glenmar
Posted : 4/1/2006 7:28:16 AM
Well, hold on a sec. Those shots aren't magic. Parvo has an incubation period of 14 days. Mommas immunity wears off somewhere between 8-15 weeks. Shots while the pups still HAVE momma's immunity are wasted. Shots after the ONE that does the trick are wasted too, but it's more cost effective to give the series of 3 than to titer.....plus with titering there is no reliable way to tell if the pup still has MOM's immunities or his own.
Dr. Dodd's recommends the following vaccine schedule....parvo/distemper ONLY at 9, 12 and between 16-20 weeks, rabies no earlier than 24 weeks. With rabies, I wait as long as I can and pray I don't get caught because that one is hard on the immune system. A LOT of vets will give rabies with a spueter......shouldn't be done.....vaccines are ONLY to be given to animals with a healthy immune system and that is depressed by anesthesia.......
Absolutely when you find a pup or otherwise obtain one, it should go to the vet straight-away, or within 24 hours at the latest. I encourage ALL my new families to take their pups to the vet within 48 hours, and pups I place ARE vaccinated and vetted and wormed and everything else that needs doing. They also get a bath and a nail clipping within 24 hours of folks coming to "look".......but I still want them SEEN by their new doc within 48 hours and I tell folks that when they call to set up an appointment.
A stray that I find on the street? Immediate vet care and if the vet isn't open, well, quarenteen until the office opens, away from my other dogs, just to be safe. And if that animal shows signs of illness....damned the cost and I just run up a bigger bill at the vets!
When you take responsibility for a LIFE, it might bite you in the wallet. And you've gotta bite the bullet and take the hit. Or take the pup to someone, like the HS who WILL have the animal vetted.