Saturday, May 9, 2009

Grooming and Bordatella Vaccine


Grooming

Now, for an extra $25 per stay, we can groom and wash your dog before bringing them back home. Nails clipped, hair trimmed by professional groomer (not me!). You should see a check off box on the reservation form, I hope.

Vaccine

You should have your dog vaccinated 2 weeks or more prior stay at camp and not less than 6 months before coming up here. The vaccine is like the flu vaccine: it is not 100% effective no matter how you time the vaccination. The disease is highly contagious but usually not serious and can be treated with antibiotics (it is a bacteria, not a virus, so it's easily treated). The incubation period of the disease is a few days. 

I wish there were a better system for tracking strains and updating the vaccine, like we do with the flu in humans, but as far as I know there is no dog equivalent of the CDC. 

Still, the vaccine is the best protection we have. Get the vaccine from the vet, order it yourself online, or I can come by and bring the vaccine with me.

You can order a dose yourself -- the nasal vaccine is easy to administer (spray it in the nose). It has to be shipped with ice. Do a google search (I don't want to recommend a vendor). 

I also have 100 doses in the fridge and can come by and help you vaccinate your dog, bringing the vaccine with me, for no charge on a Monday or Thursday evening when I'm not busy (like much of the month of May). I can order more doses if need be.

I don't have a good system for reminding myself to come by and give your dog the vaccine, unlike the reservation system. I will take a cooler with vaccine with me every Monday and Thursday from now until the middle of June, when things get busy. 

First email me to tell me you want me to come by. Then call me when I'm getting into the city around 4 or 5 pm to remind me to come by and do the vaccine. Pick a Monday or Thursday when you are home all evening, sometime in the next few weeks. 


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