Vaccines for Your Cat or Dog

Many serious pet diseases can be prevented by vaccination. Even if always kept indoors, your pet can be exposed to viruses carried in the air, dust or clothing. Vaccination is inexpensive protection against costly treatment or premature death of your pet. Booster vaccines are necessary to maintain this protection.Below you will find general descriptions of the various vaccines offered at Broadway Veterinary Hospital and general recommendations based on your pet's lifestyle. Which vaccines will be given will be determined by you and your veterinarian based on your pet's age, lifestyle, health, and medical history.

Why does my pet need vaccinations?

Canine Vaccines

DHPP

This is a combination vaccination allowing us to vaccinate against four diseases with one shot. Distemper, Hepatitis, Parainfluenza and Parvovirus are the diseases prevented by this vaccination. Booster vaccination once a year between the ages of 1 year and 6 years of age is recommended.

The term dis-temper literally means "Bad" "Temper". It is an old term that meant a severe cold or flu. Distemper is a viral disease of dogs that is usually fatal. It affects the respiratory system causing severe flu-like symptoms at first. Most puppies will survive this episode, but approximately two weeks later, they will develop the fatal neurological form of the disease. The virus then infects the brain and the puppy may have "chewing gum fits" and seizures.

Hepatitis is a rare disease now, but it used to be very common before vaccinations were prevalent. This virus affects the liver and causes jaundice. It is usually fatal. Vaccination starting at 6 weeks of age, then every 3 weeks until your puppy is 16 weeks of age protects your puppy. Booster vaccination once a year is recommended.

This highly contagious disease of dogs is relatively new (1978) and often results in death, especially in puppies. Parvovirus normally infects the dog's intestines, lymphoid tissue and bone marrow. The result is vomiting; severe, often fatal, bloody diarrhea; and severe dehydration. It mostly affects young pets that have not been adequately immunized. We recommend a yearly Parvovirus booster vaccination, particularly for all pets at risk, e.g. outdoor pets and pets that will come in contact with other animals.

Parainfluenza is a virus that causes flu-like symptoms. The symptoms are coughing, sneezing, runny eyes and nose. Pets usually have a mild elevation in body temperature. Parainfluenza virus may be one of the causes of "Kennel Cough." Vaccination for Parainfluenza reduces the likelihood of your pet contracting "Kennel Cough," and will be boostered along with the other vaccinations discussed above.

Leptospirosis

Canine Leptospirosis Vaccination is recommended for dogs who may have exposure to the bacteria. This means dogs who go to dog parks, places other dogs spend time or places wildlife have been. This bacterial disease can be found in many animals including dogs, cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and wildlife such as rats, raccoons, deer, elk and seals. Most transmission is through urine contaminated water sources.

Leptospirosis is a genus of bacteria, many of which can cause serious kidney infection in dogs. This bacterium is considered zoonotic as dogs or other animals may spread the disease-causing bacteria to people through infected urine.

We will consider Leptospirosis and recommend testing for all dogs presenting with signs of fever, depression, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain, and acute onset of renal impairment or failure. When people become infected they usually become sick two to four weeks after exposure. The disease begins with flu-like symptoms and fever. In people, Leptospirosis can reemerge in a second more severe stage, called Weil's disease, which may cause kidney or liver failure or meningitis. There is a simple blood test that can identify Leptospirosis in people, as well as for dogs. We urge you to seek medical attention for both yourself and your dog if either of you develop the symptoms discussed above. Avoidance of this bacterium is the best thing you can do to protect your dog and yourself. As the bacterium is transmitted by our urban raccoons, the best thing is to discourage raccoons from your yard by eliminating cover, food, and water sources. Additionally, do not leave pet food and water dishes where raccoons may contact them. Wash your hands thoroughly if you handle something a raccoon has handled. Also, discourage your dog from drinking from open water sources such as water puddles.

If your dog has never been vaccinated for Leptospirosis before he will require two vaccines 21 days apart.  Thereafter the Leptospirosis will be boostered once a year with the annual vaccinations.

Here is a fact sheet from the CDC about Leptospirosis.

Bordetella is one component of a complex disease process known as "Kennel Cough." This is an infectious and highly contagious cough that is generally more of a nuisance than a serious disease in puppies and adult dogs. Kennel Cough is characterized a dry hacking cough and rarely very serious pneumonia in dogs. There are at least 17 different bacteria involved in this disease complex. The very best that can be done to prevent this relatively uncommon disease is to vaccinate for Bordetella.

Because socializing puppies is vitally important to raising a well-adjusted and socialized adult dog, we recommend Bordetella vaccination for all puppies. Adult dogs that are boarded should also be vaccinated. It is important to know that Bordetella vaccination is the best that we have, and it is the least effective of all the vaccinations we recommend. However, when street infection does occur, previously vaccinated dogs develop a less severe case of the disease than dogs that have never been vaccinated. Your dog should receive one intranasal vaccination once in his/her lifetime, and all booster vaccinations should be given under the skinOur current Bordatella vaccine is very good. One dose of Intranasal vaccination will give immunity that will last for a full year.  Many of the boarding facilities and doggy day care facilties require once every 6 month vaccinations and we will go ahead and do this, however there is good research to back up that this vaccine will give immunity that lasts for a full year.

It is best to vaccinate 10 days prior to boarding, however with the Inatranasal vaccine your pet will start to develop protective immunity within 24 to 36 hours of vaccination.Signs of infection include a dry, hacking cough or coughing spasms followed by retching or gagging. Toy breeds and geriatric dogs are especially high risk for chronic respiratory disease. The intranasal vaccination gives some immunity within twenty-four to thirty-six hours.

Here is an article from the Veterinary Information Network which discusses Kennel Cough and the Bordetella Vaccine.