Pet Care

Have you hugged
your pet today?

The FACE Clinic of Indianapolis provides low cost spaying/neutering and vaccinations. FACE can be contacted at #317-638-3223. You can also visit their website at http://www.facespayneuter.org/.

Spaying & Neutering

Why is it important to spay or neuter your pet? Spaying and neutering prevents unwanted puppies and kittens from being born in an already overpopulated world of unwanted, homeless and neglegted dogs and cats. There aren't enough homes for the thousands of excess pets in our community. Even if you can place your pet's accidental or planned litter, an equal number of pets will be euthanized for lack of a home.

Neutering/spaying your animal also has an effect on the animal's personality. Your pet will roam less and be a more pleasant house pet. Male dogs will be less aggressive toward other males and less likely to "mark their territory". 

Some other advantages of spaying and neutering are:

• Prevents messy spotting of blood in female dogs and urine spraying in female cats during heat periods
• Prevents females from attracting groups of male strays while in heat
• Decreases embarrassing inappropriate mounting behavior in male pets.
• Reduces or eliminates intermale fighting, irritable aggression of females in heat, and dominance aggression. Neutering does not affect guarding behavior.
• Reduces tendency to roam or try to escape, thus reducing your pet's chances of becoming lost or injured.
• Spayed females are not susceptible to life- threatening reproductive tract tumors, infection of the uterus, and complications from pregnancy.
• The incidence of breast tumors (which occur in over half of unspayed female dogs) is less than 1% in dogs spayed prior to the first heat.
• Prevents enlarged prostate (occurs in 60% of older dogs); prostate tumors and infections; and perineal hernias and tumors in males.
• Saves you money on veterinary care, since your pet is likely to remain healthier, and you won't bear the expense of medical care for your pet and her litter should she become pregnant.

Activity will decline as your pet gets older, even if you don't neuter. Neutered pets may require less food...and that means money saved. Adjust amounts of food and exercise to keep your pet in the trim.

Vaccinations

Vaccines are a short cut to your dog or cat's natural immune response. The vaccine is a tiny, highly modified form of the actual disease designed to trigger an immune response just as though your pet had encountered and defeated the disease. This leaves your pet with antibodies to recognize and fight the actual disease should s/he encounter it.

Newborn puppies and kittens receive a varying amount of immunity from their mother's milk. This amount varies depending on how much of their mother's milk they are able to drink and on how much immunity their mother has based on her past immunizations. At six weeks of age this amount of immunity received from their mother begins to diminish and the puppy or kitten must build up its own immune system. This is why it is important to start administering vaccines at eight weeks of age and to continue giving them at regular intervals until 16 weeks of age to gradually build up their own immune system as the immunity received from their mother diminishes. As an adult dog or cat, it is important to re-vaccinate each year to maintain immunity levels.

vaccinates against six different diseases.

1. Distemper is a widespread often fatal disease that can cause vomiting, diarrhea, pneumonia, brain damage and death.
   
2. Adenovirus type-1 and type-2 can cause infectious hepatitis, pneumonia and severe damage to the liver and kidneys which can lead to death.
   
3. Leptospirosis is a bacterial infection that can cause permanent damage to the liver and kidneys.
   
4. Parainfluenza is a common respiratory disease that is mild in healthy dogs but severe for puppies or debilitated dogs.
   
5. Parvovirus is a widespread disease which causes severe dehydration, vomiting and diarrhea and can be deadly especially for puppies.
   

6. Coronavirus is an airborne virus that causes a viral infection of the gastrointestinal tract resulting in vomitting and diarrhea.

FVRCP vaccinates for four different diseases.

1. Feline viral rhinotracheitis is a highly contagious respiratory disease characterized by sneezing, loss of appetite, fever, and eye inflammation.
   
2. Calicivirus is another serious respiratory infection with similar characteristics to those of rhinotracheitis but often accompanied by ulcers on the tongue.
   
3. Panleukopenia is more commonly known as feline distemper and is the most widespread feline disease. It is extremely contagious and is characterized by fever, vomitting and diarrhea. It can be deadly especially for kittens.
   
4. Pneumonitis is caused by an organism known as chlamydia and has symptoms similar to those of rhinotracheitis and calicivirus.

Feline Leukemia is a viral disease which can take several forms for which there is no cure and is a fatal disease.

FIP is a complex disease caused by the feline infectious peritonitis virus. The most common symptom that leads to diagnosis is accumulation of fluid within the peritoneal cavity.

Rabies is present in cats in the same form as it is present in dogs, attacks the brain and central nervous system, and uses the same vaccine for prevention as is used for dogs.