First Steps for Your New Pet
Congratulations – you welcomed a new puppy or kitten into your home! You have toys, a comfortable bed, and love, but have you scheduled a first veterinary visit? The most important thing you can do for your new friend is ensure services are received early on. Younger pets lack immunity to disease and illness. Scheduling an appointment within the first days of homecoming provides a timely opportunity for an initial physical exam and to recommend an appropriate vaccination schedule and diagnostic work. You can also expect to discuss services such as spay/neuter procedure, microchipping, parasite testing and preventatives, nutrition, and training and socialization.
Caring for Your New Puppy or Kitten
Physical Examinations
We recommend scheduling several physical exams during your pet’s first year of life because their immune system is not fully developed. This way, we can catch signs of disease and illness right away when they are most treatable. Frequent puppy and kitten exams also provide us with a baseline of health that we can refer to throughout your pet’s life.
Vaccinations
Not every vaccination benefits every pet. That’s why we carefully plan an appropriate vaccination schedule for your pet that considers factors such as health status, lifestyle, and risk of exposure.
Diagnostics
We recommend heartworm testing when your pet reaches one year of age. This is a deadly disease that primarily affects dogs, but can also infect cats. We also recommend testing kittens for Feline Leukemia and Feline AIDS virus.
Spay/Neuter Procedure
Our professional recommendation is for all pets to undergo spay/neuter procedure. This is a routine surgery that provides copious benefits for pets and their human family members.
The health and behavioral benefits of spaying or neutering your pet are impressive. For instance, did you know this procedure actually improves your pet’s health and adds years to their life?
Spay/neuter procedure, of course, eliminates the chances of unwanted litters. It also reduces sexual instincts that lead to undesirable behaviors, lessens the risk for infection and disease, helps control pet overpopulation, and promotes an all-around better companion for you and your family!
Microchipping
Microchips help to reunite lost pets with their human family members.
If your pet is ever lost, we want to provide the highest chance of a return home. That’s why we recommend all pets be microchipped. Implantation takes seconds, and is administered similar to a routine vaccination. We will inject a rice-sized microchip beneath the skin between the shoulder blades.
The final step of microchipping is registering your contact information. At Borash Veterinary Clinic, this step is handled automatically through the microchip company, PetLink, when your pet is microchipped. If you ever move or change your phone number, simply update your information directly with PetLink to keep your pet’s registration current.
