YorkieTalk.com Forums - Yorkshire Terrier Community - View Single Post - Total newbie. Seeing Yorkie puppies tomorrow & would really appreciate some advice!

RachelandSadie · 07-16-2010, 06:54 PM

sorry about that. i didn't mean to do rabies and the last distemper and neuter all in one day. our vet does the rabies and neuter on the same day for most dogs...but i personally do not recommend that. i prefer to have the rabies done on a day all alone so they can rest and fully take that one on...and a neuter i believe the proper age for a yorkie is no earlier than 6 months. wait until their baby teeth are falling out and they are almost done loosing them and you should be right around the time to spay/neuter. i wouldn't personally wait until after their first heat due to the amount of risk for cancers that increases with even one heat before a spay for a female. males i wouldn't wait too long on either depending on their size because of marking/humping habits that will develop with age.

also with heartworm prevention. that is about 100% what our vets do here. i meant to say it the same way that you did. start prevention but test yearly. we usually do not do a heartworm test until 1 year old, but we always test every year after that and we make sure there are no heartworms present before allowing a pill to be taken. i do believe they start them on heartworm prevention around 5 months, but i don't think we require a test until a year old. i don't know why that is.

sorry to be unclear with how i phrased that.

07-16-2010, 06:54 PM	#44
RachelandSadie No Longer a Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Kansas City, MO Posts: 5,748	sorry about that. i didn't mean to do rabies and the last distemper and neuter all in one day. our vet does the rabies and neuter on the same day for most dogs...but i personally do not recommend that. i prefer to have the rabies done on a day all alone so they can rest and fully take that one on...and a neuter i believe the proper age for a yorkie is no earlier than 6 months. wait until their baby teeth are falling out and they are almost done loosing them and you should be right around the time to spay/neuter. i wouldn't personally wait until after their first heat due to the amount of risk for cancers that increases with even one heat before a spay for a female. males i wouldn't wait too long on either depending on their size because of marking/humping habits that will develop with age. also with heartworm prevention. that is about 100% what our vets do here. i meant to say it the same way that you did. start prevention but test yearly. we usually do not do a heartworm test until 1 year old, but we always test every year after that and we make sure there are no heartworms present before allowing a pill to be taken. i do believe they start them on heartworm prevention around 5 months, but i don't think we require a test until a year old. i don't know why that is. sorry to be unclear with how i phrased that. Last edited by RachelandSadie; 07-16-2010 at 06:56 PM.