Hello everyone, I'm new on here!

Me and my boyfriend just recently adopted our now 2 month old Husky puppy, Deamon. (Dean for short! ) We've experienced some concerns and issues with our husky that we would like to get some second opinions from others who own huskys themselves. I'm so glad we found this forum where hopefully we can get some help and peace of mind of what we're going through.

It's a long story but I'll try to keep it as short as possible. It all started with my boyfriend wanting to adopt a dog after we moved in together. He works while I stay all day in the house doing house chores and well it can get quite lonely and boring. I've had plenty of pet dogs as a child but never had I owned my very own dog so I was excited about the idea! He wanted a pure breed and we settled on a Siberian Husky. Neither of us had ever owned a pure breed so we had no idea how to go about adopting one. We looked and looked online and everywhere we looked, they wanted $800+ for a Husky pup. It was a little too much for us to afford at the time so my boyfriend decided to look on craigslist. (Yes, I know, worst place to look for pets but we were eager to get a husky.) We contacted a few ads on there which where scams. The puppies where apparently in another state and wanted us to send the money first then have the pups shipped over to us. Haha. We came across many scams until finally we found one person who had a legitamit phone number and spoke with us directly over the phone. He was about an about away from us. We where so tired of dealing with scams that as soon as we found him, we took the opportunity and drove out to see the puppies. We were told they were 8 weeks old and wanted $600 for each. The pics he sent us showed the puppies in good condition along side with the parents. When we got there, the puppies were outside in the blazing heat, caged off from the parents and living in filthy conditions. They were 6 weeks old and not 8 like we had been told over the phone. The guy told us over the phone that they had been checked by the vet and were very healthy but the lady that was on site told us they had never been to the vet or had any shots whatsoever. We had been looking for a male puppy and she had only one left out of the litter, which we fell in love with. We decided to just go ahead and adopt him regardless of the circumstances. We managed to talk her down to $500 for the puppy and she handed him over to us with a small bag of some awful off brand dog chow. Once we got home, I noticed his stool was all different types of colors and very loose. I quickly switched him over to a much better, higher quality food which made his stool much more solid throughout the few days we had him after brining him home. We were finally able to schedule an appointment and took him to the vet which only resulted in a chain of concerns and stress.

At the vet, the doctor started off by telling us he had an underbite and that he would need to be put up for surgery right away to have his K9 teeth removed. The vet stated Deamon was a "defective" dog and that he needs to be fixed to avoid having "defective offspring." First of all his underbite isn't even that bad. It's hardly even noticeable. It's just a small gap, nothing big enough to where I can stick my whole thumb all the way in his mouth. Anyways, After that they gave him his first puppy shots and a dewormer because he had a case of tape worms. The day after he got his shots, I noticed his stool got really loose again and he threw up and refused to eat. I took him back to the vet and they ended up giving him more shots and antibiotics for whatever reason they thought were needed. A few days after those shots were given, he developed a runny nose. It started off with a bit of blood oozing out his nose to a server mucus like discharge. I called in to ask if this was normal and all they did was tell me to bring him in again. I brought him in and once again they gave him even more shots and another dewormer. (This was his third dewormer.) The last time I had been to the vet, they told me this would be his last set of puppy shots and that he would only be getting 3. However, they ended up giving him 4 and wanted to give him EVEN more but I told them no. It was basically stuff I felt he didn't need since he was going to be a strictly indoor dog only. After they gave him those supposed last shots, I was at the counter paying and before I was on my way out the door, the lady behind the counter told me I had to bring back Deamon for another set of shots and that he was quote: "no where near done with his puppy shots." I feel that they're giving him way more than he needs. So far every time they give him those shots, he reacts badly to them. It breaks my heart to have to take him and see him cry and twist in pain after they give him certain shots. I went online and googled some of the vaccinations they gave him and I read that some of those aren't really necessary and it's basically the vets way of getting more money out of you by separating the vaccines into multiple sets, in other words, more frequent unnecessary vet visits. So far I've blown over $500 in the 3-4 visits I've gone to. Each visit is over $100 and they want me to bring him back in the next upcoming week. My boyfriend says we should just go to another vet and get a second opinion. I don't want to make it look like I'm not allowing Deamon to get the proper medical treatment he needs but he's doing just fine now. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thank you kindly!

The unfortunate truth of buying a pup from a backyard breeder is much of what you are experiencing. They come to you in rough shape with questionable health and defects and then unethical vets take advantage of the situation. You need a new vet. Some shots are necessary. While he will be an inside dog he won't be inside all of the time and some of those shots are to protect him from the things he will be exposed to just going out to potty. How is his pooping? I would take a list of all the things the old vet had given him to a new vet. Have them look at it and his teeth. He is very young and what teeth he has are still baby teeth. He will lose those so unless he does have a pretty bad bite pattern it could change. Welcome to the forum!

Would you mind posting what he's gotten so far, as far as shots, and list them in order of each appointment? Like, on this appointment, he got this set of shots, then this appointment, he got these shots. The receptionist or whatever is correct, he shouldn't be anywhere near not needing anymore shots (in my experience anyways) and that's why I'm wondering which shots were given each time.

I agree with Jimmy and Jenn, a new vet is needed. Also, for the sake of the pup, he needs minimal of 3 rounds of puppy shots with the last set occurring at 14-16 weeks old, and puppy shots need to be done about once a month, so as an example 8 weeks, 12 weeks, and 16 weeks of age or 6 weeks, 10 weeks, and 14 weeks of age. also our good state of Texas has had dog flu rampant here, parvo is quite common, and so is lepto. What part of Texas are you from, some areas are worse for those things than others, and also pups need rabies shots at around 3-4 months of age. So indeed your puppy may be getting a lot of shots, but they may be needed for your area, and I will also mention, that certain shots need to be given at certain times and not done at the same time as other shots, example is rabies, it should be given as an only shot with no other shots at that time. If he is sickly, then some shots may make him appear more sickly, going to another vet with a list of all vaccines given is what I recommend, and like Jimmy said you can post up here along with the area you live so we can help you know what was needed, and what really wasn't. Welcome to the forum, it does get better.

We are switching to a new vet and bringing along the receipts we have of what Deamons been given so far. And his stool is just fine! It's as normal as can be and he doesn't seem to have any health issues whatsoever. He's basically a healthy, happy puppy!

I did find some of the old receipts of the visits to the vet and whatnot. I believe I'm missing one or two receipts of what they gave him but I pretty much remember what he got each visit. I'm just not good with remembering the names of each vaccine he got lol. But anyways, here's what he's been given so far:

On the first visit he got: Bordetella Vaccine, DHPPv Vaccine, Dewormer, praziquantel, and a distemper vaccine.

On the second visit he got some liquid stuff called "Albon oral suspension." They basically said he needed it because his stool was so liquidy and that it would also help with the gas he was passing. (It smelled awful! ) He was also given another dewormer.

On the third visit he got some pills called Doxycycline. These are the pills they gave me after I called in and told them Deamon had a little blood coming out his nose followed by large amounts of mucus. The doctor told me he was at risk of possibly having some life threatening disease that dogs pick up from being outside. He said hopefully the pills will clear up whatever he had and if they didn't, he would have to go into emergency surgery or else he would die?! Something along those lines. It was ridiculous. And he got yet another dewormer.

On the fourth visit they gave him another Bordetella vaccine, another DHPPv vaccine, Influenza vaccine, Leptospirosis vaccine, another dewormer, and another distemper shot.

Now on the next upcoming visit they want to give him another Influenza shot, another dewormer, another Bordetella vaccine, another DHPPv vaccine, Lyme vaccine, and something called Lepto VX #2.

After all this they told me he would then get his first rabies shots and other puppy shots that he supposedly needs to have once all these other vaccines are done. Keep in mind, this was all given to him within a month. We don't know if we should keep bringing him back.... they tell us one thing then come up with another. It seems like an endless cycle of vaccines and medications and I don't think we can handle spending another $500+ within a month solely on more vet visits.

Apart from that, every visit I go to the doctor seems to really keep pushing the subject on getting Deamons teeth removed and neutering him all at once. He says it would be best to get his teeth removed as soon as his adult K9's start coming in, otherwise he will have complications later on.

MiyasMomma wrote:

I agree with Jimmy and Jenn, a new vet is needed. Also, for the sake of the pup, he needs minimal of 3 rounds of puppy shots with the last set occurring at 14-16 weeks old, and puppy shots need to be done about once a month, so as an example 8 weeks, 12 weeks, and 16 weeks of age or 6 weeks, 10 weeks, and 14 weeks of age. also our good state of Texas has had dog flu rampant here, parvo is quite common, and so is lepto. What part of Texas are you from, some areas are worse for those things than others, and also pups need rabies shots at around 3-4 months of age. So indeed your puppy may be getting a lot of shots, but they may be needed for your area, and I will also mention, that certain shots need to be given at certain times and not done at the same time as other shots, example is rabies, it should be given as an only shot with no other shots at that time. If he is sickly, then some shots may make him appear more sickly, going to another vet with a list of all vaccines given is what I recommend, and like Jimmy said you can post up here along with the area you live so we can help you know what was needed, and what really wasn't. Welcome to the forum, it does get better.

Thank you! We're in the Tomball area.

Alexis, The only thing I see is really wrong is giving his core shots too soon. Yes go to another vet and bring all that with you so they can decipher what exactly he got. With the weather we have had the flu vaccine is warranted, the lepto is as well. The life threatening disease is parvo, and we have another member here from the Houston area who almost lost his pup to it, it is a scary disease. If he is 8 weeks old, he should only have had 1 round of core shots, as I mentioned in my other posts, I assume they gave 1 round of core shots at 6 weeks, his next round would be due at 10 weeks. Some vets do insist on doing 4 rounds of core shots,and I will admit I am a believer of 3 rounds, however, being that your pup came out of a not so good "breeder" health wise he may indeed benefit from 4 rounds of core shots, this is something you need to talk over with a new vet. From the list you gave it appears that they did individual shots along with core, and doubled up on some. With the wet conditions y'all are having I understand getting every vaccine available, but they should have ran tests to see what his issue was with his nose and treat for that vs treating for everything. So go to a new vet, explain to them what is going on, show them all the vaccines, tell them your situation as far as finances. I will reassure you that the first year of a puppies life is very expensive, once they get over a year, they will much easier to deal with, fewer shots, their immune system will be strong, they wont get sick as often. The teeth thing, ugh, I had a vet tell me my pups canines were growing into her gums, went to another vet and she said they look perfect. allow the pup to get his adult teeth in, one thing to watch for is double teeth, which is the puppy teeth and the adult are in place at the same time, if the puppy don't fall out then yes a vet needs to take a look, however, I would be waiting on the whole teeth thing until his adult start coming in. The neutering, again, be watchful of him, so when he is older he doesn't tie with a female, but it is much better and healthier for all dogs to be closer to or at maturity before doing a neuter. Again talk to the new vet about this, as long as he is growing fine, no issues, and you make sure he doesn't get with a female, 8 months to a year is more typical, and some wait longer than that. It is best to allow a puppy to grow to maturity before they get their surgery, which in the case of most huskies is 8-12 months and older. I hope I helped, and please let us know how the second vet visit is. If I see another member on, named David who has his boy Mylo, they live in Houston, not sure how close, but he may be of help as far as vets, but no matter what, always find a vet you can talk to, and feel comfortable with, you may go thru several vets before you do, especially in your area, since there are so many available. Good luck!

Thank you so much for the help and advice. Yes, I will definitely be taking him to another vet. I'm not against him getting shots at all, we were just concerned that he was getting way too many shots in such a short period of time. Our old clinic where we used to take all of our pets had never given them so many shots within a month so it made me feel that this new clinic was pushing it a bit with Deamon since it was our first time being there. But I definitely will be taking him back to get his last puppy shots that he needs. I wouldn't want him to catch anything! And thank you also for your opinions on his teeth. It makes us feel so relieved. The doctor made it sound like his slight underbite was something serious and life threatening to him if not fixed. We were so worried about it. But so far he seems to be eating just fine and doesn't have a problem whatsoever. We will be keeping an eye on that though and consulting about it with our new vet once we find one. Again, thank you so much everyone for your opinions and suggestions!

@Miyasmomma  Renee, David lives in south east Houston (I-45 & 610) while Tomball is quite a bit north of Houston - up by the airport.  Probably something like 75 miles between them (( that is if memory serves ))

and now I'm wondering, something is telling me Meyerland Mall area for David, which would be south west - but still about the same distance.

If the OP were south (Rosenberg / Wharton) I could offer some suggestions but I don't even remember the name of the vet I used when I was in Spring (not too far from Tomball)

Thanks Al, my little brain can't fathom a city that large, living near Tampa, Fl for so long, I assumed was near the size of Houston, but mileage wise I guess not, so more people in a smaller area in Tampa compared to Houston. At least I tried, to see if there was any recommendations for vets. I have similar issues minimal drive 1 way is 18 miles to a vet I do not like, the other options are 25, 30, 35 and 65 miles one way. So yea, big state of Texas, really makes it big when driving for a decent vet.