Visiting a vet regularly can be tiring and costly, but your dog’s healthcare is important. How often should I take my dog to the vet? The answer to this question depends on their age, health, breed, and Activity. Most often, only small puppies and old-age dogs require regular vet checkups. Whereas healthy adult dogs only require annual checkups. Like humans, dogs can also live a healthy life with frequent checkups. Being proactive about your pet’s health will help them live a longer and healthier life. Read the article below that has an answer to your question about vet visits, annual wellness exams, and others.
Annual Wellness Exam for Dogs
An dog annual exam is crucial to your pet’s preventive care. A regular visit to vets for checkups is just like you take care of them by providing with the most nutritious dry dog food, grooming, and exercise. Annual exam for dogs keeps the track of your pets’ health and helps you keep updated with their growth and development in all life cycle stages. An annual wellness examination is a yearly medical examination of healthy dogs. These wellness examinations are done on healthy dogs to maintain optimal health. Commonly these examinations are known as ‘checkups’ or a ‘physical examinations. You can quickly know about any illness or infection very early because of the annual wellness exam.
How Often Do Dogs Need Shots?
A veterinarian for dogs conducts the annual wellness exam. After which they provided a detailed report about your dogs’ health. Based on the report, the vet instructs a few medications, exercise, dental care, and a detailed schedule for dog shots. This wellness report is crucial as it contains all the information about dogs’ health and allergies.
#1 Birth to One Year (Puppy)
While your pet is small and isn’t grown much, a monthly visit to the dog vet is recommended. You must follow this puppy shot schedule for at least 16-18 weeks after their birth. During this period, the puppies are regularly vaccinated. Pups require a faecal examination to test for parasites during this early stage. This early checkup will make you aware of the weight and the diet that needs to be fed. Weekly checkups in the first 16 months will help you trace their growth.
- After your pup is 8 weeks old, they are vaccinated against distemper, hepatitis, parainfluenza, parvo, and corona. It is a single DA2PP vaccine for dogs that protects your pet from multiple viruses.
- When your puppy is around 10-12 weeks grow, they are injected with two injections-second doses of DA2PP and leptospirosis in dogs.
- At the period of 14-16 weeks, when your pup is grown up, the third dose of DA2PP is injected. Along with this, Leptospirosis and rabies are also injected.
- Flea, tick, and heartworm test for dogs can be done around 8-10 weeks as they can attack them afterwards.
The dog vaccination schedule might vary a little; therefore, you are advised to consult your vet. They are well acquainted with this knowledge and can guide the best about your pup. After all the vaccination is done, you must visit the vet weekly. An annual or half-yearly examination is recommended until your dog is spayed.
#2 Adulthood
After your pup has grown into an adult dog, you must visit the vet annually. The wellness checkup will include the whole body checkup from head to tail, including dental and vaccination updates. They can be injected with booster shots against rabies and distemper parvo vaccine at this stage. The vet checks the training, behavior, and overall wellness in the annual exam. This is the right time to consult your vet if you want to train your dog for particular skills.
#3 Senior Year
At this stage of dogs’ lifecycle, they are more prone to illness and need special attention. Therefore we recommend at least quarterly visits to the dog vet. Even if your dog does not show any signs of ageing and is filled with energy, a half-yearly visit is a must. Commonly, dogs at this stage show signs of ageing, like joint pain and lethargic behavior that needs a consultant. You can regularly visit the vet for diet updates and specific nutrition requirements for your dog. The annual wellness report can be helpful if your dog faces illness in the future. Frequent visits will help you trace any illness at the beginning stage and keep your dog healthy for a long time.
How Often Should I Take my Dog to the Vet?
Yearly or half-yearly visits are recommended to the vet, but you can still visit the vet if an emergency arises. If your dog shows any illness or faces an accident, visit the vet urgently. Below are some situations for you to figure out when to go to the vet right away:
- Breathing problem
- Hard abdomen after swallowing something
- Signs of pale gums.
- Blood vomiting or vomiting for more than 12 hours.
- Signs of Extreme pain
- Problem is crawling
- Unconscious and not waking up
- Ingestion of harmful products, pesticides, or insecticides.
Conclusion
Keeping track of your pets’ health helps will ensure to keep them safe from disease and illness. Get done with all the vaccinations for dogs prescribed by the vet to keep your pet safe from parasites, diseases, or fleas. With growing age, the body requires a different amount of nutrition that the dog vet can explain well. Therefore keeping aside the budget problem, visit the vet based on the above-mentioned details to know about how often do dogs need shots. We hope the information provided is helpful and you can easily take care of your pet’s wellness.