Vet Visits and Westie Health
Your Westie puppy will have received its immunizations from its mother's milk from day one. This will provide a base for a very strong and healthy West Highland White Terrier puppy. There are a few vaccinations that the mother cannot provide. This is where your veterinarian takes over. Your Westie pup will need a few immunization shots or vaccinations to help your pup build up immunity to certain diseases. Your West Highland White Terrier puppy will need these vaccinations at least every 2-3 weeks early on, after you've adopted him from a West Highland White Terrier breeder. These vaccinations will be a series of 3-4 (at least) shots until the puppy is around 16-18 weeks. The last round of shots should be given after the puppy reaches the 16 week mark. The shots that are given early on include; Distemper, Measles, and CPI. The shots after that include; Distemper, Hepatitis, Leptospirosis, Parainfluenza and Parvovirus.
During these early weeks you should keep your Westie puppy away from strange dogs to reduce the risk of your puppy becoming infected with diseases. If you have another dog in the home or know of another dog that you are certain has all of its shots and is free of any diseases, then you can certainly let your new West Highland White Terrier puppy play and become aquatinted with the other dogs. The same goes with humans. You should tell anyone who wants to hold or touch the new puppy to wash their hands before interacting. This is important because the new puppy is just building up its immunities and can catch a virus very easily. After the first few rounds of shots you can slowly let your Westie puppy interact on a more normal basis.
Your new West Highland White Terrier puppy will also need to be dewormed. Worms can infect your puppy and cause a series of problems that could lead to death. You will need to get a few rounds of these dewormings from your vet to prevent any problems.
