In order to provide the best Havanese care for your precious puppy possible, you need to have a vet picked out before you bring your Havanese home. This is not always possible, but it is the most desired circumstance. You need to know where the emergency vet is and decide who is going to be your Havanese’s main vet. Depending on where you live, you might have several vets to choose from.
The vet’s office should be temperature controlled, clean and have someone like a vet technician or receptionist to help and supervise. All animals in the waiting room should be constrained in some way – either on a lead or in a carrier. You also need to know how to get to your vet’s office before you have to deal with a sick dog. Many vets now have extensive web pages to answer your questions about how much Havanese care they know.
Vets clinics are opening more and more in large chain pet stores, so if you don’t get along with your local vet, perhaps you can check one of the clinics out. Your vet and you need to get along to provide the best Havanese care possible.
Vets now specialize in “regular”, exotic pets or livestock, and some specialize in cats or dogs. Some veterinary practices will have diagnostic and therapeutic equipment, and some won’t.
Havanese, fortunately, have not shown signs of being more prone to allergies than other breeds of dog. When they get allergies, they get allergies most common in all dogs – skin allergies, food allergies or allergies to medicines. Just as it can be a long time of trial and error to determine just what a person can be allergic to, it takes an equally long time to determine what your Havanese is allergic to.
Allergies effecting Havanese will make them scratch “hot spots” into their skin until they are red or bleeding, make them go off their food, make them habitually vomit or give chronic diarrhea or even give them strange constipation. Havanese allergies will not go away on their own – you need to see the vet. These signs of allergies mimic signs of more serious conditions that need Havanese veterinary care promptly.
Your vet should be especially concerned about your Havanese’ care. He or she will want to know about everything that touches your dog – where he plays, what plants are in where he plays, what medications are given and if he eats any of his toys.
The vet will most likely do a skin scrape and send it to a lab to help with allergy diagnosis. The vet may also ask you to put your Havanese on a bland diet of chicken and rice in order to determine if the dog has a food allergy.