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Preventative Health Care for Dogs
All puppies should receive a physical exam at least by 6-8 weeks of age to check for congenital health problems. Puppies will usually receive their first vaccination at this visit. Vaccinations your puppy will receive will depend on your puppy's lifestyle and risk of exposure.
It is also recommended that your puppy have a fecal analysis at this initial visit to check for intestinal parasites. This is important even if your puppy has been given a dewormer previously as it is common for puppies to have protozoal parasites as well as worms and dewormers will usually not control protozoal parasites.
Also, your puppy will be started on heartworm preventative at this first visit. Heartworms are an epidemic in our area, are usually considered to be deadly, are expensive to treat, and easily prevented with a once a month tablet. Nutrition and flea control are also discussed at this initial visit as well as the appropriate time for the next visit.
All dogs over 4 months of age are required to be vaccinated for Rabies twice within the 1st year, then once every 3 years thereafter if vaccinated with an approved 3 year vaccine. However, many of the local cities have more strict requirements. Check with your city or town animal control officer or police.
All other recommended vaccinations depend on the lifestyle and risk of exposure of your dog. An annual physical exam is required to make sure your pet is healthy for vaccinations.
We also recommend an annual heartworm test and fecal analysis to make sure your pet is free of parasites. For adult dogs over 2 years old, it is also recommended that a complete blood count, blood chemistry, and urinalysis be performed to determine if there are any abnormalities present that were not apparent on the physical exam and to provide a baseline for the future so if your pet does develop an illness later in life, we will have normal values for comparison.
All recommended tests and vaccinations are in a package and have been discounted because we feel they are very important for your pet's health.