Vaccination is an act performed by the veterinarian and guarantees your dog’s good health from an early age, and in the long term, thanks to booster shots. Although vaccinations are not mandatory, with one exception, it is a highly recommended preventive measure that can prevent your pet from contracting serious viral or bacterial diseases, sometimes fatal.
What are the important vaccines?
Usually, dogs are vaccinated as a preventive measure against three main diseases: distemper, Rubarth’s disease and parvovirus, and in some cases, against rabies:
- Distemper: a deadly virus affecting all the internal organs of the dog. This leads to a rapid deterioration of the animal’s health.
- Rubarth’s disease: it is a hepatitis causing very serious ocular and digestive disorders.
- Parvovirosis: a particularly resistant and contagious virus. This disease manifests itself by digestive disorders, such as diarrhea and vomiting.
- Rabies: a disease transmissible to humans, rabies is transmitted through saliva or a scratch by an infected animal. It directly affects the nervous system and is therefore very often fatal.
The rabies vaccine is mandatory for all categorized dogs as well as for animals traveling abroad.
Depending on your pet’s lifestyle and where you live, your veterinarian may recommend additional vaccines to protect your dog against other diseases: leptospirosis, kennel cough, piroplasmosis or leishmaniasis.
How often should I vaccinate?
It is possible to vaccinate your puppy from the age of 2 months. Before that, the antibodies that his mother transmits to him through breastfeeding ensure his immune protection.
It is therefore important to act as soon as your puppy is weaned by vaccinating him against distemper, parvovirus and Rubart’s hepatitis, which are often grouped in a single vaccine, the CPH.
Generally, the primary vaccination for the puppy is done in several steps with a precise recall frequency until his first birthday.
As for the rabies vaccine, it is possible from the puppy’s third month of age and is given in a single injection, to be repeated one year later.
Once the dog is an adult, most of the vaccines are to be renewed annually, according to a vaccination schedule determined by your veterinarian and reported on your pet’s health record.