No matter if you get a brand new dog as a puppy or from an animal shelter you should arrange for a visit to the local veterinarian within several days.
A routine check-up is necessary for any pet you bring into your household no matter how young or old he is.
There are a couple reasons for this.
You want to get all the recommended shots for your dog.
These include vaccinations against corona virus, Bordatella, Lyme disease, rabies, distemper, and parvo.
Keep in mind you do not get all these at once but rather in stages.
The first shots will be the distemper and parvo shots.
Depending on where you live and the type of dog you have you can get a vaccination schedule from your veterinarian.
You also want to find out if your dog has will have any diseases (possibly chronic) or conditions you need to be aware of.
Knowing this information in advance is crucial since the earlier to treat a problem the more likely a treatment will work.
And lastly, you really want to get to know and establish a relationship with your local veterinarian.
You want to check out the clinic and get to know the person who will be providing health care for your dog.
You should feel comfortable with him and his staff.
Is he friendly? Is he knowledgeable? I would find out what his interests are and if you can his strengths.
With local veterinarians it pays for them to know how to treat a wide range of animals and know about a wide range of medicine.
This is the reason a specialist, if they operated in your city, is good to seek out.
The focus all their attention on one type of animal or one type of medicine.
And because they study and work on the same thing all the time they get really good and fast at treating problems within the niche they are related to.
The same is true of humans.
If you know you have lung cancer do you want to be treated by a general doctor who will know a lot of things relating to your problem or a lung cancer specialist who has devoted his whole career to researching, testing, and treating this type of disease.
The only problem with animal specialists, like human health care providers, is that they are expensive.
You pay for that specialized knowledge.
This is the reason why you need to ask questions and get to know your potential long term veterinarian.
Many times these animals doctors have a "general practice" but really do focus their efforts on a niche that interests them.
They may not be officially accredited with the title but know just as much as a specialist would in this field.
When this happens you are able to get your dog treated by a vet who knows what a specialist would but not charge "specialist prices.
" No matter what you do talk to your vet and ask him many questions.
If there is a problem with your pet you can usually work out a payment plan with his office to get the treatment or surgery done.
Many people do not have pet health insurance so they places are used to working with people in establishing a payment schedule.