Congrats on your recent adoption!
With any newly adopted pet, we recommend taking things slow as you get to know each other! Decompression is KEY. Think of this time as your “dating period” – you wouldn’t introduce your new partner to all of your favorite places, friends, and family within the first couple of weeks – that would be overwhelming! Same thing for a newly adopted pet. We recommend keeping things low-key. Start by just getting to know your new pet!
Please visit our Introducing Your New Dog to Your Home page.
Within the first 3-5 days…
Be sure to register your dog’s microchip! The microchip will auto-transfer from Found Animals and you will receive an email with more info (check your spam folder if you do not see the email). If you still do not see an email, contact Found Animals directly at [email protected]. It is VERY important that your pet’s microchip always have the most up-to-date information so that if they were lost they would hopefully find their way back to you! If you move or change your phone number, be sure to update the chip ASAP.
You will also want to replace your dog’s OTAT ID tag with your own ASAP. You can get an ID tag engraved at larger pet stores, or online via Etsy or Amazon. Feel free to mail our tag back to us so we can reuse it!
Within the first 2-3 weeks…
We recommend that you take in your newly adopted pet to your vet. It is important that you get your pet established for care early on. You will want to provide their medical records (these are sent via our database, AdopterLuv). At the first vet exam, we always recommend getting your pet’s flea/tick and heartworm preventatives prescribed as well as bringing in a small fecal sample to be tested for intestinal parasites. We deworm all of the dogs in our care, but we do not run fecal exams. Parasites can be pesky and may require additional dewormer.
At 6 months…
We recommend every adopted dog be retested for heartworm disease after 6 months in their new home.
We heartworm test all of our dogs over 7 months of age prior to adoption, but because of the lag time in the antigens reaching testable levels in the blood, we strongly recommend that dogs adopted at 7-12 months of age should be re- tested in 6 months to ensure that they are indeed heartworm negative. Dogs arriving on transport from our rural rescue partners are most at risk, but any dog can become infected with heartworm, so keeping them on their prevention and retesting any dog adopted under a year of age is key to keeping our buddies healthy!
If your dog tests positive within 6 months of adoption and you have been giving them their heartworm prevention each month, please contact Anna at [email protected] for assistance with treatment. Want more information? Please refer to this handout.
Need extra support?
As pets decompress and get comfortable, they may show new behaviors. If you need assistance, you are always welcome to reach out to our trainers at [email protected]. We are here to assist with any post-adoption challenges you may be having.
Adopting can be an exciting, overwhelming, fun, and nerve-racking all at the same time. Breathe through it – YOU GOT THIS. And if you need any help, we are here for you!
