Vaccination Information to Help You Maintain The Health of Your Dog

Vaccinations are an important part of puppy and adult dog health. There are some vaccinations required by state law. Rabies is one. There are some other vaccines known to prevent significant pet diseases and which are expected to be given as part of a dog’s regular care; these both help maintain the well-being of your pet as well as decrease any widespread infection in canine population. Examples of those are Distemper and Parvovirus vaccines. Some boarding kennels or other organizations may also require specific vaccines be given to your dog prior to your leaving the dog at their facility. The Bordatella vaccine is one such example.

Also, for your information, in addition to vaccines, there are some medications that may be highly recommended in specific areas of the country or specific areas of a state, in order to reduce the presence of dangerous pet diseases prevalent in that particular region. Heartworm medications are highly recommended in specific regions of the Northwest, for example.

As part of the many pet services we’ve compiled on this website to help pet owners, Anthony Moyer of ABC Pet Services is happy to provide dog owners with the following article and graph, used with permission, so you can better understand vaccination schedules that may apply to your dog.

Vaccination Recommendations for Dogs

Race Foster, DVM
Marty Smith, DVM
Holly Nash, DVM, MS
Drs. Foster & Smith, Inc.

Vaccines are now being divided into two classes. 'Core' vaccines for dogs are those that should be given to every dog. 'Noncore' vaccines are recommended only for certain dogs. Whether to vaccinate with noncore vaccines depends upon a number of things including the age, breed, and health status of the dog, the potential exposure of the dog to an animal that has the disease, the type of vaccine and how common the disease is in the geographical area where the dog lives or may visit.

The AVMA Council on Biologic and Therapeutic Agents' Report on Cat and Dog Vaccines has recommended that the core vaccines for dogs include distemper, canine adenovirus-2 (hepatitis and respiratory disease), and canine parvovirus-2.

Noncore vaccines include leptospirosis, coronavirus, canine parainfluenza and Bordetella bronchiseptica (both are causes of 'kennel cough'), and Borrelia burgdorferi (causes Lyme Disease). Consult with your veterinarian to select the proper vaccines for your dog or puppy.

 

AVMA Vaccination Recommendations for Dogs
Component	Class	Efficacy	Length of Immunity	Risk/Severity of Adverse Effects	Comments
Canine Distemper	Core	High	> 1 year for modified live virus (MLV) vaccines	Low
Measles	Noncore	High in preventing disease, but not in preventing infection	Long	Infrequent	Use in high risk environments for canine distemper in puppies 4-10 weeks of age
Parvovirus	Core	High	> 1 year	Low
Hepatitis	Core	High	> 1 year	Low	Only use canine adenovirus-2 (CAV-2) vaccines
Rabies	Core	High	Dependent upon type of vaccine	Low to moderate
Respiratory disease from canine adenovirus-2 (CAV-2)	Noncore	Not adequately studied	Short	Minimal	If vaccination warranted, boost annually or more frequently
Parainfluenza	Noncore	Intranasal MLV - Moderate Injectable MLV - Low	Moderate	Low	Only recommended for dogs in kennels, shelters, shows, or large colonies; If vaccination warranted, boost annually or more frequently
Bordetella	Noncore	Intranasal MLV - Moderate Injectable MLV - Low	Short	Low	For the most benefit, use intranasal vaccine 2 weeks prior to exposure
Leptospirosis	Noncore	Variable	Short	High	Up to 30% of dogs may not respond to vaccine
Coronavirus	Noncore	Low	Short	Low	Risk of exposure high in kennels, shelters, shows, breeding facilities
Lyme	Noncore	Appears to be limited to previously unexposed dogs; variable	Revaccinate annually	Moderate
© 2005 Foster & Smith, Inc. Reprinted as a courtesy and with permission from PetEducation.com (http://www.PetEducation.com)