13. Heath Screening 7-month-old Golden Retrievers

--- On Fri, 9/11/09, ...@gmail.com> wrote:


Subject: health screening for new dogs
Date: Friday, September 11, 2009, 12:39 AM

Dear Doc,

I want to adopt a 7 month old golden retriever (local cross breed
maybe) from my friend. It's not microchipped yet, so we want to implant
one for it and have a health screening.
Our most concerned disease is parasite toxoplasmosis gongii. I heard
this parasite can infect human and result in miscarriage. Although my
wife and I don't want to have baby yet, we don't want to have this
risk in future.
Hence, besides this T. Gongii testing, what else testing do you suggest?

We really love dogs. I also bought another pedigree golden retriever
from a renowned pet shop. They are specialized in golden retriever
breeding. This dog is also 7 month old, female as well. I want to have a health
screen for her too, cause people from pet shop said they can only
garantee me 24 hours for refund. So can you give me some suggestion
about how to test it?
I have checked her body. She looks quite good, but I am afraid of her
teeth. The last few teeth look like in grey color. I am not sure it's
due to some disease or just hygiene problem. As a matter of fact, I
did ask them to brush her teeth for me, but after that, the
improvement was negligible and bad breath still present.


Thank you doctor for your help! They are coming next week Thursday,
therefore I need to make sure we have enough preparation.

With kind regards,
Name


E-MAIL REPLY

Re: health screening for new dogs - dr sing
Friday, September 11, 2009 11:34 PM
From: Dr Sing

To:
...@gmail.com>
1. Thank you for email.
2. Regarding pedigree golden retriever with bad teeth and bad breath at such a young age of 7 months, it is best you don't buy her.
3. A general health examination including eye exam will be done. Cost is S$65.00/dog. Blood test to check blood system, liver, kidney and diabetes cost $150/dog. Toxoplasmosis blood test is separate charge, estimated to be around $100.
4. A 24-hour guarantee from the dog seller does not give you much time to know whether the dog has had been infected with the serious parvoviral disease if the dog is just infected prior to purchase. Disease shows itself 7-14 days after infection.
5. In 7-month-old dogs, you may need to check for stomach worms (stool sample), heartworms (blood test) and parvoviral infections (blood test). Approximate costs for the 3 tests $150.

Best wishes

P.S. Don't buy a dog with bad breath.