It’s important to establish a routine veterinary regime for your new puppy or kitten from the get-go. Our veterinarians would love to support your pet from the very beginning. Just like children, puppies and kittens require careful care and attention during their first year of life to help them grow properly into adulthood. It is highly recommended that you undergo the following wellness procedures for your new addition:
We recommend that puppies undergo scheduled wellness exams at 8, 12, and 16 weeks of age. This allows our Veterinarians to properly monitor their growth as well as answer any questions you might have about their health and behavior. Our puppy wellness visits will include a comprehensive physical examination, fecal exam, and vaccinations.
Puppies have immature immune systems and are particularly vulnerable to diseases carried by other dogs and the environment. For these reasons, we highly recommend vaccinating your new puppy to keep them protected.
Try to avoid places where your puppy can come into contact with other dogs until they have received their full sets of vaccinations.
Core vaccines are recommended for all dogs. This includes Distemper, Hepatitis, Parainfluenza, Parvovirus, Rabies, and Leptospirosis. Non-core vaccines are recommended based on your individual dog’s risk of exposure and health. These include Bordetella (kennel cough) and Canine Influenza.
We recommend that kittens undergo scheduled wellness exams at 8, 12, and 16 weeks of age. This allows our Veterinarians to properly monitor their growth as well as answer any questions you might have about their health and behavior. Our kitten wellness visits will include a comprehensive physical examination, fecal exam, and vaccinations.
Until a kitten has received all of their vaccinations, keeping them safe at home is the best thing you can do to ensure they stay healthy and are safeguarded against illness.
Ark Veterinary Hospital & Urgent Care Veterinarians strongly recommend having your new kitten tested for Feline Leukemia (FeLV) and Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) before you consider introducing them to other cats in your household.
Core vaccines are recommended for all cats. This includes Distemper, Rhinotracheitis, Calicivirus, and Rabies.
Non-core vaccines are recommended based on your individual cat’s risk of exposure or unique health considerations. These include Feline Leukemia, Feline Immunodeficiency Virus, and Feline Infectious Peritonitis.
Parasites such as fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, and worms can be more than just a troublesome annoyance, they can cause risk to animals if left untreated. In order to avoid the diseases and illnesses that parasites can cause, and to stop them from spreading to other animals, it’s important that your veterinary doctor administers preventative treatments.
As with many other aspects of health and wellness, prevention is often a much more optimal option than treatment. The staff at Ark Veterinary Hospital & Urgent Care can effectively help to prevent parasites from causing your pet any discomfort or illness. It is highly recommended that your pet undergoes annual testing for parasites, in particular worms, heartworm, fleas, and ticks.
These parasites can be dangerous for your dog and cat, but fortunately, testing and prevention is a simple method, provided it is administered regularly. An Ark Veterinary Hospital & Urgent Care doctor will take a fecal sample from your pet and test for worms. If worms are detected, your pet will be administered a deworming treatment to take care of the problem. Deworming is typically recommended on a set schedule. Dogs and cats should also receive yearly heartworm testing. Undetected heartworms that are left untreated can be fatal to dogs and cats, which is why regular testing and prevention is paramount.
Sadly, 90% of pets without identification never make it home to their owners, and one in three pets will get lost at some point in their lifetime. Unfortunately, no matter how careful you are with your pet, there’s no way of completely guaranteeing that they will never get lost. Lost pets that are brought to animal shelters and animal hospitals, or are found by a passerby, have a significantly higher chance of being reunited with their owner if they have some form of identification. Traditional tags that attach to collars aren’t always reliable, and can easily be lost if your pet catches them on something or slips out of their collar.
Microchips are a tiny piece of equipment that is inserted under the skin between the shoulder blades of your dog or cat in a quick and pain-free procedure. The microchip will carry the owner’s contact information so that you can be more easily reunited with your lost pet.
You can register your pet’s microchip in the national pet-finding database, HomeAgain, so that animal care professionals will have a way of contacting you. If you ever move or change phone numbers, don’t forget to update your pet’s microchip information
Spaying and neutering your pets is not only important for population control, but it can also increase their life-span and prevent certain illnesses. Spaying is the name for the removal of female reproductive organs, while neutering involves the removal of the male reproductive organs.
Ark Veterinary Hospital & Urgent Care Veterinarians and staff perform hundreds of spay and neutering surgeries on animals of all shapes and sizes. The procedure is highly recommended for all pets that are in our care unless it is the owner’s intentions that they are responsibly bred in a purposeful manner. It is typically recommended that spay or neuter surgery occurs while animals are between 4 and 12 months of age, depending on the size and breed of your pet.
Although spaying and neutering is a common surgery and is relatively quick and easy to recover from, we understand that it can still be a nerve-wracking experience for owners. We work tirelessly to ensure that your pet is as safe and comfortable as possible, particularly when it comes to anesthesia and post-surgery pain management.
Beyond population control, spaying or neutering your pet can also help with the following issues:
Located off of exit 46 on the NY State Thruway (I-90).
Phone: 585-487-8700
*IMPORTANT*:
We may consider closing our office an hour early Friday through Monday if there are no clients scheduled for appointments or if there is limited foot traffic. Our primary goal is to ensure optimal service during our operating hours. By adjusting our closing time based on demand, we can better allocate our resources and maintain efficiency. When you call for an urgent care case, please be sure to listen to our on-hold/after-hours messaging which will detail our operating hours for that evening. You can also always check our Facebook for updates.