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Bringing a new puppy or dog into the home can be a sources of happiness or a great deal of stress, depending upon how well prepared you are for your new pet. This page contains some things to consider when bringing home your new puppy or dog.
The only vaccination usually required by municipalities is a rabies vaccination. However, to protect your puppy's health, most puppies are vaccinated against infection from rabies, canine distemper, canine adenovirus, canine parvovirus, and parainfluenza virus. Other vaccines are available and may be desirable depending on the prevalence of disease in your area and possible exposure of your puppy. The frequency of vaccination varies with the age of the puppy. Please contact your local ordinances and veterinarian for more detailed advice.
The three most important components to house training a puppy are supervision, confinement, and to the outdoors. Ensure that you keep your puppy with you at all times so that at the first signs of discomfort you can take her outside. Once she is outside, use a key phrase, like "go potty" until she goes and then praise her. If she will not eliminate at that time, bring her back inside and watch her until you think she needs to go again. If you cannot be watching her, be sure to leave her in a safe, secure, small area that is easy to clean up in case she eliminates. Remember that puppies have small bladders and bowels and need to go out frequently during the day and cannot go 8 hours without access to the outdoors.
Very young puppies often need three small meals spread through out the day. Once they reach about 4 months, then you can feed them twice a day. Fast growing large breed puppies may need more meals to meet their growth requirements. We recommend feeding XXXX Puppy food or a comparable puppy chow. Avoid the urge to feed your puppy table scraps as it encourages them to beg at the table as well as altering their nutrition, and making them finicky about eating their normal dog chow. The amount of food you should feed your dog depends on his weight and level of daily activity. If he is very active he might need more, if very sedentary perhaps less. Recent research has shown that dogs that are lean live longer on average than their overweight counterparts, so avoid overfeeding your dog to help increase his health and longevity. Fleas Fleas are the number one parasite that can effect both you and your dog. Fleas can bite you and be a great annoyance if they get in your house. Your dog or pup may be allergic or sensitive to flea bites. Either way, they are no fun and have to be controlled. Just killing fleas on your pet is not enough. This is a four stage process.
Ticks Tick control is not unlike that used for fleas in that there are no shortcuts, no sure cures, and the battle must be on-going. Tick control is a two-step process, in that measures must be implemented to treat both the environment and the pet. Ticks, despite all their legs and ugliness are not hard to kill. Curious about Your Animal's Health? to join our e-mail list and receive our newsletters by e-mail.
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Copyright © 2003
Rolling Meadows Animal Hospital
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