Vet Check Up’s & Vaccinations:

Vet Check Up and Vaccination:

To keep your puppy healthy you will need to carefully follow a few well-founded directions.

The first 6 months of this pup’s life are very important to its overall health. This puppy does not need another vaccination for 3 weeks after the last one was given. Your first Vet appt. is for a healthy puppy check up. It is entirely for your benefit to assure you that your new puppy is healthy. You need to take a fecal sample in with you to determine if your puppy needs to be wormed again for round worms or treated for coccidosis. Be aware that it is not unusual for Havanese of all age to eat their droppings. We are not sure if this is a learned behavior from their mothers cleaning up after them or some carry over from the wild. It seems to be the norm for this breed. Pups that eat their own droppings can get coccidosis. It is treated safely with Albon. In the past, it has been said to come from filthy living conditions in the whelping nest. Please be careful and do not assume a poop free kennel in the morning means your pup held its bowels over night. Your pup may have had a bowel movement and ate it. Havanese hate dirty living space.

While at the Vet, you will need to put your puppy on heartworm preventative. I recommend Interceptor once a month preventative. So far, there have been few reported instances of problems with it with this particular breed.
You will also be well advised to have the vet microchip your puppy while youre there. This will help identify your puppy should it get lost. You can opt to have a tattoo instead but sometimes they fade and are hard to read.

At ten months your female should be spayed, unless you are breeding her with the permission of the breeder. Male puppies should NOT be neutered until they are at least one year old. We feel so strongly about this it is part of our puppy contract.
Isoflurane is the best anesthesia to use on your Havie.

Do not let your puppy down on the floors of the vets office or mingle with other puppies or dogs there. The office is for sick dogs. They relieve themselves outside in common areas and the Parvovirus (that kills) as well as other viruses, live in the ground and fecal matter of other dogs. It is carried in on the soles of people’s feet and brought into the office. Children in the office sometimes go from animal to animal being friendly. They could spread (through contact of saliva or nasal discharge) diseases to your new puppy. Be aware and be careful.

Vaccinations for a Havanese need to be done with care as well. Many breeders do not guarantee pups that have been vaccinated with Leptospira Bacterin. BE WARNED it has killed Havanese and those who have survives it have had some major problems. [Please take your vets advice on this subject] It is suggested that at 3 – week intervals that vaccinatons be given. They contain Canine Distemper, Adenovirus Type 2, Parainfluenza, and Parvo MLV. This is all your Havanese needs to remain healthy and safe. Vaccinations provide immunity towards these diseases. It does not keep them from getting them. Bordetella is to shield them against kennel cough. If you plan on boarding your Havanese, you can give Bordetella one week prior to the visit.

If your vet insists that there is a huge outbreak of Corona or Lepto in your area, you may need to consider the vaccinations. Lepto should never be given until the pup is 16 weeks old in the case of an outbreak. There is still no promise that your Havanese will not have a severe reaction to it. If your puppy is not 100% up to snuff when it’s time for vaccinations, DO NOT have any vaccinations given until then.

Rabies is to be given at the latest date possible. It is the only vaccination that is required by law. If at anytime, within a 2- hour period of a vaccination you start to notice a reaction, get your puppy to the vet as fast as humanly possible.