Spring is well underway, and it is a popular time of year for people to get a puppy. I currently have a friend with a litter on the ground, another with two on the way and my hunting partner is heading to Michigan this weekend to pick up a new pup. Needless to say, I have a wee bit of puppy fever myself.
The lingo that breeders, vets and owners use sometimes causes confusion for new puppy owners around the timing and services needed at the first puppy visit. Over the years I have had countless new puppy owners end up with a puppy with parvo because they misunderstood that when the breeder said the puppy was up-to-date on its shots it didn’t mean the shot series was complete. It is also very common for owners to be furious when the dog that was dewormed by the breeder ends up with parasites. Both situations are simply errors in communication and not a case of someone dropping the ball and don’t necessarily indicate a bad breeder.
I strongly recommend scheduling an exam with your veterinarian as soon as you get your puppy home. Most people fall in love with the new pup the minute they lay eyes on it and it makes it hard to make health decisions should a congenital issue be present. The sooner they can be identified the better for all involved. While we won’t catch every issue in a young puppy things like heart murmurs and orthopedic issues like luxating patellas will sometimes be caught at that first visit.
This will also allow you to get on the best vaccine schedule for your puppy. When a breeder proclaims a puppy is current on vaccines, typically all that means is that the puppy has had its first set of shots. Puppies need to be vaccinated every 3-4 weeks with the last vaccine coming after 16 weeks of age. Early in my career the prevalent theory was that puppies needed three total shots. This was also at a time when parvo was more prevalent and many breeders started the shot series very early, many times too early. Over time this led to many puppies having there three shots very early in life and we started to see dogs becoming infected with the viruses they were vaccinated against.
When a puppy takes its first milk from mom, termed colostrum, their intestinal tract is able to absorb her antibodies which offers them initial protection from many of the diseases we vaccinate against. When these antibodies are present above a certain level the puppy is unable to mount a response to vaccines and produce its own antibodies. As the antibodies from mom decline the pup is eventually able to respond to the vaccine. There are two points to remember here, one is there isn’t an exact time where this occurs, and two, there is a window when they likely fall below a protective level but are still at a point where the pup doesn’t respond to the vaccine. This means there is a window of susceptibility and the reason we advocate keeping young puppies away from unknown dogs or places where dogs congregate like dog parks and training grounds. This is also the reason that vaccination is recommended every 3-4 weeks.
As vaccine technology has improved so has the amount of protection that is passed on from mom. While we don’t know the exact time that these levels fall the current research supports having the last vaccine administered after 16 weeks. Some people will misunderstand this concept and just want to wait until that time to vaccinate, which also presents its own risks and is not the best practice. Your pup will still need multiple vaccines in order to have a level that is protective. Waiting increases your pup’s chances of acquiring a disease like parvo due widening the period of susceptibility. While research shows the majority of dogs will be protected if the last vaccine comes after 16 weeks of age, there will also be dogs that will mount a protective response much sooner.
The other vaccine subject that should be discussed at the first visit is your dog’s potential exposures while hunting. Some vaccines like the Lyme vaccine are not given in all parts of the country; however, if you regularly hunt in areas with Lyme disease you will want to discuss this with your veterinarian.
Parasites and puppies go hand in hand and even puppies from the cleanest breeding facility in the world can have parasites. This can be related to some parasite life cycles and how they may encyst in muscles. Many breeders also have numerous dogs that come in and out of their facilities which can introduce parasites into the environment despite their best efforts. For this reason, I also strongly recommend bringing a fecal sample to the first visit, so that we can establish if there is a parasite issue.
One important note, there isn’t a dewormer that hits all the parasites and so when a breeder has dewormed a litter likely this means they have given one for the common parasites, but it doesn’t mean it gets them all. Similarly with our current heartworm preventatives, they get a lot of the parasites but not all of them. It is also important to note that many of these dewormers do not get all lifestages of the parasites. This means that if we find parasites on a fecal exam, we likely will be putting together a deworming schedule specific to the parasite and not a general dewormer.
In addition to a fecal sample the other important thing to bring to that first visit is the records from your breeder so that the vaccine interval can be continued and it may show what dewormings have been given. Most puppy visits are fun for the puppy and the veterinary staff, they are also vitally important to set the stage for a healthy start.
The topic I generally spend the most time discussing with my athletic puppy owners is nutrition and the food they are feeding and the importance of that decision. It’s a topic that warrants its own discussion and we will discuss that in the next issue of the newsletter.
