Pitbull Puppy Health & Care

Feeding

Choose a dry food intended specifically for puppies, avoiding generic foods and those that sell for unusually low prices. We suggest brand name puppy food because it is impossible to distinguish good dog food from poor dog food simply by looking at the ingredient list on the label. Many things that owners look for, such as high protein levels and extra vitamins, are as likely to be harmful than helpful. For example, overfeeding and over supplementation are factors contributing to hip dysplasia.

If you have a large-breed puppy, purchase "large breed" puppy food. The actual formula is different, not just the kibble size, and is better for very rapidly growing puppies. Offer food to young puppies three times a day. If your pitbull puppy isn't hungry that often, reduce the frequency. After ten or twelve weeks of age, feed twice a day. Even adult pitbull dogs should have their food split into morning and evening feedings.

When fed once a day dogs become overly hungry and are more likely to overeat at mealtime. Let your puppy eat as much as he/she wants in fifteen minutes and then pick up the food dish. Having food continually available encourages overeating, and chubby puppies are more likely to have hip dysplasia and weight problems later in life. Also, because free-fed puppies never get very hungry, they don't enjoy their food unless given special treats. The combination of special treats and freely available food encourages them to become bored, overweight and picky.

People food Do not give people food. If you start with a balanced diet and add goodies from the table, you won't have a balanced diet anymore, and your puppy will have more digestive trouble. Treats that are reasonably balanced, such as Milk Bone Biscuits are OK, but since they are not really all that great nutritionally, don't let them become an important part of the diet. Canned puppy food is perfectly all right, but we usually suggest feeding dry food because it is cheaper, easier to use, and better for the teeth.

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Shots

Between six and sixteen weeks of age, puppies lose the disease protection they received from their mothers and become able to form their own immunity to disease. Unfortunately, we never know when this will happen, so there is often a brief period when puppies have lost the disease protection they received from their mothers but have not yet developed strong immunity of their own. Fortunately, new vaccines for distemper and parvovirus are much more effective than what we had even two or three years ago, and eliminate much of this problem. Also, since the new vaccines work better we don't have to give as many, which saves money. Until your pitbull puppy is four or five months old, try to prevent contact with stray dogs or sick dogs. Avoid boarding your puppy or taking her places like highway rest stops where lots of other dogs go to the bathroom.

When we say "distemper shot" we are talking about a combination vaccine (DAP) which protects against a group of diseases:

Infectious canine distemper (ICD) is a highly infectious viral disease that attacks the lungs and affects the brain and spinal cord in somewhat the same way polio affects people.

Canine adenovirus type 2 (CAV-2) is a respiratory virus that causes a severe form of "kennel cough". Canine parvovirus (CPV) attacks the lining of the intestinal tract, and in very young puppies, damages the heart. It remains our most common fatal infectious disease and is the most difficult to protect against. Dobermans, rottweilers and boxer or bulldog type dogs are especially susceptible.

Leptospirosis Causes kidney and liver damage. The disease can affect any mammal, including people, and is spread by urine contamination from infected animals such as raccoons, opossums, rats, coyotes, foxes or other dogs. The newer leptospirosis vaccine protect against four varieties of the disease. We do not recommend using the old Distemper/Lepto vaccines that protect against only two varieties of Leptospirosis because they don't work against the type of Leptospirosis seen most frequently in our area.

Rabies Spread by animal bites or through the saliva of an infected animal, rabies is always fatal. Because infected pets can give the disease to people, rabies immunization is something you don't want to ignore. Rabies shots are started at sixteen weeks of age, boostered a year later, and every one to three years after that, depending on local laws and your veterinarian's recommendation. Unvaccinated dogs that come into close contact with a skunk must be quarantined or put to sleep. Vaccinated dogs that have skunk contact should be given a rabies booster as soon as possible, regardless of when they were last immunized.

Lyme disease spread by ticks, Lyme Disease has become a significant human health problem in El Dorado County, but because the disease is difficult and expensive to diagnose with certainty, there have been few proven cases in dogs. When we suspect Lyme disease, we treat with antibiotics. The dogs usually get better and we are seldom certain whether the condition being treated was Lyme disease or something else. Dogs that roam in brushy areas and get lots of ticks should be vaccinated. Those restricted to their own immediate area and never get ticks probably don't need it. Immunization is given as an initial series of two injections three weeks apart followed by an annual booster.

Bordetella, a common cause of "kennel cough", is a severe but rarely fatal respiratory disease. Because it spreads through the air in confined areas, kennel cough is common even in clean, well run boarding kennels. If your dog will be at the groomer's frequently or periodically left at a kennel, it is wise to protect against the disease. Most boarding kennels require it. For dogs that don't need year 'round protection, the best time to administer the vaccine is two to four weeks before going to the kennel.

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Worms

Roundworms & Hookworms
Heartguard Plus and Interceptor, two new combination heartworm medications, also kill the intestinal worms common in our area. By using either of these products, we eliminate the need for routine fecal examinations and separate worming medications. However, if your puppy has persistent diarrhea please bring in a small fecal sample to check for other less-common parasites.

Tapeworms
If you see little short white worms (1/2 inch long or less), these are probably tapeworm segments. When the segments dry they look like grains of brown rice and may stick to your dog's hair. Prescription tapeworm drugs are extremely effective, very safe, and cause no discomfort whatever. Non prescription tapeworm medications don't work very well and often cause intestinal cramps and diarrhea. If he is not extremely small or too large to lift, you can be sufficiently accurate by weighing yourself with and without the dog.

Heartworms
Because of a mosquito species that lives in oak trees at our elevation, the Sierra foothills of Northern California have a serious heartworm problem-worse than just about anywhere else in the Western United States. In 1972, approximately one fourth of all heartworm cases reported in California were diagnosed at Placerville Veterinary Clinic. In those areas, dogs that don't receive prevention medicine, especially if they sleep outdoors, will probably get heartworms. If you discover the problem in time, heartworms can be eliminated, but treatment is difficult, dangerous, and expensive. And even with treatment, heartworms cause permanent damage. Although the treatment isn't nearly as dangerous as many people seem to believe, regular testing followed by treatment when needed is not a reasonable alternative to prevention.

Heartworm prevention
We recommend Interceptor Chewable Tablets, because they taste good and need to be given only once a month. In addition, Interceptor kills hookworms, whipworms and roundworms, eliminating the need for separate worming medications and routine fecal examinations. It is important to use Interceptor every month without fail.

Heartworm testing
Dogs with heartworm disease ordinarily have adult male and female worms living in the heart, and microscopic baby heartworms throughout the bloodstream. Baby heartworms become adults only after living in a mosquito and then getting into another dog when it is bitten by the mosquito. Because we cannot detect heartworms until about six months after infection, we never know for sure if puppies already have heartworms when we start them on prevention medication. Although this is a concern, the risk of puppyhood infection is small, and we can safely wait to perform an initial heartworm test until about fifteen months of age, when rabies and distemper booster vaccinations are given. After that, we encourage you to test every two years to protect against the small possibility that a dose has been missed, or the extremely small possibility that the medicine isn't working.