Puppy & Kitten Care

Start a Healthy Lifelong Relationship with Your New Puppy or Kitten

You have a new member of the family, and we are so excited to meet him or her! Ideally, we would like to see your new pet at 6 to 8 weeks of age. When you bring your pet in for his or her first exam, you can expect the following:

• Full hands-on exam
• Parasite prevention counseling and deworming
• Planning your pet’s vaccination schedule
• Spay/neuter counseling
• Nutrition counseling

Spaying (OHE—ovariohysterectomy) and Neutering

One important thing to consider for your new pet is whether you will spay or neuter. There are many advantages to spaying and neutering. Aside from the reduction of the unwanted pet population, health benefits for your pet include:

• Spaying your dog or cat before her first heat cycle significantly decreases the chances of mammary cancer and uterine infections.
• Neutering your dog or cat helps to lessen the chance of prostate problems, as well as testicular cancer.
• Neutering reduces aggressive behavior between males.
• Neutered pets are more willing to be sociable, exhibit less aggressive behavior, have less anxiety, do not mark their home territory, and there is no behavior change when a female is in season. Unaltered males can sense that “a mile away.”
• Spaying or neutering increases your pet’s likelihood of a longer, healthier life. Canine companions can have an increased lifespan of 1 to 3 years, and cats may live 3 to 5 years longer.

4-6 months is the recommended age for the spay or neuter procedure unless you have a large breed dog. Large breed dogs should be neutered at 9-12 months of age. In addition, many puppies retain baby teeth that should be removed. By 6 months of age, adult teeth are typically in place, and we can determine if there are baby teeth present that need extraction. Both procedures can be accomplished at the same time to save your pet a separate surgery and reduce recovery time.

Pet Wellness Visits for Your New Puppy or Kitten

Pediatric wellness visits are critical for maintaining good health because they give us the opportunity to catch problems your pet may be experiencing before they become more severe. We also are able to establish a baseline for your pet’s diagnostics to know what’s normal and have something to compare to if your pet becomes ill in the future. When we are able to diagnose early, we have a higher rate of treatment success.

At Community Pet Hospital, we believe strongly in giving your puppy or kitten a healthy start. Our wellness program is designed to include the many early visits, vaccinations, and treatments your pet will need.

Both puppy and kitten wellness programs should start when your pet is 6 to 8 weeks old. A typical program includes:

Puppy Wellness Program

First visit:

• Physical exam
• DH(L)PP #1
• Toenail trim
• Deworming #1
• Flea control

Second visit:

• Follow-up exam
• DH(L)PP #2
• Deworming #2

Third visit:

• Follow-up exam
• Bordetella #1
• Dh(L)PP booster
• Deworming #3

Fourth visit:

• Follow-up exam
• Rabies 1 year
• Bordetella booster
• Fecal exam

*Program is subject to change based on pet age, weight & other factors.

Kitten Wellness Program

First visit:

• Physical exam
• FELV/FIV test
• FVRCP #1
• Deworming #1
• Flea control

Second visit:

• Follow-up exam
• FVRCP #2
• FELV#1
• Deworming #2

Third visit:

• Follow-up exam
• FVRCP #3
• FELV #2
• Deworming #3
• Rabies 1 year
• Fecal exam

Help Your Pet Find His or Her Way Home

To further meet the needs of our patients, we offer our microchip implant service at the same 23% savings when purchased with the puppy or kitten wellness package. Statistics show that one out of every three pets is lost or stolen during their lifetime, a fact that adds up to 10 million pets each year. Microchipping your pet is safe, easy, and an important tool to help reunite you and your pet if he or she should become lost. When you combine your puppy or kitten’s microchip implantation with the wellness package, you save $63.68 and ensure you have done everything you can to help your pet find his or her way back home.