Saturday, February 24, 2007

Finding a good vet

One of the black boys went to a new home today. The puppy will be living in Asheville and will have a wonderful home. I’m glad that all the babies are doing well and enjoying their time outside. It’s also nice that the days are getting longer and that there will be more time to play with them in the late afternoon. I have to start working on leash training for Crinkles.


I’ve heard from quite a few of the puppy owners. One of the most problematic things for getting a new puppy is finding just the right vet. I provide an article on how to find a good vet in the puppy packet that goes home with every puppy. Finding a good vet is sometimes easier said than done. I am so glad that we have Drs. Shong and Rockwell as our vets. Tweedle’s owner in Florida has been having a hard time finding just the right vet for Tweedle. Not all vets are created equal and some definitely have more knowledge than others. For example, we suggest that the vaccines to use are Progard Intervet. These are expensive vaccines and are thought to be very good. However, there are vets who continue to use other vaccines that have been reported to not be as effective. The mark up on drugs and vaccines from vets is enormous, probably over 120 %. We do give our own vaccines, except for rabies which legally has to be done through a vet. I think that each person needs to make sure that a vet is available and provides the best care possible. It is a good idea to interview the vet and see what their philosophy is. For breeders, it is important to be able to get in touch with the vet should there be an emergency during whelping. It certainly makes life so much easier to not go to an emergency clinic.

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