Vaccinations – are they necessary?

Vaccinations, or puppy and dog shots, are an essential part of preventative health care from your puppy’s early stages in life through adulthood. Not only are they necessary, dog vaccinations stimulate the immune system. By injecting a virus or virus particles into your dog, an immune response should be stimulated. The immune response will protect the dog, over a period of time, against whatever virus was included in the injection.

So, how frequently should your dog get vaccinated? The first series are shots are typically given when your puppy is seven to eight weeks old. The dog vaccination is important in his early stage of life. If your puppy hasn’t been vaccinated for the first time yet, it’s important to keep him away from unvaccinated dogs and areas where strays may roam such as public parks.

The second series of dog vaccinations is given at twelve weeks of age not only to boost the potency of the first series, purposely kept at a low level, but it brings vaccine levels high enough to protect your pooch for a while.

Subsequently, annual booster shots are given. These dog vaccinations keep vaccine levels high enough to protect your dog over sustained amounts of time. Always ask your vet, as some annual revaccinations are no longer reccomended by most of the major veterinary colleges.

Keep in mind blood tests may be done on your dog to assess the dog’s antibody level, but it doesn’t test the immunity level currently indicated by the pet’s immune system. Therefore, the frequency and type of dog vaccinations administered will vary by each dog. Therefore, it’s important to talk to your veterinarian about the risk of viral and bacterial diseases and the options of one, two, or three-year vaccines.

Since your dog is being injected with the very virus which it will later try to fend off, vaccine reactions will sometimes occur. An adverse reaction may occur such as lethargy or loss of appetite. Some reactions are more severe than others so if you notice your dog reacting to his dog vaccinations, be sure to call your veterinarian.

The core vaccines are limited rabies, distemper and parvo.

Vaccines for dogs include, but are not limited, too the following:

Rabies
Distemper
Hepatitis
Parainfluenza
Parvo virus
Leptospirosis
Lyme Disease
Corona virus
Bordetella
Giardia

Additionally, a vaccination doesn’t guarantee your dog will be disease-free during his life; rather it helps significantly in prevent a number of diseases from entering your dog’s system. Above all, it’s important that dogs who are vaccinated are healthy. If your dog is already suffering from an illness or is receiving certain drugs, its immune system may not be able to properly respond to the dog vaccine. Prior to vaccinating your pet, your veterinarian will ask you about your pet’s medical history and will perform a complete medical examination.

At The Dog Bowl, nothing is more important than your pets’ health and well being. For more information about vaccinations and to read more about The Dog Bowl's membership program click here.