,Please always follow a Vets advise. This is information that I have provided for personaly reference only.
We are often asked what buyers need to do to prepare for their new puppy. And sometimes we are asked what we have done so far. Below are a few suggestions/tips that will hopefully help your new family member get settled in. Please read this info carefully it is alot of information but it is all VERY IMPORTANT.
**First & most importantly please know that when your puppy goes home with you it needs lots of rest. Here he/she has had play time but lots of rest time. You can not take your puppy home & allow other family pets to play with them non stop. This will tire your new puppy and put the puppy in stress. Your puppy is like a baby it does not know its limits. A 6 month old cant go outside and run with a teenager- the same goes for puppies!
1.) Contact a vet and set up an appointment for your new puppy that will occur within 48 business hours after pick up.
2.) Your puppy will already have its first set of shots at 6 weeks of age so he/she will not need another set until he/she is 9 weeks old (set this appointment up w/ your vet at your puppy wellness exam)
3.) Your puppy will be wormed when he/she is 2, 4, and 6 weeks old.
4.) Your puppy will be eating Either Chicken soup for the Puppy lovers soul or Nutro Max Puppy. You can get this at PET SUPER MARKET OR PET-CO. What you choose it's up to you I prefer one of these but you can change it..
5.) Doggy treats- We DON'T recommend any that a grocery store or Wal-Mart sells- these will upset your puppy's stomach and leave you in a mess. We use all natural and prefer those as bil jack and natural treats. They come in a tiny looking paper milk jug. These can usually be found at places like Pet Super Market or Pet Smart.
6.) We always suggest that you start out with a small crate, then step up to a larger one when your puppy matures. You don't want to allow your puppy room for an accident. Who wants to poop and lay in it? :-)
We do provide you with an information packet that we have put together that will help with potty training, crate training, teaching your puppy commands and such.
Immunizations:
Puppy shots should be given no more than three weeks apart
Rabies can be given at 12 weeks of age or 16 weeks if preferred.
Puppies SHOULD NOT PLAY OUTSIDE UNTIL THEY HAVE AT LEAST TWO SHOTS (12 weeks is best).
Heartworm:
Should be given monthly year round depending on brand used.
Wormer:
We use NEMNEX (Vet Wormer) you can find an average wormer at Wal-Mart called Nemex-2 Worm according to vets advise at the puppy exam.
after 6 months, use a wormer that includes tape worm treatment.
Crate:
When you are not home (dogs are den animals by nature) they should be crate trained. Items to keep in crate: Litter box or wee wee pad, food and water, bedding and (chew) toys.
Bath:
Every two weeks with conditioner.
Take care to dry ears. Water can keep ears moist and cause a yeast infection.
Always blow dry hair
Food:
Offer puppies dry food free choice.(Prefer what they are on at time of pick up)
Which I will tell you which one when you pickup puppy and you can make your dision from there...
Water:
Offer free choice. Nutri-Cal or sugar water if puppy will be left alone for a long period of time.
Important Suppplements:
*Nutri-Cal. A high calorie dietary supplement for small pets. Nutri-Cal won't burden the digestive tract. It provides an added source of energy for puppies and suppliments their calorie or nutritional intake. Give as needed. If puppy is sick, give twice a day.
*Nutri-Drops. A high energy nutrient-rich concentrate. It dramatically energizes weak, hypoglycemic puppies. Good for any stress situation. Give as needed.
*Imodium. Is what you can give if puppy gets a watery stool. You can find it in any drug store. It is the same as what people take. Give one half cc. Ask your veterinarian how many times a day to give depending on the situation. Pepto Bismal can also be given for stress diarrhea.
*Albon. Used to treat coccidiosis. If a puppy has a runny stool for more than two days, or blood in the stool, have a vet check it for coccidiosis, hook worms and whip worms. It's vital to get a good worm medication as these worms can be a threat to your puppies health
Puppy Vaccines:
When children are but a few weeks old they must be vaccinated to prevent potentially deadly contagious diseases such as measles and whooping cough. Similarly, when dogs are young, they need vaccinations to protect them from life-threatening diseases such as distemper, parvo virus, para-influenza and hepatitis. A young animal is usually protected while still nursing its mother, but after weaning the animal’s ability to stay free of disease decreases rapidly. Puppies need to visit the veterinarian for the first set of vaccinations at about 6 weeks of age, or as soon thereafter as possible. Waiting too long increases the risk of the puppy getting sick.
Just as babies get booster vaccinations every few months when very young, the baby dog also need to get re-vaccinated every 3-4 weeks. A puppy usually needs three combination distemper parvo vaccines every 3-4 weeks starting at about 6 weeks of age with the last series at 12-14 weeks of age. To have the best protection against parvo virus the puppy should visit the veterinarian at 6 months of age for a single parvo vaccination. At this time your puppy should be spayed or neutered. Heartworm prevention, fecal examinations, and dewormings should be initiated with the first puppy visit.
Children also get boosters when they enter school. Puppies need boosters 12 months after they have finished their baby series and then the frequency of vaccinations may be based on your pets’ life style, health and individual circumstances to be discussed with your health care professional.
Distemper is a viral disease that often starts with a runny nose, sneezing, fever and discharge from the eyes. Distemper can progress to pneumonia and may affect the brain and cause seizures, coma and death. Parvo virus causes fever, lack of appetite, bloody diarrhea, vomiting and dehydration. Often death follows; sometimes even if treated these terrible viruses will still snuff out the puppy’s life.
The above diseases that veterinarians vaccinate for are contagious from dog to dog, but not to cats or humans.
Rabies is a vaccine that the law requires all dogs and cats to receive at 4 month old, and is repeated a year later.
Hypoglycemia: (Low Blood Sugar)
A big word for a BIG problem in tiny puppies.
Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) This is a disorder of the central nervous system and is a direct response to the lack of adequate food. "Dehydration" comes from lack of water. Hypoglycemia can occur without warning when a puppy goes to a new home, misses a meal, or doesn't eat full meals, becomes chilled, overtired, or exhausted from to much handling or playing. It occurs mostly in toy breeds, but it can also occur in the larger breeds as well. Signs to look for are depression, weakness, being wobbly or jerky, the head appears to be tilted to either the left or right side, the neck appears stiff and in a locked position, the body may soon appear the same way, and the teeth may be clamped tightly together. Convulsions, seizures, or coma which can result in death! Remember, this is only a puppy. Compare it to an infant child, which requires extra care. You would not wake your baby up to show your friends or neighbors. So do not wake your puppy up, as it needs rest too. This is important to you puppy's health.
Treatment: Once a puppies sugar drops you must act fast! The blood levels of glucose must be restored IMMEDIATELY ! DO NOT HESITATE, YOUR PUPPY'S LIFE IS AT RISK. Treatment by oral administration of certain glucose containing electrolyte fluids is very important. I use Nutri-Cal, it gives quick results and gets into the bloodstream within seconds with a 99% utilization rate. When given, the usual dose is about 1/4cc per OUNCE of body weight. If you don't have that on hand, you may mix honey or white Karo syrup with water and place on the puppies tongue with a dropper or just place some on your finger and rub on the puppies gums. Do not put excessive amounts in the puppy's mouth, as the puppy can choke. If the puppy does not improve within (10) ten minutes, contact your vet immediately!!! This is NOT something that can wait until the vet opens the following morning! I always recommend if you ever have any concerns, questions or worries don't hesitate to call your vet even if the puppy is doing better. Once a puppy's sugar drops, it is much more likely for him to have another episode. It can take weeks to build back up afterwards. Make sure you baby is eating and drinking OFTEN. The first stages baby food beef, turkey or chicken can be fed. They think it’s "Tasty" or boil chicken and tear into bits if he won’t eat anything else!
***MAKE SURE YOUR PUPPY EATS AT REGULAR TIMES TO KEEP HIS/HER SUGAR UP. THAT IS THE BEST WAY TO TRY TO PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING.
A few quick tips to
manage a yucky dog behavior.
Coprophagy, poop eating, is when a dog eats his / her own
stool.
This can be a shocking and disturbing behavior for a dog
owner to see. This behavior is more common with
puppies, and those puppies often tend to outgrow it as
they get older.
Veterinarians typically believe that coprophagy is caused
by the way the puppy was treated before you brought him
home.
Perhaps he or she came from a puppy mill or pet store
where he was not fed adequately.
Extreme hunger, combined with an unclean cage could
lead the puppy to eat his stool. It can also be caused if the
puppy has a digestive enzyme deficiency.
Coprophagy can also be caused when a dog is stressed
from a move, or frustrated or anxious.
If a dog has been left alone for many hours at a time, for
example, he could become irritated and take his
frustration out by eating his waste.
There are several ways that you can prevent coprophagy.
Firstly, go outside with your dog and immediately pick up
his stool as he defecates.
If you happen to catch your dog in the act of eating, say
"no" and remove him from the feces.
Then, clean it up.
If that doesn't solve the problem, consider taking your dog
to the veterinarian to test for nutritional deficiency. You
may possibly need to switch to a higher-quality dog food.
Another popular method to prevent coprophagy is to add
meat tenderizer or pineapple juice to your puppy's food.
The puppy will be deterred by the distasteful addition.
As a last resort, you could start walking your puppy on a
leash for toileting so you can direct where he walks and
does his/her 'business'
For futher dog training information , please pop
into DIY Dog Training website.
There is a free Dog Training email course there and some
great articles.
I think you or a friend or family member would benefit
from them.
here's the link below
http://www.diy-dogtraining.com/
Anal glands are little sacs on the side of the and they typically fill up with a smelly brown fluid. They may become inflamed or impacted. Sometimes constipation is the culprit. This is typical among Pugs. Some Pugs go in regularly to have their anal glands done. A typcical sign of Anal Gland Impaction is Puggins scooting along the ground or turning around looking at his anal area. Some owners may even feel that their spayed female is still having a heat cycle because she may emit a brown fluid. This is coming from her anal glands, not her vulva.Puggins needs his anal glands to be expressed. You can do this yourself, however, I have not very many Pug owners willing to do this. Your vet can show you how..It is important that the glands are emptied or one or both can become infected and abscess. If the anal glands become infected, they can generally be treated with antibiotics, however, if they abscess, surgical drainage is often the only way to irradicate the problem. If the infection is very inflammed or chronically infected, they may need to be removed.
A good balanced diet and daily exercise can eliminate anal gland problems. A good walk around the block will not only help the glands from getting impacted, but also will keep your Pugs nails down!
A very small leak from the anal glands of your Pug can cause a horrible, foul odor. You may not even see it but it may be only a smudge into your Pug's coat or legs. Some Pug owners who can not determine the origin of a bad odor on their Pug have come to discover that is is anal gland 'juice' leaking.
Infected sacs will usually cause a lot of pain for your Pug. Do not allow it to get to this stage.
If your Pug expresses bloody mucous material from the sac, then chances are, his anals glands are infected and this is best handled by your Vet.
Originally appeared as Ask the Vet by Dr. Shawn Ashley in Pug Talk Magazine (Sept/Oct/92)
The true function of anal glands in the 21st century house dog and cat is not well known. Scent marking and territorial boundary setting has been the most acceptable theory.
The anal glands are paired sacs located at four and eight o'clock positions around the rectum. They are comprised of sebaceous oil glands that secrete a serous odoriferous brown discharge.
The discharge is usually expressed as feces are eliminated. However, in smaller breed dogs this discharge seems to be saved until times of extreme fear, anger, or revenge! in these breeds the anal glands are usually expressed as the groomer lifts the tail and manually pushes up and out.
Anal sacs are very prone to an array of problems, from impactions, abscessation, and tumours. Anal sac problems often go unnoticed -until the dog begins to scoot or drag its rear end on the floor usually in front of reputable guests.
It is felt that anal sac impaction in the adult animal may be influenced by the socially restrictive environments of inside dogs; ie. sedentary lifestyles, obesity, seborrheic (oily, infected) skin conditions, poor muscle tone, and abnormal bowel elimination/retention.
Intestinal parasites, especially tapeworms, in younger dogs have been implicated in anal gland impactions, as well. As the glands fill the discharge becomes thickened and pasty, the dog continues to scoot, lick and chew which leads to discomfort and eventually infection.
If the infected gland is not emptied the gland becomes abscessed often described by owners as a hemorrhoidal mass. If the pressure is not released the dog becomes a tyrant due to the pain and the gland soon ruptures.
These series of events will continue over and over if the gland is not properly lanced, expressed, flushed, and the anal sac's duct is evaluated for patency. If due to chronic irritation, strictures of scar tissues, or tumour growth the anal sac cannot drain through the duct, surgical excision is the treatment of choice.
Anal sacculectomy of anal sac removal should not be performed until the infection and inflammation have been resolved by medical management. Once the surrounding skin integrity is improved the anal sac and duct are totally excised.
If the animal is kept from the incision and it is kept clean the incision heals completely without complication.
Post operative complications arise primarily from self-trauma and factors leading to poor skin healing ability -- old age produces lowered immunity and skin protective mechanisms; oily chronic infected skin conditions, allergic dermatitis, poor nutrition, debilitating disease, and obesity are a few examples of the factors that influence wound healing.
Further complications revolve around cases where out of control infections or tumours have been allowed to grow.
In these cases damage to the external anal sphincter or incomplete removal of the anal sac may occur.
This leads to fecal incontinence and chronic draining tracts, respectively. Depending on the severity of the abscessed anal gland the surgical procedure can be long and tedious; therefore, pre-operative blood work and a complete physical are of the utmost importance.
The best medicine is prevention by controlling skin infections, allergies, FLEAS, intestinal worms, and expressing the anal glands regularly (the frequency depends on the individual dog ranging on average from 4 - 16 weeks).
If the discharge becomes thickened and/or the gland is hard to express a trip to the veterinarian is in order so the anal duct and sac can be flushed and impaction avoided.
Finally, if you find yourself expressing often seek help to insure you are properly 'squeezing' and seek out any factors that may be contributing to the problem - - low residue diets such as prescription i/d or w/d may help, as well.
