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Essential Health Care for Your New Puppy or Kitten
Bringing a new puppy or kitten home is an exciting adventure! Your cute, cuddly new family member can't help but make everyone who interacts with them smile. Fun as it may be, there is also some serious health care business to take care of during your new pet's first year of life, and it may take a little bit of planning.
Your First Appointment
Puppies should ideally have their first veterinary appointment around six weeks of age, and kittens around eight weeks.
During this initial visit, your pet will receive a complete physical examination to assess their overall health, look for signs of any congenital defects, and check for external parasites.
We will also administer deworming medications for roundworms and hookworms, and the first round of puppy or kitten vaccinations.
Finally, for kittens, we will perform a blood test to check for feline leukemia and feline immunodeficiency virus.
Our Puppy and Kitten Appointments Cover:
- Vaccinations
- Microchipping
- Parasite Prevention + Deworming
- Preventative Blood Screening
- Internal Parasite Screening
- Spay/Neuter
- Q+A for all your pet care questions
Follow-up Appointments
Puppies and kittens should attend 3 to 4 veterinary appointments between the ages of 6 and 16 weeks. These visits allow our vets to assess your pet's overall health and to administer vaccines on schedule.
Puppy & Kitten Vaccinations
Because the immune system is still developing, puppies and kittens must receive a series of vaccines including boosters. We tailor our vaccine recommendations based on your pet’s individual lifestyle and breed using guidelines established by the American Veterinary Medical Association(AVMA) and the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA).
Visit our preventative care page for more information on pet vaccinations.
Puppy & Kitten Diagnostic Testing
Both puppies and kittens should have certain diagnostic tests over the course of their first year. Puppies should be tested for heartworm by 12 months of age, if not before. Kittens, on the other hand, should be tested for feline leukemia (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) during their first exam.
