Adopted a street puppy? 7 health checks to book in the first week

Street dogs are hardy. They have to be. But hardiness is not the same as healthy, and the puppy now sleeping on your floor has almost certainly never seen a vet, never been dewormed, and never had a vaccine. That does not make adoption a mistake, it makes the first week matter more than any week that follows.

Most of what a street puppy carries is treatable. The problems that become serious are the ones that go unnoticed for a month while the new owner assumes the animal is settling in. The seven checks below are not optional extras. They are the baseline.

Before anything else, a vet needs to put hands on the puppy. This is not a vaccination appointment. It is a head-to-tail assessment: body weight and condition score, eyes and ears, skin and coat, lymph nodes, heart and lungs, abdomen, and a look at the gums for signs of anaemia. Street puppies are often underweight, sometimes severely. The vet's condition score tells you how far from baseline you are starting and sets the pace for everything that follows.

Do not wait until the puppy looks unwell. Many conditions, early distemper, parvovirus exposure, internal parasites, mange, look like nothing for the first few days. The physical exam catches what your eye cannot.

Roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, Giardia, and coccidia are all common in street dogs, and all are transmissible to humans. A faecal float or smear identifies which parasites are present so treatment can be targeted. Bring a small stool sample in a clean container to the first appointment.

Do not deworm without knowing what you are treating. Different parasites respond to different drugs, and the vet will prescribe accordingly. The type of dewormer, the drug chosen, and how it is given are decisions for the vet, not something to sort with a pharmacy counter recommendation or a home remedy.

Mange is one of the most common conditions in street dogs and one of the most misread by new owners. Sarcoptic mange is caused by a mite that burrows under the skin; demodectic mange involves a different mite that lives in hair follicles. Both cause hair loss and itching, but they behave differently, spread differently, and are treated differently. A skin scraping under a microscope tells the vet which one, or whether the hair loss has another cause entirely, such as a fungal infection.

Sarcoptic mange can transfer to people and to other pets in the home. If you have other animals, keep them separated until the vet has cleared the new puppy or confirmed the type of infection.

A street puppy has no vaccination history. The vet will start a core vaccine schedule: distemper, parvovirus, adenovirus, and leptospirosis are standard in India, with rabies added at the appropriate age. One shot is not protection. Puppies need a series of doses spaced weeks apart, and immunity builds across that series. The first appointment starts the schedule; the follow-up appointments complete it.

Write down the dates the vet gives you and keep them. Missing the second or third dose in a series is a common reason vaccinated puppies still contract parvovirus.

Street dogs in India carry heavy tick loads, and ticks transmit Ehrlichia, Babesia, and Anaplasma, diseases that attack red blood cells and platelets and can be life-threatening if missed. A basic blood panel checks for anaemia and platelet count; a specific tick disease panel tests for the pathogens directly. Ask the vet whether a tick disease panel is warranted based on the puppy's condition and region.

Pale gums, lethargy, reduced appetite, or any unexplained bleeding are signs that this test should not wait. A puppy that seems tired and off-food in the first week is not always just adjusting to a new home.

Ear mites and bacterial or yeast ear infections are extremely common in street puppies. Left untreated, chronic ear infections cause pain, hearing loss, and, in severe cases, damage to the ear canal that requires surgery. The vet will look inside the ear canal with an otoscope and, if there is discharge, take a swab to identify what is growing there. Treatment depends on what is found: ear mites, bacteria, and yeast each need different medication.

At home, watch for head shaking, scratching at one or both ears, a dark or foul-smelling discharge, or the puppy holding its head tilted. Any of these before the appointment is a reason to move the booking earlier.

The faecal test tells you about intestinal parasites. This conversation is about external parasites and ongoing prevention. The vet will recommend a tick and flea control approach suited to the puppy's age and weight. Do not apply any product, spot-on, collar, spray, or powder, without the vet's guidance. Many products have age and weight minimums, and some products safe for dogs are toxic to cats if you have both in the home.

Ongoing deworming frequency, the right product, and when to repeat it are part of the same conversation. Get a written schedule before you leave the clinic.

The seven checks above are not a guarantee of a clean bill of health in week one, they are a map of what you are working with. Some puppies sail through with minor parasite loads and a vaccination backlog to catch up on. Others arrive carrying more than one condition at once, and knowing that early is what makes the difference between a manageable first month and a crisis. If at any point in the first week the puppy stops eating entirely, develops vomiting or bloody diarrhoea, has difficulty breathing, or becomes unresponsive, do not wait for a scheduled appointment, reach a vet the same day.