Puppy & Kitten Care

Caring For Your New Puppy or Kitten

Adding a furry new member to your family is always exciting, so let us be the first to congratulate you on your new puppy or kitten!

Whether you’re experiencing a pup or kitten for the first time or you’re an experienced young pet wrangler, you’ll need support to ensure your new best friend begins his or her life with the health and wellness needs that will set him or her on the right course. At Highland Animal Hospital, we can help!

For new young pets, we recommend setting up an initial wellness exam early. This will not only help establish a health baseline for your pet and look for any warning signs of hidden issues, but will also allow us to begin their vaccination schedule based on species, breed, lifestyle, and more.

Bringing your pet in as soon as possible is especially important when you have other pets at home. If your new pet is carrying some sort of disease or parasite, you want to spot it before it’s introduced to your other animals.

Services we offer for both puppies and kittens include:

• Microchipping, which involves the fast and simple process of inserting a microchip just below your pet's skin that contains identifying information that can be read by pet facilities in the event that your pet is lost and ends up at one.
• Spay/Neuter Procedures, recommended for all pets that aren’t going to be used by trained animal breeders
• Vaccinations, which guard against serious and even deadly diseases and also help keep these diseases from spreading throughout the pet community

Spay/Neuter Procedure

Spay/neuter procedure benefits pets and pet owners alike. At Highland Animal Hospital, we recommend all pets be spayed or neutered to maximize health, improve behavior, and promote happiness. We will evaluate your pet’s age, breed, and lifestyle when determining the best time to perform this important procedure.

Keep in mind that spaying or neutering your family pet also benefits you and your family. This safe and simple surgery adds years to a beloved pet’s life, and promotes a more loyal and loving companion.

Spaying a Female Pet Prevents:

• Unwanted litters
• Messy, heat cycles
• The urge to roam
• Aggressive behaviors
• Mood changes
• Mammary and uterine diseases and infections

Neutering a Male Pet Prevents:

• Aggressive behaviors
• The urge to roam
• Testicular cancer
• Enlarged prostate

Microchipping

Did you know the #1 cause of pet death is getting lost? At Highland Animal Hospital, we recommend using collars, ID tags, and microchips.

Studies show that more than 10 million pets get lost annually, and about 90% would not make it home without permanent identification. Let’s make sure your pet isn’t one of them! We use microchips as a standard of care for all of our canine and feline patients. With a microchip, your pet can be identified quickly and easily by animal control officers, shelters, and veterinary hospitals. While collars and ID tags can be removed, fall off, or become unreadable, microchips are a safe, unalterable, and permanent form of identification linked to you through a unique registration.  Should you ever change your contact information, the microchip is easily updated online or through a quick call.