Dog Vaccinations: 5 Must-Know Answers about Pet Vaccines
What are dog vaccines?
Dog vaccines help your pet enjoy a long, healthy life—in fact, vaccinating your dog is the best way to ensure that he doesn’t suffer from common canine diseases.
For the first few weeks of your dog’s life, it received natural puppy vaccines from disease-fighting antibodies in its mother’s milk. These antibodies kept your puppy healthy, so it could grow into an independent pup.
Once your puppy is weaned, though, puppy vaccines are your responsibility.
Your veterinarian can tell you how dog vaccinations are safe and proven pet vaccines.
Which pet vaccinations should my dog receive?
Most vets will administer vaccines against common, contagious diseases:
- Canine distemper
- Infectious canine hepatitis
- Canine parvovirus
- Canine tracheobronchitis
- Rabies
Your vet may also recommend other puppy vaccinations based on particular risk factors related to heredity, environment, and lifestyle.
How do dog vaccinations work?
Dog vaccines contain small quantities of altered or “killed” viruses, bacteria, or other disease-causing organisms.
These organisms stimulate your dog’s immune system to produce anti-bodies—or disease-fighting cells and proteins—that protect against the disease.
When should I start my dog vaccination schedule?
Your puppy’s birth immunity diminishes sometime between 6 and 12 weeks of age, so you should start vaccinations when your puppy is about 6 weeks old.
After that, a regular dog vaccination schedule includes shots every 4 weeks or so, until your puppy is about 4 months old. You will need to maintain vaccinations regularly throughout your dog’s life, but the first set of shots is the most important.
Above all, follow your vet’s dog vaccination schedule exactly as recommended—waiting too long between shots might mean you have to start all over again.
How effective are pet vaccines?
Dog vaccinations are your pet’s best defense against disease. There is no drug treatment or surgical procedure that can guarantee a long or perfectly healthy life, but making sure your puppy stays on its dog vaccination schedule can prevent the heartbreak and expense of many preventable diseases.