Making sure your pets stay as healthy as possible involves protecting them from infectious diseases and other illnesses. Having a Wellness Exam as well as vaccinations can lower their risk of getting sick. Vaccines are given for different types of diseases that can be spread from one animal to another. Some of these diseases can be life-threatening, making it crucial to have your pets vaccinated against them. Receiving routine vaccines is an important part of helping pets maintain good health at each stage of life.
Routine vaccines from include core and non-core vaccinations. For dogs, our core vaccines include rabies, parvovirus, canine distemper and canine hepatitis. Non-core vaccines for dogs include kennel cough or Bordetella. For cats, core vaccines typically include rabies, feline distemper and felines herpes virus and calicivirus. Our non-core vaccines for cats include feline immunodeficiency virus and feline leukemia virus.
Core vaccines provide pets with protection from diseases that are common and potentially deadly, while non-core vaccines offer protection from diseases that are not as common.
We typically start giving pets vaccines when they are around 2 months old. Keep in mind that pets need boosters for some vaccines in order to receive full protection from diseases. For puppies, we usually do combo vaccines that include distemper and parvovirus. These include an initial vaccine followed by two boosters. We also give kennel cough vaccines for puppies, which usually just needs one booster after the initial injection. Although kennel cough vaccines are not required by law, many groomers and boarding facilities do require dogs to have this vaccination. The rabies vaccine for puppies and dogs does not require a booster. Puppies receive one vaccine, which is effective for 1 year. After that, rabies shots are given every 3 years.