Your Healthy Dog's Annual Exam

Every dog should have an annual, comprehensive physical exam where the eyes, ears, teeth, heart, lungs, lymph nodes, skin, and abdominal organs are evaluated. Since animals can not express their symptoms verbally, the annual physical is a very important part of their care in order to detect problems early. This is the perfect opportunity to ask questions about your dog's behavior, to discuss weight and nutritional issues, as well as the aging process in older pets. The doctors will never give any tests or vaccinations without your consent. If your pet has been seen at previous vets, you may contact them about faxing the old records to us at: 212-665-3459.

Vaccinations

Vaccinations are injections given to stimulate the immune system to create antibodies against diseases. Vaccinations should be chosen to protect your dog against viruses and bacterial disease that he or she may encounter. Initially, a puppy needs multiple vaccines until four months of age to create protection, and adult dogs need booster vaccines to maintain their antibody levels. Some of the diseases a dog encounters are microscopic viruses or bacteria on the street or in a puddle, and city veterinarians see dogs sicken and die from preventable diseases.

The Primary Canine Innoculations

Rabies Vaccination: Rabies virus is fatal to dogs and contagious to humans. Unlike the other vaccines, Rabies is required by law for all dogs; indoors or outdoors. At Symphony Vet we use only the safest vaccine for your dog. If any dog should bite a human without proof of rabies vaccination, then the health department is legally empowered to order that dog euthanized for rabies testing. An owner may decline the rabies vaccine, but since it is required by law we thoroughly recommend it. With dogs, the first vaccine is given between 3 and 6 months of age, boosted one year later, and then re-boosted every three years.

D.H.P.P. Vaccination: This vaccine protects against four diseases:

1. Distemper: this virus damages the brain and gastrointestinal tract
2. Hepatitis: this virus causes liver damage
3. Parainfluenza: the original canine influenza virus
4. Parvo: an often fatal, highly contagious intestinal disease

Puppies should receive this vaccine at 2,3 and 4 months of age. An adult dog receives this vaccine one year after his or her final puppy vaccination, then every three years after that.

Leptospirosis Vaccination: A serious new disease affecting Upper West Side dogs for the first time, leptospirosis can infect any dog who goes outdoors. The bacterium is spread by moist surfaces like sidewalks and puddles, which have been contaminated by rats or mice. We vaccinate against the specific strain of lepto present in the neighborhood. The disease causes kidney and/or liver failure and is contagious to humans.

Vaccine Selection

Side effects are minimized by the doctors at Symphony Vet Center, who have chosen the most pure vaccines available. We give only those vaccines your dog legitimately needs for his or her circumstances. Since overuse of vaccines can make an animal feverish or nauseated, we do not give unnecessary vaccines. We do not carry the corona vaccine, since that disease causes only mild diarrhea symptoms in puppies, and we only give the bordetella kennel cough vaccine to high risk dogs who go to kennels, not as a routine vaccine. Since a very effective three-year rabies vaccine exists, that is what we give to adult dogs. There is no valid medical reason to give adults the rabies vaccine every year. Weak or ill animals should recover before receiving their vaccinations, and animals with an overactive immune system, such as those with autoimmune diseases like lupus, should not have further stimulation with vaccines. It has never been proven that any vaccines cause cancer in dogs.

Titer Testing

Some clients have read about titer testing instead of vaccination. The principle behind this notion is that if an animal can be shown to have adequate protection against disease, then a booster vaccine is not necessary. Unfortunately the only current test for immune protection is the antibody titer level, which is not a reliable indication of protection since it only measures one component of immunity. The other main branch of the immune system response, which is mediated by white blood cells, can not be measured by commercial labs. So a positive antibody titer indicates only probable protection, and a negative antibody titer does not give any information about the animal's status. The major veterinary teseting lab, Antech, runs vaccine titers againt distemper and parvo viruses, but states that a positive titer does not assure protection against infection. In an owner requests that his or her pet be titer tested instead of vaccinated, we will run the tests (which are more expensive than the vaccines), but even with a strong antibody level, there is no guarantee that the animal is protected against the viruses. Rabies titers are not accepted by legal authories as proof in lieu of vaccination.

Your Healthy Dog May Also Need

Lyme Disease Vaccination: Recommended for dogs who frequent country locations where deer and ticks are found. The vaccine is moderately effective but should not replace the use of a good tick repellant such as Frontline.

Bordetella Vaccination: Also known as the kennel cough vaccine, it is given to dogs who go to boarding kennels or day care facilities, or who will be boarding with us here at the hospital. The vaccine is administered as a nasal spray, and protects against the most serious form of kennel respiratory infections. Since there are many viruses and bacteria that can cause coughing, and that spread indoors, the vaccine can not protect against all the minor causes of kennel cough. There is no vaccine for the new canine influenza that has recently shifted from horses to dogs.

Heartworm Test: Heartworm is a parasitic roundworm that spreads through mosquito bites. In the final reproductive stage of its life cycle, the parasite lives in the host's heart and will cause death from heart failure if it is not detected. Dogs are the parasite's natural host, though cats and even humans occasionally become infected if bitten by a mosquito that carries the parasite. We recommend an annual heartworm test and giving your dog monthly preventive medication such as Interceptor.

Interceptor: Interceptor is a heartworm preventative. We will not sell it for a dog that doesn't have a current heartworm test unless the owner is willing to sign a heartworm test refusal form. Even then, the dog must have a current annual exam. Giving Interceptor to a dog infected with heartworms can be fatal. Interceptor is also very valuable for urban dogs, to prevent many of the intestinal parasites found in city soil, such as roundworm, hookworm and whipworm.

Frontline: Frontline is a monthly flea and tick preventative, that is applied topically once per month.

Neutering/Spaying:

Dentistry:

Microchip: Many pets are now fitted with a microchip which is a painless, safe method of permanent identification. If your pet is lost, and has no ID tags, then an animal shelter or veterinarian can scan the pet to see if a microchip is present. A microchip is a transponder like the EZ pass, and is the size of a rice grain. Insertion of the chip is done through a syringe, and is quick and easy for the animal . No sedation is required and your pet will not be aware that the microchip is present under the skin. We highly recommend them, because one never knows when a cat may slip out the door, or a dog break his or her collar and run out of reach.

Blood screening tests: Like any living organism, your pet's health changes as he or she ages, and problems that are detected early can be treated much more successfully. Normal blood test results can be very useful reference points for later comparisons. Owners often choose to run midlife blood screening tests, and when the pet is in his or her senior years, the tests can be run annually. The CBC test (complete blood count) evaluates the red blood cell count to detect anemia, as well as all the different types of white blood cells, which fluctuate in response to infections, inflammatory conditions, and cancer. Blood chemistry tests investigate the function of the major organs like the kidneys, liver, and thyroid glands as well as the electrolytes that are essential to proper function of the body.