New Puppy
First off- congratulations on your new family member, how exciting! We created this page for new pet owners to be able to use as a reference for what we generally recommend. Hopefully you will find this information useful!
Vaccines
Vaccines are an essential part of a dog's health!
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8 weeks old: We recommend they get their first distemper-parvo vaccine at this time.
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12 weeks old: The second distemper-parvo vaccine will be due.
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16 weeks old: The third distemper-parvo vaccine will be due, and at this time, your puppy can get their rabies vaccine.
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We recommend limiting the amount of exposure your puppy gets to public places until they are fully vaccinated.
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The other vaccines we carry in our clinic are the Leptospirosis vaccine and the Bordetella vaccine. When you bring your puppy in for their first visit, we will help you decide if your dog needs either of these!
Food
The food you choose to feed your dog can have a strong effect on how well your puppy develops.
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We recommend feeding size/breed specific puppy food until they are about one year old. Starting out feeding them 3-4 times a day is ideal if you are able to.
The brands we recommend are Royal Canin, Hill's Science Diet, Eukanuba, and Purina Pro Plan.
We do NOT recommend feeding your dog a grain-free diet, because this has been shown to cause heart disease in dogs.
Parasites
Most puppies will probably need some sort of deworming ! We offer Pyrantel, Panacur C and Drontal Plus in house. But, if you start your puppy on monthly heartworm prevention, this will also take care of a lot of intestinal parasites your puppy may have.
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The heartworm prevention we carry in house is Iverhart Max and Iverhart Plus. Because correct dosing is essential, you will need to bring your puppy in monthly to reweigh and get a refill. Once your puppy reaches a consistent weight, we can start sending home multiple heartworm prevention chews.
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If you prefer to have a different brand of heartworm prevention, we offer various brands through our online pharmacy!
