Dog vaccinations

Question
I have recently welcomed a one year old chihuahua into my family. Paco is male, not neutered, and never been to a vet or received vaccinations. What vaccinations should he be given? Also what type of annual, booster, and/or three year vaccinations should I give him later on? I've been thinking about administering the vaccinations at home because I've noticed many vaccinations at Tractor Supply (local feed store) so I wanted to be sure of exactly what I need to give him. Thank you for your time.

Answer
Paco needs a heartworm test before you do anything else for him. Then get him neutered and his rabies shot while he is at the vets. You can get him a 7way vaccination to protect him from parvo, distemper, etc at Tractor supply but I have to warn you that even here the feed stores and place like TS do not take very good care of their vaccines from the get-go- actually it's more like their sales reps don't usually do a good job keeping them cold. If they are not shipped with ice packs they are pretty much useless.

Of course the companies aren't going to mess with not shipping that way to a vet, so the vaccines are really fresh. Some vets will sell you the 7way over the counter to give, so you might want to ask your vet.

Because he is a year old he will need a 7way booster in one year and a rabies booster as well in one year. If Michigan supports the 3 year rabies vaccinations then he will get a 3 yr one at that time.

But heartworm prevention and testing is paramount. This disease is a killer and the symptoms don't show up until permanent damage is done to his lungs, heart and liver. Get him tested when he is being neutered and you will be glad you did. I hope that he isn't already positive because going a whole year without prevention has exposed him to hundreds of heartworm-carrying mosquitoes.

So that should be your plan of attack Sam. How about those Red Wings!!
Let me know how Paco does.