Thursday, June 05, 2008

Six weeks and Time for the Vet

How time flies when you're a puppy! Sedona's brood is now six weeks old and they got their first shots...all received a clean bill of health from our veterinarian. Even little 'Cottonwood', who started out her life at a wee 5 3/4 oz. tipped the scale at over 5 lbs. Of course, her big brother, Schnebley, nearly broke the scale at 9 lb. 7 oz. By the end of the visit this litter came through and promptly snoozed through the remainder of the visit. An interesting twist this time around was the inclusion of a measles vaccine with the traditional parvo/distemper shots our pups usually get. It turns out the measles vaccine works to bolster the puppies' immunity against distemper during the time the puppies immune system is adjusting to the post-nursing phase of life. The mother's milk provides antibodies that suppress the effectiveness of the distemper vaccine; the measles virus is apparently similar in structure to the distemper and the vaccine is not suppressed by the mother's milk. Thus, an additional measure of protection is provided by the measles vaccine. No, the puppies won't develop little red spots and turn itchy!

This picture reveals our snoozers following their check. Note the coloration by the tails... how else can one keep track of an all yellow litter?! We use Sharpies to mark each pup. This helps us distinguish each one so we can better track weight, personalities, etc.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Looks like an amazing litter of puppies, can't wait to get mine!
Sabrina