Anclote Animal Hospital

Puppy & Kitten Care

Young puppies and kittens need specific care, including more regular exams and more frequent vaccinations than adult pets. Our team of Tarpon Springs veterinarians is here to guide you and your new pet through their exciting first stage of life.

Puppy Care

Having a brand new, adorable little furry friend in your home is one of the most exciting and joyful experiences a person or family can have. It’s so important that we give puppies the best possible start to a healthy and happy life. They love you and depend on you to thrive! 

When you first bring in your puppy, one of our veterinarians will perform a full nose-to-tail examination and gather information about everything you know about their breed, history, and more. We’ll begin the vaccination and deworming schedule designed to keep your pet free from worms and other infections, and we’ll lay out information about the best care plan for your puppy based on their breed. This plan will include microchipping (implanting a chip just beneath your pet’s skin with information about their owner and history) and spaying/neutering.

If you don’t plan to breed your dog in a controlled environment, spaying or neutering your puppy when your veterinarian recommends is the best possible way to prevent future health issues, reduce problem behaviors caused by sexual instincts like urine-marking and dominating behaviors, and avoid unwanted litters. 

Kitten Care

Your adorable kitten has many of the same needs as human babies, including regular examinations to ensure they’re healthy and developing properly. You should schedule your kitten’s first wellness exam immediately after you adopt him or her, to ensure that any potential issues that may have been missed before adoption are identified and treated before becoming severe and/or chronic. 

One of our trained veterinarians will conduct a nose-to-tail exam and learn about your kitten’s background at their first wellness exam, establish a health baseline our clinical team will then use for future exams, outline vaccination schedules, and more. Even if you’re confident that your kitten is perfectly healthy, it’s important for us to establish this health baseline so that we can ensure a long, successful relationship between Anclote Animal Hospital and your precious cat throughout their life.

This includes important vaccines, which protect your kitten from diseases that are dangerous and even deadly. We’ll outline the recommended vaccine schedule for your kitten at your first appointment, and we may also suggest optional vaccinations as well based on where you live and the kinds of diseases or infections your cat is likely to encounter.

Is your cat joining a home with other cats? Introducing a new cat properly is important, as cats can be territorial and sometimes nervous animals. Ensure that each of your cats has its own private space, including a separate litter box, and be particularly attentive to your cats’ behaviors to see if anything seems out of place. Introduce your cats in a neutral environment where you can give them some space if necessary.

Spay/Neuter Procedure

The process of neutering (in males) and spaying (in females) involves removing your pet’s reproductive organs so that they can not impregnate other animals or become pregnant themselves. These procedures are not only beneficial to your pet’s health in other ways, such as reducing the odds of certain cancers and infections, they also help avoid unwanted pregnancies, litters of puppies or kittens without owners that are ultimately euthanized, and other issues that affect the pet community.

Spaying or neutering your pet does not affect their personality, physical health, fitness, or any other traits other than whether they can reproduce. 

During the procedure, which is routine and straightforward, we’ll sedate your pet throughout with a safe dose of general anesthesia. For a couple of weeks after the procedure they may be a bit uncomfortable, but after this brief recovery period they’ll be back to their old selves again.

Microchipping

Microchipping is the process of inserting a tiny data chip just beneath the skin of your cat or dog. These microchips can then be scanned by veterinarians, shelters, and other professionals in the event that your pet is lost and doesn’t have identifying information on its collar. 

When pets run away or are lost, it’s extremely common for their collars or tags to fall off or be removed. By microchipping your pet, you ensure that they can be identified no matter what. 

The process of microchipping is 100% safe and minimally invasive. The chip is inserted just beneath your pet’s skin in an almost instant and nearly painless injection, and features information about the pet and your contact info.

Once your pet is microchipped, the registration process is quick and easy. These microchips can even be updated when you change your address or phone number, so please be sure to do this if your contact information changes. Otherwise, the individuals who find your lost pet will not be able to reach you! 

Microchipping can be completed quickly at any regular appointment, so be sure to ask about during your next visit.

Join the Anclote Animal Hospital Family Today!

Located on Pinellas Ave (Alt Route 19) off of Klosterman Rd. Just 0.6 miles South of Tarpoon Springs Golf Course and 1.7 miles East of Klosterman Point.

Phone: 727-934-0814

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