How you’ll know we are the puppy vet you can trust with your puppy;

1. We’re family owned and not part of a chain so your puppy’s welfare is our number 1 priority
2. We’re fun! We have Puppy Party as well as Puppy School (read below) to educate and enthuse owners, while helping to develop confident, sociable puppies!
3. First puppy or kitten check FREE, because we really want to make sure they’re doing well.
4. Personalised care – we encourage you to have a relationship with one vet at the practice who gets to know you as you grow – you can always request your vet of preference!
5. Easy parking – 20 secure underground parking makes vet visits less stressful
6. Project HoPe – our compassionate fund is partly funded by Southern Cross Vet and is committed to improving the welfare of the pets of the Homeless in Sydney

Puppy Parties in Inner West & Eastern Suburbs

As well as puppy training, we offer puppy party! We know how important it is to socialise your puppy at a young.

Register your puppy for our FREE Thursday night puppy parties and warm up with a glass of wine or beer with our registered nurses. The inclusive and welcoming evenings will socialise your pup, you will learn how to health-check them and you’ll meet other puppies for your dog to make friends with! It also gives you the opportunity to ask any questions you may have which you forgot to ask your veterinarian.

The nurses will discuss topics with you such as;

• Vaccines
• Desexing
• Toilet training
• Flea and worm treatment

Vaccinating your pet is extremely important. Vaccinations effectively prevent some of the most serious and life-threatening diseases. Keeping up to date with vaccinations will not only protect your pet’s health, but potentially yours as well! Some pet diseases can be passed on to humans.

Heartworm

Not to be confused with intestinal worms, it is also necessary to protect our puppies against heartworm which can now be given as a vaccination. Puppies will need to be given a Proheart vaccine at 12 weeks of age, 6 months of age and thereafter a yearly booster can be administered.  The treatment for heartworm disease is surgery and apart from being extremely costly, it’s dangerous, so prevention is much better than cure.

Puppy Vaccines

Puppies must be vaccinated between 6-8 weeks of age, and again at 10-12 weeks of age with a final booster 2 weeks after this. The diseases below are what are covered in the puppy vaccinations;

• Canine parvovirus: is a highly contagious viral disease. The virus attacks rapidly dividing cells in a dog’s body, most severely affecting the intestinal tract. Symptoms include vomiting and diarrhoea, lethargy and loss of appetite.
• Distemper: is a contagious and serious viral illness. It produces symptoms such as nasal discharge, seizures and conjunctivitis. There is no known cure for this disease.
• Hepatitis: is a worldwide, contagious disease of dogs with signs that vary from a slight fever and congestion of the mucous membranes to severe depression, and coagulation disorders. It can cause sudden death in puppies.

We use the NOBIVAC brand of puppy vaccines to ensure very strong protection and an early finish so your puppy can be out and about sooner!

Annual Treatment Packs

Flea and worming is an extremely vital part of puppy and kitten care which many owners do not understand the importance of. Fleas and worms are very common in young animals and they can easily be prevented. Here at Southern Cross Vets we can provide you with an annual pack of all your flea and worm treatment. This pack provides a 20% discount on the products.

When should I Flea and Worm My Puppy?

Puppies and kittens should be wormed every 2 weeks until they are 12 weeks of age. At 12 weeks of age puppies and kittens can be wormed monthly until they are 6 months old. They should then be wormed every 3 months. Puppies can be flea treated every 3 months with a product called Bravecto. This is a chewable, palatable tablet, and not only treats fleas but also prevents paralysis ticks.

Southern Cross Vets works closely with Paws and Think who offers puppy school to help train your puppies.

Puppies have a small window of opportunity to get the most out of learning things about life early on. Dogs learn for their entire lifespan but we can help them adjust to our world easier if we can positively expose them to lots of things between 6-18 weeks of age.

Attend puppy school and learn the basics to positive training.  Learn what you should be introducing your puppy to and how to do it properly. Classes are kept small (no more than 4 puppies per class) ensuring everyone is given the best opportunity to get the most out of classes.

Desexing Male Puppy Dogs

Male dogs can be castrated from 6 months of age. Desexing will reduce the risk of prostate cancer, testicular cancer and unwanted behaviours such as scent marking.

Castration is the surgical removal of the testicles. During the procedure, each of the testes and testicular epididymis are removed along with sections of the testicular blood vessels and spermatic ducts. The procedure is completed fairly quickly and dogs and cats are given a pain relief injection so they wake up comfortably.

Desexing Female Puppy Dogs

Female dogs can be speyed anytime from 6 months. Speying your female will reduce the risk of mammary cancers and uterus infection. It will also stop them from coming into season. Speying is the surgical removal of the ovaries. During the procedure an abdominal incision is made and the ovaries and uterus are detached. The procedure can take up to an hour and is major surgery!

At Southern Cross Vets, we now offer the laparoscopic spey to desex female dogs. This innovative technique provides a quicker and safer method compared to the conventional spey. The incision site is smaller which reduces the chance of infection, and recovery time is much quicker. The routine spey can see your pet take at least ten days to recover, however the laparoscopic spey has a recovery time of just 48 hours. The anaesthetic time is shorter, making it a safer procedure, and it is much less painful. It is more expensive due to the specialised equipment needed and the requirement of a highly trained veterinary surgeon.

Feeding your new puppy the right type of food is extremely important in giving them a great start in life and makes your experience together a great one.

Puppies have small stomachs so the aim is to feed three small meals until they are 6 months old (then drop to 2 per day) rather than 24-hour “free feeding” access to their food, which can lead to bad eating habits in adulthood.