to
get a lisence's from your city for
your dog which is required by law.
Your vet will give you papers stating that
your puppy/dog has had this shot.
DMHLPP:
An annnual booster is standard and critical.
Bordatella:
If your dog will be boarded or going to dog shows,
a yearly bordatella booster is highly recommended.
Lyme Disease:
Though the efficacy of this vaccine
has not yet been thoroughly proven,
many peple choose to vaccinate their
dog against Lyme Disease, especially
if the dog will be exposed to tick-infested areas.
Lyme vaccine is given annually.
Heartworm:
Heartworm is endemic to most regions of the U.S.A.
the adult worms take up residence in the dog's heart
and can clog and weaken it. Preventions is easy.
Give your dog a monthly pill.
Ask your vet for more details.
Preventative health care works!!!
Protect your dog from the major canine killers
by taking him in for his shots regularly
and on time and have your vet give him a physical
exam once a year!
Heartworms:
Heartworms are dangerous and common
canine parasites that spend their adulthood
in the right side of the dog's heart and
surrounding large vessels.
Mosquitoes are the heartworms' secondary hosts.
When a mosquito sucks blood from an infected dog,
it also ingests tiny heartworm microfilirae
(live young) swimming in the blood.
The microfilirae develop into larvae in
the mosquito's body over the period of a few weeks.
The larvae migrate into the mosquito's mouth,
and when the mosquito bites another dog they
enter the new host.
Over a period of a few months,
the larvae mature and migrate to the dog's heart.
They mate and produce more microfilirae.
The microfilirae must be ingested by a
mosquito to continue the heartworm lifecycle,
however, they can survive in the dog's
bloodstream for 2-3yrs while they wait
for their chance.
Adult heartworms range from 4 to 12 inches long.
As many as 250 worms have been dicovered
in a single dog heart!
Adult worms block blood flow in the heart
and can interfere with the performance of
the heart valves.
The obstruction creates strain on the heart
and may cause death.
One of the primary symptoms of heartworm is a soft,
deep cough that worsen's with exercise.
The dog may even faint after exertion.
Weight loss, quick tiring and coughing up blood
are other signs. However, some dogs who have just
a few worms may show no outward signs at all.
Treatmeant of heartworm infestation generally
requires hospitalization because of potential
complications from the death of adult worms and
their possible release into th bloodstream.
After the adults have been killed,
further treatment is necessary to
eradicate the microfilirae.
Luckily several successful heartworm preventatives
are widely available. Two types of pills are
prescribed to prevent heartworm, one given daily
and the other given once a month.
Dogs who receive the medications must be
free of the disease when they start the program.
Your vet can give your dog a test, called the
occult heartworm antigen test, which identifies
the presence of adult worms even if no
microfilarae are present.
This is today's best,
most dependable diagnostic test for heartworm.
Roundworms:
Roundworms are whitish worms,
from 1 to 7 inches long, that look like wiggling
strands of spaghetti.
Roundworm eggs can live for several years in
the soil and can infect a host from there or
directly from infected stool. A dog ingests
the eggs, which hatch in the intestine.
Larvae first migrate to the lungs.
After further development,
they either return to the intestine to become
adults or become encysted into the dog's tissues
and go into dormacncy.
Roundworms usually don't cause too much
trouble in adult dogs,
but they can be life-threatening to puppies.
Most puppies are born with some worms.
Even de-worming the dam before pregnancy can not
prevent infestation because dormant worm cysts
in the dam's tissues, triggered by pregnancy,
release larvae carried in the bloodstream to
the unborn puppies. Larvae may also be present
in the dam's milk. Some drugs to control the
larvae are now available for the dam to take
late in pregnancy and in the early days
after birth.
Consult your vet.
Symptoms of round worm infestation include
swollen belly, dull coat, diarrhea,
weight loss, and worms in
the stool or vomit.
Puppies should be de-wormed for the first
time when they receive their first shots
at 6 wks old and then 2-3 more treatments
to follow your vet will let you
know exatly what he is going to do!
Never use over the counter products!!!
You can kill your puppy this way!!!
I know it happened to me almost 20 yrs ago
and I would never ever use those
products again!!!
Go to your Vet!!!
Tapeworm
Tapeworms are common parasites that
attach themselves to the wall of a dog's
small intestine with hooks and suckers.
The body of the tapeworm is made up of small
segments with eggs inside. The segments loosen
and are released from the body in the feces.
If you notice small whitish segments that
resemble grains of rice in our dog's stool
or around his anus,
he probably has a tapeworm.
Other signs of infestation are dull coat,
diarrhea and weight loss.
The tapeworm commony enteres the dog
through a flea bite.
Therefore, flea control helps prevent
tapeworm infestation.
Other sources of infection include
raw meat and raw fish
External Parasites
Fleas:
Fleas are very widespread, common parasites
found in dogs, cats and even humans.
They feed on the host's
blood by biting.
The bites cause itching and sometimes
allergic reactions.
Fleas reproduce at an alarming rate
and can quickly infest your house and yard.
The only effective way
to control these pest is to eradicate
them on several fronts.
Fleas must be controlled on the dog,
in his bedding and in the enviroment.
( See: Flea's your outta here!!!)
Ticks:
Ticks are arthropods which feed on blood.
Adults lay their eggs either on the ground,
in crevices, or in your carpet.
The eggs hatch into larvae, which
feed on a variety of small animals such
as mice and birds.
After a nymph stage
and another feeding period, they become adults.
The adult female may sit on tall grass
or on branches or fences, waiting for a
larger animal to pass by.
Once on the host animal, she gorges on
the host's blood,
growing to as much as 300 times her
initial weight.
She then mates and drops off to lay her eggs.
Ticks carry diseases.
The deer tick is a carrier of Lyme Disease.
Ticks can also transmit Rocky Mountain
spotted fever, babesia (a blood cell parasite),
encephalitis, and cause tick paralysis.
These little brown pests can infest your
home if left unchecked.
Spray your dog with insect repellent before
walking in the woods or in grassy or weedy areas.
(spray yourself too!)
Check your dog and yourself thoroughly for ticks
when you return.
One of the best protections against Lyme disease
is thorough grooming, because ticks can only spread
the disease after the second day of their 3-4 day
feeding period.
Brush out your dog's coat and
check behind his ears and under his arms after
you return home. Check again several hours
later and again the next day.
Ticks are easier to see and feel
when they are engorged.
If you do find a tick on your dog,
kill the tick first by swabbing him with alcohol,
gin or fingernail polish, or flea and tick spray.
Wait about ten minutes to be sure it's really dead,
Then firmly grasp the dead tick with a tweezers or
tissue and pull steadily until it lets go.
If the head stays in the dog, there will
probably be some
localized redness and swelling.
Be careful not to get any of the tick's
bodily fluids on your skin as some tick
diseases can be transmitted this way.
Always wash your hands thoroughly
after extracting a tick.
Many products are on the market that are
effective against ticks.
Preventic is a collar that releases a chemical
damaging the tick's nerous sytem. It paralyzes
ticks so they fall off the dog.
Defend Exspot(R) is a liquid applied
as a single dose to the dog's back
between the shoulder blades.
This product protects against both fleas and ticks.
Ask your vet, he will know what you need!
Lice:
Lice are much less common than fleas and ticks.
They generally infest ill-groomed dogs in poor
condition.
Lice cause severe itching and sometimes anemia.
These irritating pests can often be found in
matted areas of the coat and on the head and
anal areas.
There are two types of lice, bitting lice
and sucking lice.
The biting lice feed on skin cells and the
sucking lice feed on blood.
Lice are pale colored insects
about 1/10 inch in length.
They lay small white eggs
called nits on the dog's coat hairs.
Though the nits look a bit like dandruff
to the naked eye, examination with a
manigying glass shows the nits are rounded
and attached to the hairs.
Lice can be killed with flea dips.
A dip every 10 days for a month should
solve this problem.
Ear Mites....
Ear mites are very tiny creatures that
take up residence in the dog's ear canal.
These small white moving dots cause itching
and a reddish-brown discharge.
They spread rapidly among cats and dogs
in a household.
See your veterinarion if your dog is
scratching at his ears or shaking his head,
or if you notice the characteristic discharge.
(ear mites are more common in puppies.
In adult dogs, head shaking may be more likely
due to a yeast or bacterial infection.)
You will proably need to treat the entire dog
with an insecticide as well as treating his ears,
since ear mites sometimes migrate to
other parts of the dogs body.
Mange Mites
Several types of mites can infest
our canine friends.
Sarcoptic mange is one of the most
common mite problems.
Intense itching results when the
female mange mites burrow into
the dog's skin to lay eggs.
Irritation caused by the mites
and by the dog's rubbing, scratching
and biting makes the skin red with oozing
scabs.
In advanced cases, the skin thinkens and
becomes dark colored.
The complete mange mite
lifecycle takes only 17-21 days and all
happens on the same host,
so this condition can spread rapidly.
Sarcoptic mange is treated with insecticidal
dips or with a new treatment where the dog
is injected with nbermectin.
Sarcoptic mange is difficult to
diagnose because the mites are hard to find
on skin scrapings. Demodectic and cheyletiella
mites can also cause problems for dogs.
Demodectic mites are usually found on puppies
and cause loss of hair around the eyes and head.
This problem can be very serious.
If your dog is suffering from red,
scaly looking areas, patches of hair loss,
or itching, suspect mites.
See your veterinarian immediately
some mites can infest humans.
Lukily we live in a world where
we can control canine parasites.
Use preventive measures such as good
grooming and insecticidal barriers
whenever possible to keep problems from
getting started in the first place!
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