VACCINE THEORY: The veterinary and pet community has hotly debated the correct vaccination protocol for our dogs. In the past it was thought that any disease that had a vaccine available to combat it had to be administered to our pets. In reaction to this logic, many articles in the pet community described vaccines as the enemy and a possible cause of disease. The opinion of the veterinary community and certainly my opinion is a mixture of these two thoughts. And this article is intended to provide a rational and safe vaccination of our dogs.
Okay, so what is a vaccine: we must first discuss what a vaccine is. There are many types of vaccines available in human and animal medicine, but today many of our dog vaccines are modified live vaccines. This means that the scientist has slightly altered the virus so that it still stimulates immunity but cannot cause disease in the patient, thus creating a safer vaccine. Immunity is just the body’s natural defense against infection. What is not a vaccine: Vaccines do not prevent disease in animals that are already exposed to the virus. The vaccine must be present prior to exposure to allow time for adequate memory cells to develop to aid in the body’s defense. So if you have a puppy that was exposed to parvovirus but is not sick yet, a vaccine will NOT prevent the disease. How vaccines work: Many of us have not always understood why we need to vaccinate our pets (or children), we are only doing what the doctor recommends in an attempt to keep our loved one safe. As a veterinarian, I think it is important that owners understand why we vaccinate so that they have informed consent and know what and against what they are protecting their pet.
By administering a vaccine, we try to stimulate the dog’s immune system to create memory cells that will be saved in the body to fight the virus if it is found in the future. On initial exposure to a virus (antigen), the immune system will create some short-lived memory cells, but it will not create long-lasting immunity. Therefore, we always provide a boost in 2-3 weeks to give the immune system a second boost and create millions of long-lasting memory cells in the body. These cells are constantly circulating in the body looking for foreign invaders to attack and destroy, thus defending the body and providing the pet with immunity against the virus.
Why do puppies receive multiple vaccinations? Newborn or newborn puppies receive all their immunity from their mother through the uterus and milk. The amount and level of immunity they receive depends entirely on the mother’s immunity and vaccination status. Therefore, a mother who has been poorly vaccinated, or even never vaccinated, will give little immunity to her cubs and those cubs are at a very high risk of contracting and dying from very early infections, such as the parvo virus. .
Therefore, the mother’s immunity is very important to provide her puppies with early immunity against diseases. The mother’s immunity will also block and prevent our vaccine from providing the vaccinated puppy with immunity. In addition, depending on their level of memory cells, the mother’s immunity can last from a few weeks in puppies to 4 months. This means that your newly purchased 8-week-old puppy may or may not have immunity to infections. Without multiple expensive blood tests, the best way to ensure your puppy is protected is with sequential vaccinations over time.
But as we’ve said, the mother’s immunity blocks our vaccines, so how do we know when her immunity is low enough for our vaccine to work, but not so low that the puppy is completely unprotected? As we have learned, puppies early in life are likely to be protected even from a poorly vaccinated mother, so it is usually not necessary to vaccinate before 6 weeks of age. That is why we know that the best time to start vaccines is from 6-8 weeks of age capturing those puppies that have limited or short-term immunity. However, some of these puppies may have long-term immunity that prevents our vaccine from working and prevents the puppy from receiving long-lasting immunity to disease. The best way to avoid this is to do sequential shots every 3 weeks for a 4-shot series up to 4 months of age. By doing this, we ensure that puppies that have lost early immunity are protected at the right time and we also ensure that puppies with longer-lasting immunity are vaccinated long enough for our vaccine to work and boosters are given.
Summary of why sequential vaccinations in puppies: Start vaccinations at 6-8 weeks. Vaccinate every 3 weeks until 4 months of age. This will ensure early protection. This will ensure the best long-lasting immunity. Give an extra booster of the vaccine at 18 months of age.
It is important to understand that although there is a debate in our community about the vaccination of adult animals, that debate should not involve immature animals. The ONLY way to protect puppies from deadly diseases is to properly vaccinate them up to one year of age. At that time, we have provided them with long-lasting memory cells and may consider extending the subsequent intervals to every 2-3 years, depending on the level of exposure and the vaccine used. Vaccinate your puppies.
The most common core vaccine: Da2p-cpv: – Distemper virus – Adenovirus type 2 – Parainfluenza – Parvo virus
1. Canine distemper virus: It is a disease only of dogs (although dogs can infect ferrets). The disease causes a variety of clinical signs from purulent nasal discharge (pus) and ocular discharge with coughing to vomiting, diarrhea, and seizures. Infected pets are often feverish (fever> 103 ° F) and very depressed / lethargic. The prognosis is very bad.
2. Canine adenovirus type 2: It is also called canine infectious hepatitis and is a very serious disease that is not often seen in our area due to vaccination, but was once very common. There is also a type I vaccine that we do not use because the type 2 vaccine will protect against both types and the type I vaccine causes an eye inflammation commonly called blue eye.
3. Parainfluenza: it is a dog disease that is part of the kennel cough complex. The virus works with the Bordetella bacteria to cause a harsh, unproductive cough. These pets generally have a history of exposure to other dogs (often in a kennel situation) and are usually normal except for coughing. They often respond well to treatment and supportive care.
4. Canine Parvo Virus: It is a potentially fatal disease of puppies and potentially of unvaccinated adults. The virus infects rapidly growing cells in the gut and causes severe bloody watery diarrhea, frequent vomiting, and very depressed / lethargic puppies. Puppies that are not treated often die. This disease can be prevented by vaccination.
Corona virus: given twice to puppies 3 weeks apart. The virus causes an illness of vomiting and diarrhea in very young puppies. This vaccine is not generally given to adult dogs.
Bordetella Bacterin – Protection against kennel cough complex. It is administered in the form of nasal drops in our hospital and only those high-risk dogs such as boarding dogs, those who attend puppy school and those who frequent dog parks should also be vaccinated.
The frequency of rabies will vary by state. In AZ puppies are given and a booster dose given at one year of age and then again every 3 years. The above vaccinations are the most common in our area, but they are certainly not the only vaccinations for dogs. In my next article, I will talk about the other vaccines, including those that are made to fight bacteria.
– an often fatal upper respiratory and neurological virus in dogs.
– a hepatitis virus in dogs
– a respiratory infection often implicated in kennel cough complex
– an often fatal gastrointestinal infection of all poorly vaccinated dogs.
This is the main combination vaccine given to puppies every 3 weeks until 4 months of age. Protects against the worst diseases that are often life-threatening for puppies.