When you choose to adopt a doggy, you become entirely responsible for every aspect of their health, happiness and overall wellbeing. There are many different aspects to canine care, from feeding her a nutritious and well-balanced diet to ensuring she gets sufficient mental and physical stimulation. Keeping her safe from harm is also important, and this can include protecting her from the debilitating and even deadly contagious diseases that can affect the canine population. This can be done by making sure your pet is up to date with her dog vaccines.
What are Dog Vaccines?
Dog vaccines are injections that are given to your pet to prevent her from contracting one or more of the contagious illnesses that are known to travel from dog to dog. Each injection can contain up to several vaccines against as many as seven different diseases.
The injections contain an artificial version of the disease they are designed to protect against. This triggers your body to produce antibodies that can fight the disease. If they come into contact with the same disease in the future, their body will recognize it and be able to fight it much more effectively.
Most vaccines are given on a very strict schedule. This is because each vaccine only lasts for a pre-determined number of months before it starts to lose its ability to protect your pet. For this reason, veterinarians usually send reminders to pet owners to book their furbaby in for their booster vaccinations. Even a gap of a few days where your dog is unprotected could put him at serious risk of contracting a deadly illness.
What Diseases do Dog Vaccines Protect my Canine Pal from?
Contrary to what some owners believe, vaccinations are largely only given to prevent highly infectious, life-threatening diseases. Before such vaccines were widely available, an outbreak of any of the following conditions could and often proved fatal for large numbers of dogs in some populations. Some of the most common vaccines given to dogs include:
Parvovirus
Also known just as parvo, this is an extremely infectious disease that is spread through the contaminated feces of affected animals. Unfortunately, parvo can also live in the environment for as long as 9 months meaning that canine to canine contact isn’t essential for your furbaby to contract the disease. It is costly to treat and often fatal.
Canine Distemper
Although often only deadly in serious cases, dogs who contract canine distemper may suffer ongoing health problems as a result of the virus as there is no cure, only prevention. It is spread through direct contact with an infected pet.
Leptospirosis
This is one doggy disease that can also affect the human members of your family. Canines who contract this illness often go downhill quickly, and it can result in multiple organ failure. In humans, it is known as Weil’s disease and can cause a range of unpleasant and debilitating symptoms. In some cases, you might develop a severe infection that needs urgent treatment. Antibiotics can treat the condition in both dogs and people, but there are often long-term health implications.
Adenovirus 1 & 2
These two strains of viral disease cause canine hepatitis (an infection of the liver) and a respiratory illness similar to a kennel cough. Both are very infectious and can be spread through contact with an infected dog’s bodily fluids including nasal discharge, saliva, blood, urine, and feces.
Canine Parainfluenza
An airborne respiratory infection, this isn’t the most serious of illnesses but is still highly contagious and has the ability to make your pet very unwell.
Kennel Cough
Kennel cough is almost always a requirement for any dog going into boarding as it is highly contagious, particularly in environments where there are many animals together. Rather than a shot, kennel cough vaccines are given intra-nasally.
Why You Need to Vaccinate Your Dog - Now
Vaccinations have helped to keep millions of pets safe from illness over the years and saved countless lives. We have the power and responsibility to protect our pet from debilitating diseases and the pain and suffering they cause. By choosing to vaccinate your dog, you are not only protecting his best interests, but also those of every other dog in your local area and beyond.
If your pet is currently unprotected, our experienced and professional team would be delighted to schedule you an appointment to discuss the vaccines that he needs to stay safe. Contact us and get in touch.
