Health Care for your Puppy and Dog

Vaccinations

Vaccinations are necessary to protect your dog against major canine diseases, some of which can be fatal. The main diseases we vaccinate against are:

1. Canine Distemper

2. Canine Infectious Hepatitis

3. Canine Parvovirus

4. Canine Parainfluenza virus (a major component of Canine Cough)

5. Bordetella Bronchiseptica (a major component of Canine Cough)

In kennel and litter situations, vaccines which protect against Canine Coronavirus and Leptospirosis icterohaemorrhagiae are given in addition at 6 and 12 weeks.

Puppies

6-8 weeks: Canine Distemper, Canine Infectious Hepatitis and Canine Parvovirus vaccination (C3). Or:

In litter situations: Canine Distemper, Canine Infectious Hepatitis and Canine Parvovirus Vaccination (C3) and Canine Coronavirus and Leptospirosis Icterohaemorrhagiae (C2i), otherwise called a Puppy C5 vaccination.

12-14 weeks: Canine Distemper, Canine Infectious Hepatitis, Canine Parvovirus and Canine Cough Vaccination (C5).

Or:

In puppies vaccinated at 6-8 weeks with C3 and C2i: Canine Distemper, Canine Infectious Hepatitis, Canine Parvovirus and Canine Cough Vaccination and Canine Coronavirus and Leptospirosis Icterohaemorrhagiae (Puppy C7 vaccination).

16-18 weeks: Canine Distemper, Canine Infectious Hepatitis, Canine Parvovirus and Canine Cough Vaccination (C5).

Adults

All adult dogs require an annual health check where the veterinarian will give your animal a full physical examination and discuss any issues you may have had with your pet in the last year. As part of this check a C5 vaccination booster is given.

Vaccination schedule PDF

Vaccinations and the diseases they prevent against PDF

Puppy health plan PDF

• Annual health checks are performed every following year when «PatientName» is 16 months old (12 months after 16 week puppy vaccination). This will include an assessment of vaccination requirements and a Proheart injection (Heartworm prevention)
• Intestinal worming should continue every 3 months for «PatientName»’s life
• Flea prevention should be used every month

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Other important factors to consider:

Comfort & Safety

• Parasite protection
• Comfortable bed for pup to sleep in
• Collar & leash
• Car harness or crate for travel
• ID tag

Nutritional needs

• Veterinary recommended puppy food
• Water and food bowls

Training

• Puppy pre-school
• Training toys
• Training treats

House Training

• Potty pads
• Stain and odour remover for little accidents

Grooming tools

• Brush, comb, rake (applicable for puppy’s coat)
• Pet shampoo & conditioner

Environment

• Pick-up bags and dispensers
• Toys and treats for enrichment

Pet Insurance

At Monash Veterinary Clinic, we know how much you care about your pets and like you, we want to ensure they are always in the best of health. As such, we strongly encourage all pet owners to consider Pet Insurance. Investing in pet insurance for your furry child, ensures no compromising on treatment when your animal requires medical attention, be it for an ongoing illness or a sudden accident, and gives you peace of mind that you can give your animal the best possible care that it deserves. Like human health insurance, there are many pet insurance policies available. It is best that you research a few before selecting a policy, to ensure you get the best value for your dog. All of our veterinarians will then help you with any forms or formalities you require when processing a claim.

Microchipping

Microchipping is an important practice to help identify animals and help to reunite them with their owners if they ever go missing. The microchip is the size of a grain of rice and is injected under the skin of your pet over the shoulder blades. A microchip contains a unique identification number which is permanently implanted in your pet. The unique number is linked to your details on a national registry.

Microchips need to be implanted by a registered implanter such as a veterinarian. All of the vets at Monash Vet Clinic are qualified to implant a microchip in your animal. Microchips are a fast and simple injection which can be done whilst your pet is awake. Please contact us at the clinic if you wish to make an appointment to have your pet microchipped

From the 1st of May 2007, microchipping was made compulsory in Victoria. Local councils and municipalities will not allow pet registration unless your animal has been microchipped.

Deworming

Most puppies are infected with worms.

Puppies should be regularly dewormed and their droppings carefully disposed of.

Deworm puppies every 2 weeks until 12 weeks of age with a good quality ALL WORMER, such as Drontal, Milbemax, Pyraquantel or Popantel. Drontal is available as a liquid for very small puppies.

ALL WORMER’s should then be given at 12 weeks, 16 weeks, 6 months and then 3 monthly for life. Alternatively, Interceptor Spectrum is given monthly.

Beware of supermarket brands as many of them do not control all types of worms and require large numbers of tablets to be given.

Please ask for our advice.

Heartworm

Heartworm is endemic in Melbourne. It is spread by mosquitoes.

To prevent heartworm your dog should receive either:

Proheart SR12 annual injection. Proheart is most useful for dogs which are difficult to give tablets to or for owners who have difficulty remembering to give monthly tablets. Proheart is usually given at the annual health check.

Palatable monthly Interceptor Spectrum or Sentinel Spectrum tablets.

Monthly Revolution spot-on drops.

When a dog misses its scheduled heartworm prevention dose, please contact the clinic for advice regarding testing or the appropriate course of action.

Puppy Proheart SR12 Injections

Puppies require a number of “booster” Proheart injections when first starting out.

If you wish to start your puppy on Proheart injections the standard protocol at Monash Veterinary clinic is as follows:

• First puppy Proheart injection around 12 weeks old, usually at the same time as 12-14 week vaccination

• Puppy Proheart Injection booster around 6 months old, usually at the same time as desexing

• First adult Proheart injection at 1st annual vaccination then yearly thereafter.

Feeding

Puppies 6-12 weeks old should have 3-4 meals per day.

Puppies 12-16 weeks old should have 2-3 meals per day.

Puppies 4-12 months of age should have 2 meals daily.

After 12 months, adult dogs can be fed once or twice daily.

We recommend the premium quality dog foods: Hill's Science Diet. This food is of very high quality and is completely balanced for your puppy. They are low in salt whilst still being very palatable to dogs, unlike supermarket foods which are unhealthily high in salt to improve palatability. They have the correct balance of oils and nutrients to give a healthy, shiny coat and optimal nutrition for growth and development of your puppy. They only contain the type of meat specified by the ingredients label on the packet and have very little indigestible matter, meaning less faeces and less smelly faeces. Supplements should not be given with these foods.

Puppies should not be given milk as lactose intolerance is common in dogs. Weetbix are commonly given to young puppies during weaning. There is no need to continue this as it has no nutritional value for your puppy except for a high carbohydrate load. Alternatively, mashed canned premium puppy food (like Hills puppy cans) can be given with its added nutritional benefits.

Raw meat is not recommended due to the increased risk of food poisoning. Raw meat, even of human quality, is extensively handled and processed and commonly contains high numbers of bacteria which can make your puppy ill.

It is best to give a mixture of canned and dry food.

Avoid giving your puppy a wide variety of foods. This only makes your puppy a fussy eater. If they are always given something different they will keep waiting for that something better.

It is best to train your puppy to eat when food is given and not to graze. This helps to show early signs of illness if the puppy/adult dog refuses food. With a grazing animal it may be a longer period of time after the animal begins to get ill that it is noticed it is not eating.

RAW BONES once weekly are ideal for your puppy to clean their teeth. Uncut marrow bones and brisket bones are ideal for medium and large breed dogs and chicken wings and necks for small breed dogs. Raw bones shouldn’t contain an excessive amount of meat as described above. All bones, regardless of age, should be given under supervision to prevent injuries and problems.

NEVER FEED COOKED BONES.

Always provide plenty of fresh water.

Calcium is needed for healthy bone growth and is most important in larger breeds.

Calcium supplements are not required for animals on premium puppy foods. If you are unsure if your dog requires extra nutrients, please ask our team if it is necessary. Giving extra nutrients like Calcium, when not required, can cause severe health issues.

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Desexing of Dogs 

Females (Spey):

Should be desexed at 6-7 months of age.

Desexing involves a general anaesthetic and surgical removal of the uterus and ovaries. It is not necessary or beneficial to allow the bitch to have a season or a litter of pups before she is desexed.

Desexing slightly lowers the metabolic rate of dogs so food intake needs to be adjusted for this. That is, an entire bitch will need more food than a speyed bitch.

Desexing has no harmful effects on the dog’s personality.

Advantages:

• Elimination of the problem of recurrent seasons.
• No unwanted pregnancies and unwanted puppies.
• Lower council registration fees.
• No risk of uterine or ovarian infection or cancer if done before 6 months.
• Decreased risk of mammary cancer.

Males (Castration):

Should be desexed at 6-7 months of age. This involves a general anaesthetic and surgical removal of both testes.

Advantages:

• The dogs are less aggressive and less likely to roam.
• Lower council registration fees.
• Decreases the risk of prostate disease and cancer.

Bathing and Grooming

As a rule, bath your dog as often as it needs it and as infrequently as possible. Regular brushing is important to help maintain a healthy coat. For general bathing a mild shampoo such as Dermcare Natural shampoo, Dermacare Aloveen or Allergroom is ideal. Many cheaper and supermarket dog shampoos are rebottled human shampoos and are not recommended. They will damage your dog’s coat and skin. Dermcare’s Aloveen and Virbac’s Episoothe shampoo are ideal for frequently washed dogs. They are very gentle on the coat and skin, yet have a good cleansing action.

Pet Tags 

Identification tags can be made up to contain your pets identification details which is then attached to their collar.

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Basic Training of Your Puppy

Toilet Training

House training your puppy to ensure they don’t have any toileting accidents should start as soon as you get your puppy home.

Puppies should be taken outside multiple times a day to allow them to go to the toilet. Be patient and allow at least 5-15 minutes for the puppy to toilet. Praise good results and then take the pup inside. Young puppies should be taken out during the night as well as they don’t have the bladder control to hold on overnight until 14-16 weeks of age. Never scold a puppy for soiling inside. It will merely train them to soil inside when you are not watching. It is important to regularly take the puppy outside, reward soiling outside and minimise inside ‘accidents’. The puppy will then learn that it needs to go outside. It you catch your puppy soiling inside don’t scold it, but in a hurried voice pick the puppy up taking it outside saying ‘outside’ or whatever command you choose to instruct your puppy to go to the toilet. Then reward the puppy.

The use of a crate as a bed to train the puppy can be helpful. Set the crate up as a bed and this can be used to put the puppy in when you can’t watch it or during the night while you are asleep. Puppies are unlikely to soil their bed so this will help minimise inside accidents. The crate could be the puppy’s bedroom if you like, where they can go when they want to be left alone but should not be used as some sort of training/reprimanding item.

Training

Basic training to "sit", "come" and "heel" is advised to make your dog more controllable. Use positive food rewards as much as possible. Your dog should be made to sit and not start their meal until you allow it and you should always walk through a doorway before your dog. You should be able to take their food or bone away from your dog whilst it’s eating, and then give it back to them without the dog being aggressive. This develops the hierarchy within your household and helps avoid creating a dominant dog. The period between 8-16 weeks is very important in establishing behaviour patterns in your dog.

Bad habits and any aggressive tendencies should be quickly controlled and eliminated. Obedience schools and puppy classes are strongly recommended. Please ask for our advice. “Four Paws Dog Training School” is highly recommended. Ausdog Trainers and Bark Busters are recommended for difficult dogs.

Puppy School

At Monash Veterinary Clinic, we strongly encourage owners to take their new puppy to Puppy school. Puppy school involves bringing your new addition to our clinic once a week for 3 weeks, allowing them to socialise with other dogs and their owners. Each week we discuss basic aspects such as training, diet, exercise, grooming and health care. Not only is this a great way to start the training process for your pup but it also gives you important information and tips on bringing up your puppy and responsible ownership of animals.

More info here on our Puppy preschool page.

Leads and Collars 

Car harnesses are great to restrain dogs when travelling in the car only. They provide little control of your dog on a walk. We do not recommend correction collars as they are commonly used inappropriately and can damage your dog’s neck.

For the best control of your dog use the Black Dog head collars. They are like power steering for your dog. Unlike correction chains they don’t require pure strength to correct your dog, just a mild pull on the lead. They can take a little while for the dog to get used to, but if they are placed on whilst the puppy is eating or getting some other sort of positive reward then they get used to them very quickly. Once your dog is well controlled and trained on a head collar then you can advance to a flat collar. However, many dogs remain on a head collar which is of no concern.

Black dog have training collars also, another very good tool for training especially from a young age. Most dogs will respond and walk correctly with a training collar when used appropriately. If you find that you need more control, then you will need to advance to the Black dogs head collars.

Woven leads are the best. Chain leads are to be avoided as they dig into your hand if your dog pulls and then reduce your ability to control your dog.

We have a variety of fun colour leads and collars that are of very good quality. Come and check out our range in clinic.

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