Vaccinations Part I – Canine Vaccinations by Alison Ladman, VMD

If you’ve been searching the Internet, talking to certain breeders, or possibly hearing the experience of friends, you’ve likely heard that there’s some controversy when it comes to vaccinating dogs and cats. On the one hand, more vaccines exist to protect your pet from illnesses varying from the deadly parvovirus to the preventable periodontal disease. On the other hand, cancer, allergies, and autoimmune diseases are becoming more and more common. Is there a connection? Should we minimize the number of vaccines we give?  It is important to note that vaccines can prevent disease or minimize symptoms of a disease, but they will never make your pet healthier. 

A little background first:  For many years, it was common and routine for most veterinary hospitals to give yearly vaccinations to dogs and cats.  The focus of annual hospital visits was on the “shots” and not necessarily on the health of the pet.  Approximately 16 years ago, WAH changed the focus of annual visits to focus on the overall health and wellness of pets, making vaccinations secondary.  After all, wellness is about the big picture, not just administration of any and all vaccines on the market.  In all circumstances, doctors at WAH make every effort to avoid giving more than one vaccine on a given day.  We find that this approach limits vaccine reaction frequency and severity – which is always a relief to pet owners and to us!

 

Of course, it is important that all dogs receive certain “core” vaccines to prevent them from getting life threatening diseases like canine parvovirus.  At WAH, we start all puppies out with the pediatric series of vaccines.  We only recommend the core vaccines – parvovirus, distemper virus, and rabies in puppies.   We advise vaccination of puppies with a parvo and distemper vaccination every 4 weeks until they have reached 16 weeks of age.  Rabies vaccination is given as the final vaccine in the pediatric series in compliance with Delaware law and is considered “good” for one year this first time it’s given.

At WAH, we also treat our adult patients differently than what was the historical norm for vaccination in veterinary medicine.  Instead of giving adult dogs yearly “shots,” we tailor protocols to the pets’ lifestyle and risk.  Does your dog visit nursing homes or hunt in the woods?  Or does your dog never leave the house except to use the bathroom?  Do you take in foster pets from local shelters? 

The doctors at WAH use this information to determine  the best approach to vaccination and assessment of immunity for your individual pet.

We aim to limit vaccinations, so we advise checking “titers” for parvovirus and distemper virus.  A titer is a blood test that assesses the level of immunity an individual patient has developed to previous vaccines.  This titer helps us to assess whether a patient needs to have “booster” vaccinations.  In many cases, dogs have lifelong immunity from the vaccines they were given as puppies.  Unfortunately, titers are not permitted for rabies virus, so the rabies vaccination is given every 3 years as required by the state of Delaware.

There are two “non-core” vaccines available at WAH – bordetella (kennel cough) vaccine and canine influenza vaccine.  We only offer these upon request for patients that will be boarding in a kennel or daycare where this sort of vaccine is required.  If your pet boards at WAH, we do not require dogs to be vaccinated for either bordetella or influenza.  To learn more detailed information about vaccinations, please visit our website where we discuss them in more detail.  http://wilmingtonanimalhospital.com/info_vaccines.php

The bottom line is that at Wilmington Animal Hospital, we make every effort to focus on the overall health of our canine patients.  Vaccination is important, but it isn’t the most important part of keeping your pet healthy.  We will work with you to determine the best way to provide and assess immunity for your dog – we want your pet to be protected and to be as healthy as he or she can be!