Louise G asked:
I am hoping to buy a lab puppy. I know that they need to have two vaccinations. First of which is usually done by the owner of the mother and the second the new owner of said puppy pays for. Out of interest, does any one know the cost of the vaccinations?
Secondly, I own a ginger tom, am a tad concerned he might leave home if a dogie comes into his territory? What would you recommend in terms of cat meeting pup. Baring in mind Spike – the cat, is not nu-ted.
Any thoughts/suggestions?
I am hoping to buy a lab puppy. I know that they need to have two vaccinations. First of which is usually done by the owner of the mother and the second the new owner of said puppy pays for. Out of interest, does any one know the cost of the vaccinations?
Secondly, I own a ginger tom, am a tad concerned he might leave home if a dogie comes into his territory? What would you recommend in terms of cat meeting pup. Baring in mind Spike – the cat, is not nu-ted.
Any thoughts/suggestions?
Not all breeders vaccinate before selling – you will find that many vets use different vaccines with differrent regimes and different timings for injections so if you use a different vet to the one used by the breeder, your puppy may well have to start again with vaccinations. To find out the average cost in your area, ring round your local vets as chargees vary from area to area from practice to practice.
Your cat will be boss over the dog – be in no doubt. He may well leave home for a few days when his nose is out of joint but he’ll be back when it starts raining or he’s hungry. Just watch out for your pup’s eyes when the cat lashes out at him (which he will, puppies can be very annoying) Once the pup learns that the cat’s no fun and hurts, he’ll soon ignore him.
EDIT: There are many reputable breeders who do not vaccinate before homing – for the reasons outlined above. I’ve both bred bought in puppies from responsible breeders none have been vaccinated.
Here’s a guide to finding a good Lab breeder – doesn’t mention innoculations either!
Dogs require more than 2 vaccinations. The general schedule we recommend for puppies is
DHPP (Distemper, Hepatitis, Parvo, Parainfluenza) at 6 weeks, 9 weeks, and 12 weeks
Rabies at 12-16 weeks
Bordetella at 8 weeks and 12 weeks.
The puppy will also need to be started on heartworm preventive and dewormed.
At our clinic a full puppy series including all of the above recommended vaccinations usually runs about $195 over the course of those 6 to 10 weeks.
In general, when puppies have had a vaccination by the breeder, we totally disregard that vaccine! We start their vaccination series over because we see a lot of parvo cases in which the dogs were either not vaccinated at all, vaccinated by the breeder, or vaccinated with feed store vaccines. It is extremely rare for us to get a parvo case in which the dog was vaccinated by a vet.
My absolute best suggestion would be to adopt from Lab Rescue. Just type in Labrador rescue and your state in Google and you will come up with a ton of them. They have lots of Labs looking for homes, and usually even puppies. They are usually already neutered and vaccinated.
As for the cat, I would first suggest neutering your cat. Intact male cats that live outside are more likely to get in fights and thus contract Feline Leukemia and FIV, plus these fights often lead to abscesses and infections. If he’s an outside cat, you really have no say on what he does. You can try to introduce them through a door for a few weeks so they get used to each others’ scent, try feeding them close to one another, for example with the dog in a crate. But with an outside cat those tips may not be much help.
good choice with the breed you need to ask vets nearest to you as they all charge different prices its true not all breeders do there first jabs some do some don’t a good breeder does and he should tell you the price at the time you but him maybe you can ask the breeder he should be able to help
as for introducing dogs and cats, my boys one five yr old was introduced as a puppy to cats and they get on okay he leaves them alone but my 7 month pup is curious but the cat will let him know his place we have had no probs with ourcats and dogs maybe were are just lucky maybe other people on will offer better ideas
good luck
edit,
are you in uk if you are you dont need the heart worm one nor the rabies injection
but you do in america and maybe other country
im in uk my pups had both injections
if your planning on taking him abroad then you will need all the jabs
My mum breeds Labs I have 2 myself! The vaccinations differ between vets. You’d be best off ringing around. As for the cat I wouldn’t worry. The cat will more than Likely become the boss of the dog! start off by holding your puppy bringing the cat in so they can sniff each other. Then whenever you have the chance put them in the same room as one another but don’t leave them alone you have to stay in there too just so they can mingle get used to the other being there. If the dog did something a little rough with the cat then tell it off just so it knows it can’t do that.They should be fine as you had the cat first if you’d had the dog first it would be completely different.
Gd luck I hope you have fun with your puppy! x
how old is the cat if it young it probably wont care but if it bit old it probably just stay away from it and not all dog breeders do the dog 1st jag