Giving dogs their shots at home

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ButtonsPalace

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First off who else does this? Our dog had puppies, 7 in total, 5 boys and 2 girls. We want to vaccinate them at home, I don't know anything at all yet, but they aren't even a week old so I have time to learn. What ages do you give what shots?, where do you get the medication?, what gauge needle do I need to use? Any tips? I'll post pictures tomorrow of the puppies, I can't do it on my phone and the laptop is being occupied.
 
You can give any shots at home you'd like except Rabies which must be administered by a licensed veterinarian. You can buy vaccines at your local Tractor Supply, feed store type location. They are refrigerated, and come in a number of varieties, so you will want to do research on which of the vaccines you want or need to give depending on your area and needs.
 
i give my pets their own vaccines, except rabies of course. i buy mine from tractor supply but i don't use their needles because i find they're poorly made and require too much effort to inject the animal. i order monoject syringes + needles from drs foster & smith. i get the 22g ones for adult animals (i bought a box of 100 last time and it's lasted me a while,) and a few 26g needles for kittens (i foster bottle kittens sometimes,) and young rabbits. i would use this size for the puppy shots when they're old enough. it's a smaller needle so it'll hurt them less. i don't think you can get a needle that size at a feed store or tractor supply, or at least i've never seen them. the smallest i see is 22g, which is okay, but i still think they're a bit big for babies. i give my shots in the back leg, but it should never go into the muscle. they are always given just under the skin.

knowing the standard vaccination schedule is incredibly important to know when breeding animals. familiarize yourself with it. they usually start about 6 weeks old and are given every two to three weeks for a total of three booster shots, with the rabies being given at the same time as the third. after that it's once a year + however often your vet recommends the bordatella vac. a puppy should never be put on the grass (this is how they get parvo,) or sold until they are done with their vaccinations and are totally weaned at around 10 - 12 weeks old. talk to your vet and ask what they recommend as far as schedule and ages to start vaccines. you need a good relationship with them in general when breeding because as you know, things go south VERY fast. we usually took our kittens to see the vet for checkups every other week or so until they started eating solid food, which is generally the point where you can relax and they'll probably not die. some of them would certainly have not made it had we not taken them so often.
 
Puppy shots should not be given before 8 weeks due to the mother's immune system killing the virus before the puppy's own immune system can step in. There is a total of 3 sets that you will need to give the pups before they are fully vaccinated to be given at 8 weeks, 12 weeks, and 16 weeks. The most important shot you will be giving your pup is the parvovirus vaccine. Use the combo vaccine, keep the shots cold till right before you give them, and keep the packaging to go with the pups! I would suggest that you give the shot in the scruff, just above the shoulder blades. You have far more skin (a.k.a. room) to work with then you do on a leg.
 
I just wanted to add, most vets will not honor home vaccinations, and will give the puppy shots again.

At least that has been the case in my area.
I had a puppy that the breeder had vaccinated them selves, and the vet said he doesn't know if the meds were stored properly or given right, so he gave him shots again, even though it had only been a week since the breeder gave him.
 
That is very true JessicaR. My boss has done that before only because the owners could not tell him how the vaccine was stored before it was given to the pup. Hence the reason why I said to keep them cold before giving them. Take a cooler with ice blocks (either those blue ones or bags of ice) to nestle them in. Also don't get more than what you are going to use immediately.
 
get the puppies a general checkup before they need vaccines and peel the labels off of the vaccines bottle and stick them to the paper at the bottom and date them. i use my rabies certificates for my adult animals and honestly nobody has batted an eye so far. it helps me keep organized and has the side effect of people seeing a vet's signature and assuming the vet did it. there could be an issue that the dog can't be boarded at a kennel because there won't be an official vac paper for the bordatella, but you might could do it if you keep the home vac labels on a checkup sheet or rabies certificate. i haven't tried it since when we go out of town we have to have someone come feed the cats/rabbits anyway so whoever does that will let him out a few times a day to run.

you can also talk to your vet and explain the situation (only if you really have a good relationship with your vet,) and get them to sign off on something or write a note saying that they verify the shots were good/given properly/whatever. like i said though you kinda have to have a good relationship with your vet. some vets don't trust the owner to do anything medical related at all, but a good vet can recognize that you know what you're doing and talking about and not give you crap for it. if they aren't willing to do that though, it may just be worth it to have them give all the vaccines so the dog doesn't get over-vaccinated, which is a whole 'nother slew of problems.


edit: i also want to point out that im not trying to pretend like im a vet or anything by putting my labels on a paper with my vet's signature. i just do that for my own organization purposes and so far it's never been an issue when needing to provide vaccination records for a groomer or something like that lol. if they said anything i wouldn't try to lie, it just has never come up.
 
Just wanted to let everyone know, I've been reading your posts and updating them about whats been said, I don't want to put words into their mouth but I don't see why we couldn't figure things out, I'll let you guys know as soon as I know something. :) Thank you for all the wonderful advice!! <br /><br /> __________ March 27th, 2017, 12:09 am __________ <br /><br /> Ok, So I plan to keep two of the puppies, meaning I'll probably pay for their shots and the such myself, I'm keeping a male and want to neuter him around 6 months and my boyfriend wants to keep a female, I plan to neuter her and her brother at the same time unless she goes into an early heat, which Google says small breed can go into heat as young as 4 months. Is it safe to spay that young?
 
Its more of when your vet feels it is best to spay/neuter. I would consult with your veterinarian about it. If she goes into an early heat, just keep them separated at all times until she is out of it. Will be a total of 3 weeks.
 
So, I need to get diapers for her, to keep them from being able to mount her, I don't want any pups by any means, and as soon as they are of age, I will be taking them for a vet checkup :) With him I'll definitely wait until at least 6 months as it seems that's the traditional age to do it, I'd like to do her's at the same time as his, but I don't want her to go through a heat cycle if it isn't necessary, is there anything I could give her to possibly delay a heat cycle? I obviously don't want to endanger her, just want a life with no heat cycles lol
 
there are 'birth control' drugs for dogs but apparently they're really hit or miss and have varying side effects so they aren't commonly used.

what breed of dog are they? if they are smaller dogs 6 months may be okay, but i have read several studies about how speutering too early can be very detrimental to dogs, especially larger ones. a puppy's growth plates aren't finished until they're about a year old, and even older for giant breeds, and speutering too early can cause lots of joint and other health problems down the road. it also seems to "lock" them into a puppylike stage of maturity, which isn't a problem for some but i personally like a doggy dog lol. some people have also said that because of the dogs being frozen into a younger mentality, they can be hard to train. i've also heard that letting a bitch have at least one heat can stave off health issues down the line, but i'm not sure how true this is.

it's ultimately a decision for the owner though, and i think in general 6 months is fine. if it's a larger breed dog i would suggest a year though.
 
Just wanted to mention some concerns with spaying/neutering dogs that young...it actually puts the dog at much higher risk for health and behavior issues due to all those important hormones being removed before the dog has reached physical and mental maturity. If you would like to do some reading on this yourself, I have lots of links I can provide you with. This is a subject I've done lots of research on because I have a shelter dog that was spayed early and as a result we've had a whole host of injuries and mental/physical issues to deal with over the years. Personally I would never do that to any of my dogs, but that's just me.

As a general rule, a dog should never be altered until all growth plates have closed, which for most dogs is around 14 months although it can happen sooner in some breeds. 6 months is actually the worst possible time to neuter a dog because some of the growth plates will have already closed while others are still open. I personally would never get a dog fixed before they are 2 years old. If you decide to wait that long though, you have to be super careful that neither of the dogs have unsupervised access to each other during the female's heat cycle if she happens to come into heat before 2 years (which is quite likely with a smaller dog). If being that vigilant seems too stressful for you, then check with your vet about getting it done BEFORE 6 months.

Also wanted to mention that while a diaper can help sometimes, it often doesn't keep the female from getting pregnant so I wouldn't ever trust the dogs alone if she's in heat - even if she's diapered. She needs to be locked in a separate room or the male needs to be in a crate whenever you aren't there to supervise...I would actually do both if you live in a busy household. Some people always seem to have a hard time remembering to keep doors closed. (At least at my house) ;)

One really important thing to remember though if you decide to wait until they're older is that the female should be spayed 2-3 months AFTER her last heat cycle. If she is spayed right before or right after a heat you can have problems with excessive bleeding during and/or after the surgery.

Also feel free to PM me any time if you want more info on this...I NEVER get tired of talking about dogs and dog health/nutrition! :D
 
well for some reason my post didn't go through?
Anyways watch the video Dr Becker: The Truth About Spaying and Neutering.

I don't recommend early spay/neuter.
 
I'd love those links! And I didn't know it could be so bad to fix them young. They are gonna be small under 20 lbs I'd say. Dad is a Jack Russel and mom is a Jack mixed with a blue tick if I'm not wrong. But she's not that big. When I googled the age to spay/neuter a pup it said the traditional age is 6-9 months. If I have too I'll separate them while she's on heat, I was talking to my bf about diapering and putting a onesie on while she's in heat (I really don't want puppies XD, I love these two, but no more)...

Dog birth control with loads of side effects... Ya know after being on every kind of birth control but the IUD/Implant. I couldn't I know the awful side effects and couldn't live with myself to do it. I've heard chasteberry (which keeps women from menstruating) has been used successfully in horses, but, I don't know how I'd use it for a dog or if I even could.
 
To throw some huge matters of opinion in here that are going by unchallenged... You need to do your own research on many of these matters.

Personally I would not trust a vet for spay/neuter advice unless I knew that vet and then I'd already know their advice. I would do research. I do not spay until 1-2 heat cycles and I do not neuter until over a year old if at all. This is becoming much more common in dogs that will do heavy activity as adults because it is being shown to benefit those doing dog sports. Previously most dog sports were limited to potential breeding animals either by the level of competition the owners were doing or by the registry recognizing the competition. As more people want to do things with their non-breeding animals but on the same level and even the registry services like the akc are recognizing that with separate competition circles the impact of spay/neuter age on physical problems earlier in life started to become more apparent. Prior to that you could also find studies done that discovered more aggression and wash outs in service dogs with early spay/neuter, especially females, but this rarely saw the light of day with all the shelter push to neuter and kind of floated around the fringe groups instead of main pet forums. Many vets still follow older thinking or somewhere inbetween. You need to decide based on the growth rate of your breed/mix, their level of activity as they get older, and your ability to keep them contained and safe from accidental pregnancy or causing accidental pregnancy. Preferably I would not have spayed my akita at all since they are very clean, she had no problem wearing a pad, and her behavior didn't change but I had her out on my mom's farm sometimes and strange males would show up so I decided that doing it eventually was a good idea instead of years of risk. I regretted it because when she was several years old I wished I could have gotten a puppy out of her. Cancer isn't a cut and dry argument for it either.

I also disagree with some of the vaccination schedules and restrictions mentioned. If the dam was vaccinated I prefer them not to be started so young when I get them and neither does my vet, they will often start them at 8weeks, because part of the reason for doing a series of shots is that you don't know when the dam's coverage of antibodies ends and the puppy's immune system begins. If you do them too early you may just be using up the antibodies the dam gave to protect the puppy before the puppy can make it's own. It actually can be harmful. Some even choose a single 12+week vaccination followed by yearly instead of a series of puppy shots depending on the details of their dogs and area. I see that more in hunting or other specific working dogs from solid healthy breeding lines kept fairly isolated and only taken out for training rather than pets or dogs exposed to the public. Of course some wild animals can spread some things and some will base things off that argument. I also take my puppies out to the lowest risk areas I can find and start walking them, on grass and other surfaces included, well before they are finished with all rounds of puppy shots. They are more likely to get parvo from my yard or walking to my car than a trail and I'm not keeping them pottying inside the whole time. My current one was 30lbs by her last puppy shots. I also want them socialized asap. That 8week mark starts a crucial socialization time for breeds that can turn shy or protective so they need to be out seeing things where possible. By 12-14weeks it's going to be harder or may even just be too late for some things. I never keep anything in a bubble and that is my choice to risk. It's all a constant risk assessment versus benefits. The breeder of my akita would be teaching them to walk on a leash to the grass and potty on command before they were even 8 weeks old and off of her own property too because she'd start penning them in the office and training them to go outside the building before they were ready for homes.

There is no x age for anything or how to do it really. Like most things there are a variety of suggestions and methods you need to decide based on your details.
 
Well I definitely won't be wanting pups,but if I ever did I'd probably buy a pair and have puppies to sell as work dogs. We definitely plan on potty training asap and we live with 7 people, cats, other dogs of all sizes, and tons of yard animals, so I think socializing them won't be a problem (Not to mention we have people over quite often) About shots though, I want my two pups to be pets, so I'm assuming around 8-10 weeks would be a good time to start first shots? I don't want to hurt these pups, or make them sick. I want them to have the best possible life. They all will be pets, sold at the same local pet store I sell my rabbits, It's ran by a woman, and her fiance and they have a very nice, clean place, and all their animals are very healthy. We plan on keeping them here till around 16 weeks, that way they've had all their shots and are hopefully leash/potty trained. <br /><br /> __________ March 29th, 2017, 7:48 pm __________ <br /><br /> So I read all those articles and am now finding it hard to want them to be fixed. But I just can't handle the constant risk of accidental pregnancy by her brother or a stray male. I am planning to call all the local vets and see if I can find a vet who will do a partial spay/neuter. Meaning he'd have a vasectomy and she'd get her tubes tied. I do plan to train them young, and I don't plan to let her out when in heat unsupervised or off a leash, but I still can't handle that small chance of him mounting her, those babies would be so inbred they'd be retarded and I couldn't live with myself doing something like that.
 

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