Most veterinarians suggest beginning the vaccination series at 6 weeks of age. With the new vaccines available now, it should take three vaccinations spaced about 3 weeks apart to ensure vaccine success in most puppies. A convenient schedule is then 6, 9 and 12 weeks of age. While it may not be as necessary with the new vaccines, a cautious approach would be to vaccinate one more time at 16 weeks of age, too.
It is not unusual for puppies to get diarrhea when separated from their mother but if it continues, it is definitely a good idea to have the pup checked. There are some serious diseases that have diarrhea as a first or early sign and getting these treated early can make a big difference.
Do I Really Need to Vaccinate My Pet?
The short answer is YES - for many vaccinations and MAYBE NOT for others.
For more details, keep on reading!
In all states, rabies vaccinations are required by law. The first rabies vaccination is good for one year. In many states subsequent vaccinations are good for three years. In other states, they are only valid for one year by law. Please check with your vet to determine the legal requirements in your state. Vaccinating your pet for rabies may literally save its life for two reasons. Rabies is a threat in many areas and it is a horrible disease. In addition, an unvaccinated pet who bites a human being, even by accident, is subject to long quarantine periods or even death for the purpose of testing for rabies infection. Don't risk your pet's life. Get its rabies vaccination.
Other vaccinations vary in their benefits and risks.
It is extremely important to vaccinate puppies successfully for several diseases. This is the time that they are most likely to contract many of the diseases which we vaccinate for. Early protection can prevent the heartbreak of dealing with parvovirus in a puppy or feline leukemia in a kitten. Please contact your vet and work with him or her to establish and follow a good vaccination schedule for your pediatric pet! A series of vaccinations is given in the hopes of protecting all puppies and kittens as early as possible but continuing to vaccinate until all patients are protected.
what do we vaccinate for and who needs the vaccinations?
For dogs, the following vaccinations may be advised, depending on the circumstances in your area. They are often combined into a single injection containing several components. Since several combinations are marketed, it is possible to tailor the vaccination schedule for puppies and adult dogs to match their needs.
- Distemper vaccination is important for all puppies. This disease is still present in
- most areas and it is still hard to treat successfully. Even when a puppy is nursed through the acute phase of the disease there can be long term health problems.
- The most common of these is a tendency to develop seizures.
- This virus causes a form of kennel cough and also protects against hepatitis in dogs. This is fortunate because there were more vaccine reactions using the hepatitis virus itself , even in a weakened state. While viral hepatitis is not as common as it once was in dogs, it has not been eliminated as a threat.
Leptospirosis
- This is actually a bacterial disease, so the protective "vaccination" is actually a "bacterin". In many areas of the country, this disease is not common and the leptospirosis portion of the vaccine combinations is thought to be the most common cause of reactions. For this reason, many veterinarians no longer include it in their vaccination recommendations, IF they practice in an area in which it is not common. Your vet can tell you whether or not it is necessary in your area.
- Parainfluenza must be an inexpensive virus to include in vaccines. It is in almost all the combination vaccines even though it is probably only a minor contributor to the problem of tracheobronchitis (kennel cough) in dogs. Vaccine reactions to this virus seem rare.
- Parvovirus is probably the most common viral illness of dogs at the present time. It is much more common in puppies than it is in adult dogs. It can be very hard to successfully vaccinate a puppy for this disease because the antibody protection the puppy acquires from its mother can interfere with vaccination. It is important to vaccinate puppies every three to four weeks for this virus starting at 6 weeks of age and continuing until they are at least 16 weeks of age and preferably 20 weeks of age. It is possible that this vaccine confers lifelong immunity once it does work but most veterinarians continue to recommend yearly vaccination for it. It seems prudent to at least get the vaccination at one year of age. Since it is combined with the other vaccines it is often easier just to give it yearly with them.
- Coronavirus may cause viral diarrhea and may make fatality from parvovirus more likely if the infections occur concurrently. On the other hand, this virus causes minimal damage to the intestines and may not cause clinical illness on its own. It just depends on whose studies you believe. Personally, I do not recommend the use of coronavirus vaccine.
- Bordetella is the most common cause of tracheobronchitis (kennel cough) in dogs. It is a bacterial illness that is most common among dogs that congregate at things like shows, kennels or other places frequented by large numbers of dogs at once. It does not appear that this bacterin gives a full year of immunity in many instances. For dogs that are often exposed to situations in which the infection is likely probably should be vaccinated twice a year. There are intranasal as well as subcutaneous bacterins available for this disease. The intra-nasal bacterin confers immunity more quickly but the injectable version may last longer.
- Lyme disease is caused by a bacterial organism, Borrelia burgdorferi . It is carried by Ixodes species of ticks and may have other tick or insect carriers. It is more common in some areas of the United States than in others. Your vet can tell you whether it is necessary to protect against this disease in your area.
- There is a new Lyme bacterin on the market that Rhone-Merieux has produced using recombinant gene techniques. This bacterin only uses a portion of the bacteria which the body defenses recognize and form antibodies against. Because the whole Lyme bacteria is not present, it appears that there will not be the problem of the vaccine causing symptoms of Lyme disease. In addition, this bacterin does have a validated one year duration of immunity. It is a new product and like all new products there is a period when everyone looks hard for previously unknown reactions but if "vaccination" against Lyme disease seems necessary in your area, I'd definitely use this one.
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