I think the most fundamental question ever is the knowledge to come. Because if at any time...there's a squirrel that ran across a yard, or a car coming by, or a child, or aggressive dog, or a rainstorm, then you need your dog to come back to you as quickly as possible. “Come” is the number one command they should know.

Sitting is so important for when you go to your front door to greet a guest; they might sit and behave. They might sit and behave before they get fed. You certainly don't want them jumping on you when you're eating your dinner. So “sit” is a very good command to know. I think another one might be “off”—off the bed, off the chair, off the wall, off the back seat of the car. Whatever it is so that they know that that wasn't where they were supposed to be.

And the last one I think is essential is teaching them to drop it. Dogs that pick up anything, they might pick up an acorn, a leaf, a grape that fell in your house, any type of plant, maybe a piece of gum on a walk. They need to understand that drop it means to drop that out of their mouth. And of course, we know it's for their safety; they don't know why we're asking them to do that. Those are the things I think are the four basic things for them to know.

We think dogs should start obedience training immediately when you get them. If you get them as a puppy, you'll want to enroll them in a puppy class. Start your pup’s vaccines, and they will continue to be vaccinated and be current as the classes go on. They say puppies learn something new every day, so what we want them to do is learn the right things. If it's not a puppy and it's an older dog that you've adopted or acquired, again, you want to start with a routine right off the bat—where their food is, where their water is, where they're expected to go potty, their leash, walk, etc. And dogs love repetition and schedules, so they should probably pick up your family’s habits pretty quickly.

Good question. Non-core vaccinations would be anything that has to do with the lifestyle of your cat. The core vaccinations would be things like rabies, rhinotracheitis, panleukopenia, those things. I give those to every cat. The non-core vaccines would be things like FIP or feline leukemia.

To answer your question of whether it’s safer to opt out of non-core vaccines, I suppose you could say that’s true, but only in the sense that I'm not about vaccinating every cat for every disease that's on the planet if they're never going to be exposed to them. If I have an animal that's indoors 24/7 in a double-locked room and is never going to step foot outside and no other cats are coming in, would I be fine with just doing those minimal core vaccines? Yes, I would. Of course, I would. If you're at all unsure if it's one of those where, "Well, he goes outside every now and then," or, "Well, he loves to run out the front door every time we try to go outside," then I would absolutely do the additional vaccines, like feline leukemia and what have you, to keep that cat protected because you don't know what they're going to be exposed to.

Yes, and this is true even more so with cats than dogs. They have this weird reaction where they can get something called an injection site sarcoma. And oftentimes it has to be addressed, maybe even surgically.

The short answer is, yes, they absolutely can. Anytime you put something foreign into the body of a living creature, there is a potential for a reaction to that said something foreign. Vaccines are no different. You're putting a modified form of a virus, or in some cases, bacteria, into that cat and sometimes their immune system might go overboard with its reactions towards that particular item. So yes, they can have reactions.

Yeah, absolutely. We know the positive effects of building immunity by injecting those vaccines. Sometimes, however, they can have a more negative response, such as mild swelling or pain.

Having another dog helps. I have two dogs so, if I got a puppy, they would get to socialize together. If you don't have a second dog at home, you could take your dog to a friend's house, to a relative who has another dog that is friendly, calm to be around, and of course vaccinated so that they don't risk infecting your new dog. Once they're fully vaccinated, you could go to a dog park, join a socialization or a training class with your puppy, or go on a walk. One of my dogs, Mowgli, likes to stop and sniff and say hi, and if the other dog looks friendly, then we'll let them greet each other.

That's an excellent question, and it’s one that a lot of people struggle with. It depends on your kitty and what they like. Suppose the kitty is one that just loves treats and is very food-motivated in general, like this little girl here. In that case, we can get medications compounded into a chew—sometimes even into a liquid that's flavored with chicken or tuna or something like that. A lot of those cats will take it right up. Other kitties aren't so easy. Sometimes we have to give pills if that formulation is not an option for cats. We can pill them by holding their head here, opening up, and popping the pill down the hatch. Now, she is a very good kitty, as not all kitties do that. There are other little things that we can do, like transdermal formulations for medications where we can just rub a little bit of a lotion on the inside of the ear. They think they're getting “scritches,” but we're giving them medicine. There are injectable medications. There is a whole list of different options. Again, it depends on that cat.

Yeah, there are a few on the market. The vast majority are not going to be safe. We don't want to be giving pretty much anything at all unless we know for sure that you've run it by your vet. Many medications on the market can cause potentially life-threatening or gastric changes, so call your vet before giving anything.

I would not.