I have a new puppy, a Yorkie 2.8 lbs. The new vet who is young said she needs 4 distemper combination vaccines. I thought they only gave 3 as my breeder said to me. Also, about spaying or neutering, she suggests under six months old and she said at least 3 lbs but then her associate said under 3 lbs... So what is it?? I also am confused about giving flea, heartworm, etc. medications on such a small dog. Any suggestions about that? Any vet techs here?? Please answer! Thank you.

As for the immunizations I honestly can't recall the exact schedule, my dogs never seemed to be able to be on the "normal". Heart worm however I remember them starting very early, and frontline as well. (my dog is just about 11 pounds now) As for spaying and neutering, I had Missy done at 6 months. It was not recommended that they do it earlier then that from ANY vet I contacted (this was a year and a half ago) it just seems Vets and shelters are taking drastic measures to stop over population, by doing it younger and younger.

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Originally Posted by ayashe

As for the immunizations I honestly can't recall the exact schedule, my dogs never seemed to be able to be on the "normal". Heart worm however I remember them starting very early, and frontline as well. (my dog is just about 11 pounds now) As for spaying and neutering, I had Missy done at 6 months. It was not recommended that they do it earlier then that from ANY vet I contacted (this was a year and a half ago) it just seems Vets and shelters are taking drastic measures to stop over population, by doing it younger and younger.

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Thank you for your reply. My little Yorkie is a female just weighing 2.8 lbs. and is 4 months old. The vet wants to spay her next month when she's 5 1/2 months old. She wants her to have four innoculations of the Distemper combo vaccine. This seems a lot to me. My daughter's Yorkie is a male going to be 7 months old for neutering, he weighs 2.1 lbs and her vet wants to neuter him and he's under 3 lbs while my vet said she wouldn't spay until she's 3 lbs... I cannot understand the discrepancies. I hate giving them flea and heartworm meds to such a small dog also... maybe I am just worrying too much because she's so small. This is my first small dog. I've always had german sheps. Previously so this is totally different... thanks for your reply again.

Having a small dog.. is a whole different creature. I love my Missy girl, but I can't say I would do the small dog thing again, they are high maintenance , and when they get ill, we seem to worry a little bit more. I wish you the best of luck!

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Originally Posted by ayashe

Having a small dog.. is a whole different creature. I love my Missy girl, but I can't say I would do the small dog thing again, they are high maintenance , and when they get ill, we seem to worry a little bit more. I wish you the best of luck!

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Thanks for the good wishes... I am in love with this pup. I can carry her around in my purse if I want but I do worry about her health like she's a little baby. Yup, she's high maintenance but at this stage of my life (all my kids are now grown up and left the nest) I spend my extra $$ on her... I intend to use a groomer who'll do all the things I cannot do. Too bad I can't take her on my income tax return as a dependent. But she'd need a social security number wouldn't she? Lol. :0)

She'll probably be the last dog I own at my age -

Bev

My dog had to weigh 8 pounds and be almost a year old before the vert would neuter him. I have been reading and hearing that if a person is responsible enough to watch their dogs to make sure that breeding does not occur that waiting up to 1 year is starting to be a preferred age to spay/ neuter. I have a neighbor that has a pug and her vet suggested for her to wait until 2 years of age. I might add she is the only person that I have heard of being encouraged to wait past the 1 year mark.

As far as the shots call some other clinics and vets and ask them for a shot scheldule for puppies. Also we have a few techs that get online maybe they can provide you with some info, Check back in.

I know how easy it is to adore them. I love Missy sooooooo much that sometimes it's over whelming. I have gone into debt for her, and would do it again, in a second. I am looking at 1800 dollars for a colonoscopy/and endoscopy for her, in the next few weeks. My poor husband, is besides himself with my dedication to this little angel, but I can't help it!

I can answer the discrepancies in weight question! Neutering a male is a much much easier operation than spaying a female. Really, in males, the weight only matters to determine how much anesthetic to give them. The main concern there is whether the testes have dropped or not. If they've dropped, the dog can be neutered. (You just cut a slit over the testes, squeeze them out, snip, and possibly suture the slit closed.) Spaying a female involves fishing around in their guts, finding the uterus and ovaries, and cutting those out. The smaller the dog, the harder it is to find the parts.

So, that's probably why your vet won't spay under three pounds, but will neuter a dog under that weight.

I don't think it is the number of vaccinations, necessarily, but what age the puppy starts, how often they are given and the age at the final round of puppy shots. All this varies from one vet to another. My puppy will have her final round at 21 weeks; she started at five weeks--this is a lot of shots, but she was abandoned at birth--literally her cord was still wet when she was dropped off in a neighbor's yard--and probably never had any protection from her mother.
The trend in spay/neuter is to try to do it before the first heat cycle. This has been shown to drastically decrease the risk of breast cancer in the future. Some shelter vets spay pups as young as eight weeks. Again, vets differ in what age and size they feel comfortable doing--even two vets in the same practice.
As for the flea/heartworm medications--talk to your vet, they all have minimum size/age requirements that she can explain to you.