There are five main diseases we vaccinate dogs against. These are Distemper, Hepatitis, Parvovirus, Parainfluenza and Bordetella.
Traditional Regime:
Puppies receive an initial course of three vaccinations; one each at 6, 12 and 16 weeks. Puppies on this regime are still at risk of contracting disease until two weeks after their final vaccination hence; full protection has not been achieved until week 18. After this, dogs will require an annual booster for all five diseases for the rest of their lives.
Modern Regime:
Puppies receive two lots of vaccinations at 6 and 10 weeks of age. Full immunity is attained at 11 weeks of age. A full C5 booster is still done at one year of age however following the first year; the three main diseases, Disptemper, Hepatitis and Parvovirus; only need to be re boosted every three years (rather than every year as with the old regime).
Our Philosophy:
We recommend the newer regime. We believe this to be better for two main reasons:
- Firstly, puppies have earlier protection against parvovirus in particular. This is still a common disease that is often fatal. The new regime affords maximum protection by 11 weeks of age. With the old regime, pups aren’t protected until 18 weeks of age; almost doubling the risk period.
- Secondly, after the first annual booster, we believe that only vaccinating as required is far healthier for our dogs than unnecessarily blanket vaccinating every year. Only Bordetella and Parainfluenza need to be repeated every year.
Why are less vaccines better? Although not proven, some vets, (ourselves included); have a belief that over vaccinating may potentially be responsible for adverse immune diseases later in life. However, whether proven or not, what we do know is that there is absolutely no advantage in over vaccinating and therefore, we do not recommend it if there is no advantage but rather a potential disadvantage. We certainly don’t use the old regime for our own pets hence we don’t recommend it for yours.
If there are any questions you have regarding the pro’s and con’s of vaccinating your pets, please call us at any time.