Dog Vaccinations

Vaccinations protect your dog against infectious illnesses, which can cause distressing symptoms, lifelong problems and ultimately death.

Dogs have an initial course of injections which then need to be ‘topped-up’ routinely to ensure continual protection. A standard vaccination protocol for a puppy would be; 1st injection at 7-8 weeks of age, 2nd injection at 10 weeks of age followed by annual booster vaccinations. Early vaccination of puppies ensures protection against potentially fatal illnesses at a young age. This allows a puppy the opportunity to go out in public places to socialise and develop behaviourally which is very important at a young age (up to 20 weeks).

By keeping your dog vaccinated you are keeping it safe and helping to prevent the spread of disease. At a vaccination  appointment your vet will give your dog a full health check and gain a recent history from you in order to make sure that your dog is healthy enough for the vaccination. This also means you are able to discuss any queries you may have about your dogs health or behaviour. Most vaccinations are injected either subcutaneously (under the skin) or into the muscle and it is fortunately very uncommon to see a reaction after the vaccine is given.

Diseases to vaccinate dogs against:

Parvovirus

This is a very resistant and infectious virus. It is spread in the faeces and causes sudden death or heart failure in puppies, anorexia, severe vomiting, diarrhoea and dehydration. Parvovirus can be fatal.

Leptospirosis

This is a bacterial disease spread by contact with an infected animal’s urine.
There are two strains which affect either the liver (signs include anorexia, jaundice, vomiting and diarrhoea) or the kidneys (giving signs of bad breath, mouth ulceration, vomiting and persistent urination). Recovery is possible but the animal still excretes the disease in the urine for months after. Leptospirosis can be fatal and it is a zoonotic disease which means that it can be passed to humans causing a serious infection called Weil’s Disease.

Canine Distempter

Distemper is an infectious viral disease of the dog, which can also affect foxes, badgers and ferrets. It is transmitted though inhaling or ingesting the virus, which is found in nasal discharge, urine and faeces.

It affects the respiratory and gastrointestinal system so some of the signs are coughing, difficulty breathing, vomiting, diarrhoea and excess skin production on the nose and feet pads. The infected dog may also show nervous signs including depression, twitching and seizures. There is no cure for distemper and patients are just nursed as best as possible.

Canine Hepatitis

This virus is found in saliva, vomit, faeces and urine. It causes sudden death in puppies, severe vomiting, diarrhoea, high temperature, anorexia and abdominal pain. This is a potentially fatal disease but if the patient recovers it will continue to secrete the virus for many months.

Canine Contagious Respiratory Disease - Kennel Cough / Infectious Laryngotracheitis

This is a very infectious disease in dogs that is spread by direct contact with other dogs. This can occur whilst in close proximity to other dogs eg  playing with other dogs in the park or on a walk, at training classes or dog shows, or whilst in kennels. The most obvious sign is a dry hacking cough and, although normally easily treated, if allowed to get out-of-hand a chronic infection may ensue. This vaccination is a liquid that is sprayed up into the nose. There are two vaccines currently available; Nobivac KC (Intervet) and Intrac (Schering-Plough). Kennel cough is rarely life-threatening unless in the old or very young.  It is usually treated with antibiotics such as Oxytetracycline, Doxycycline (Ronaxan), Enrofloxacin (Baytril) or Clavulanate potentiated amoxicillin (Synulox). Other advice would be rest (no running, or pulling on the lead), avoiding excitement, and no contact with other dogs whilst coughing.

Rabies
 

Rabies is passed in the saliva and although is not present in the UK, when travelling abroad with your pet they will need to be vaccinated against rabies. There is then a blood test after the vaccination to check your pet’s immunity. This is all done under the PETS Passport Scheme.

Rabies has two forms and an infected animal may show one or both types. Furious Rabies shows an overexcited aggressive individual, who aimlessly walks for miles, is afraid of water, has seizures and dies. Dumb Rabies is more common but not always noticed until there is paralysis, salivation, coma and death.
Rabies is zoonotic. If someone is bitten they must be given the post-exposure vaccination before the virus reaches the nervous system. Animals with suspected rabies should be handled with extreme caution and after confirmation, destroyed.
Both dogs and cats need to be vaccinated against rabies when leaving the UK.