I summarize information about the procedures to keep a dog in Japan. I explain separately in the following three things.
- Before you keep a dog
- After you start keeping a dog
- Things you need to do every year.
Contents
- 1 Things you need to do before you keep a dog
- 2 The procedures after you keep a dog
- 3 Things you need to do every year
- 4 Veterinary clinics with veterinarians speaking English in Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa
Things you need to do before you keep a dog
Prepare things you need for keeping a dog
- Dog crate
- Dog cage
- Dog bed
- Dog food
- Dog bowl
- Dog drinking bottle
- Dog food scale
- Degital dog scale
- Pet sheet
- Toilet mat
- Garbage box for dog things that blocks smell leakage
- Deodorants
- Dog toys
- Dog shampoo
- Dog collar and lead
- Joint mat
- Sanitizing wipes
- Towels and a floorcloth
- Sanitizing spray
The procedures after you keep a dog
The followings are the list of what you should do at least when you keep a dog.
- Medical examination
- Mixed vaccination
- Rabies vaccination
- Dog registraion
- Neutering, spaying
- Microchip implant
- Filaria vaccination
- Dog tick vaccination
Medical examination
After you start keeping a dog, you just take your dog to a veterinary clinic at an early stage and make a dog receive a medical check-up. At the same time, you should ask a dotor about the following things.
- Medical examination
- When to get mixed vaccination
- When to get rabies vaccination
- When to get a surgery of neutering, or spaying
- When is it possible to walk a dog
- What kind of food and how much food to feed a dog
- Dog tick vaccination
Mixed vaccination
Mixed vaccination is to prevent a dog from infection which is hard-to-treat once a dag gets infected. Depending on the number of vaccinations for infections, mixed vaccination types are divided into 5 types.
Basically, if you let a dog get a vaccination for the first time, a dog needs to get mixed vaccination and rabies vaccination. However, you should give priority to what a doctor says. You carefully listen to doctor’s advice.
Vaccination is obligation?
Mixed vaccination is no obligation to get but a doctor will recommend you to let a dog get mixed vaccination.
How many times to get vaccination?
Three times. Generally, there are three vaccination days in a month. 1 month later, let a dog get a rabies vaccination.
You can walk your dog after vaccination
This is also the thing you have to ask for an advice from a doctor. A dog can generally go for a walk in 10 days after getting the necessary number of vaccinations.
Rabies vaccination
A dog aged 91 days old or older after the birth is legally obliged to get a rabies vaccination once a year.
When to get a rabies vaccination
Generally, Skipping a month after getting mixed vaccination three times, a dog will get a rabies vaccination.
Need to notify this to a municipal office?
You need to receive a certificate of rabies vaccination “Kyoukenbyou Yobouchusha Hyou” (狂犬病予防注射表) at a municipal office by notifying it. Some veterinary clinics will go through this procedure in place of you.
If a veterinary clinic is not willing to do this procedure, you receive rabies vaccination report from the veterinary clinic and submit it to a municipal office.
A certificate of rabies vaccination issuance costs you a couple of hundreds of yen.
Dog registraion
Dog registration, “Chikuken-touroku” (畜犬登録) is a procedure to register at a municipality, where you live.
When to go to a municipal office until
You go to a municipal office when a dog becomes 91 to 120 days old after birth. If a dog is already over 120 days old, you go to municipal office within 30 days after the day you start keeping
Some veterinary clinics go through a municipal procedure as one of the services
So many veterinary clinics go through dog registration procedure as one of the services. You just ask a clinic if dog registration is included in the services.
If you do it yourself, it costs you dog registration fee about from 3000 yen to 3500 yen. It is very effective you do both dog registration and rabies vaccination procedure together at a municipal office.
Neutering, spaying
Whether animals get surgery of neutering and spaying or not, has pros and cons in terms of morality
You should once ask a doctor about it including morality against this surgery.
When doing spaying operation to a female dog, a dog should become 4 months to 6 months old.
When doing neutering operation to a male dog, a dog should become 6 months to 6 months old.
Of course, surgery timing is different depending on the type of a dog.
Microchip implant
Microchip implant is a measure for losing a dog. Implanting microchip into dog’s body makes it possible to specify a dog owner even if getting seperated.
GPS is installed in Microchip?
No, it doesn’t. If a microchip is implanted into a dog, when you get a reader close to the dog’s neck, dog identification is displayed in the screen of the reader.
Is it necessary to implant microchip into a dog?
A microchip implant is not obliged to do to your dog. However, the Ministry of the environment considers mandatory of a microchip implant positively.
In addition, there is a possibility that a dog without a microchip, who got separated with a dog owner, is put on a list of culling.
Where to implant microchip into a dog?
A veterinary clinic will do the sergery
It costs you around 5000 yen.
When to implant microchip?
If let your dog get surgery of neutering, spaying, implanting a microchip into a dog at the same time can reduce physical burden rather than doing it on another day.
Filaria vaccination
Filaria is a disease caused by parasitic insects, carried by mosquitoes, that parasitizes animal’s arteria pulmonalis and heart. This disease will attack a cat as well. Dog filaria has a filiform body, that grows up to 30 cm. The bigger the filaria in a blood vessel grows up, the worse the blood circulation becomes and various disabilities appear externally. This is a fatal disease that may go into death if leaving symptoms without treatment.
When to have medicine
Filaria prevention is basically treated with internal medicine. A dog should have medicine once a month from May to December when mosquitoes become active in Japan.
Where to buy medicine
At a veterinary clinic.
Dog tick vaccination
Tick prevention medicine is cold in a general drug store but you should have internal medicine prescribed by a veterinary clinic.
When to have medicine
In only the hot season, a dog usually has a medicine once a month but depending on the clinic’s policy, frequency of having medicine is fixed to once a month every year.
Don’t forget to make clean environment for your dog
Not only giving medicine to a dog, but you also have to pay attention to making a good environment for a dog without being attacked by flea or tick like shampooing a dog frequently and walk a dog without going into the deep grass area.
Things you need to do every year
The following to-do list is that you need to do every year on a regular basis.
- Medical check-up
- Mixed vaccination
- Rabies vaccination from April to June every year
- Filaria vaccination from May to December every year.
- Dog tick vaccination in the hot season every month.
Don’t forget to do these things. Especially, rabies vaccination every year is mandatory for dogs in Japan. If you register your dog at a municipality, notification about rabies vaccination is reached to your place every year. Don’t miss to check.
Veterinary clinics with veterinarians speaking English in Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa
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