Services : Vaccinating your Pet
At Blackness Vets we feel that vaccinations play an integral part in keeping your pet healthy.
Thanks to vaccinations many life-threatening diseases have seen a dramatic decline in the past 10-15 years, however, none have been completely eradicated which means that without an up to date course of vaccinations your pet could be at risk.
At Blackness Vets we aim to give the minimum number of vaccinations to keep your pet healthy and tailor our vaccination protocol to your pet's lifestyle.
We find that with this approach the great benefit of vaccinations far outweigh the minimal risk of any potential adverse reaction.
If you have any concerns about vaccinating your pet the vet will be happy to discuss this with you at an appointment.
Click on the links below for further details about the vaccinations we recommend for:
Every pet will receive a full health check at its vaccination appointment.
Dogs
We would recommend that all puppies (under a year) receive an initial course of 2 injections between 2 and 4 weeks apart.
The first vaccination can be any time from 6 weeks of age, but the second has to be at least when the puppy is 10 weeks old.
Full protection from disease will not be achieved according to manufacturers recommendations until 1 week after the second vaccination but this schedule means that you can start socialising your puppy as early as possible.
If a puppy receives his first course of vaccinations at 8 to 10 weeks of age he will be due his first adult booster when he is 14 months old.
If he is a bit older when he starts his course he will get his booster a year after the second vaccination. This is a very important booster as it completes the primary course.
Thereafter vaccinations are yearly, however, as immunity to the different components of the vaccine varies, your dog will only receive the full six-in-one vaccine for his puppy course, for his first adult booster and then every 3 years.
In between he will normally get the vaccine against Leptospirosis only, as this component is weaker and does not last much more than a year.
The six-in-one vaccination (DHPPi +L) contains components against canine Distemper, Canine Adenovirus (Hepatitis), Canine Parvovirus, Parainfluenza, Leptospira (2 varieties).
If your dog's vaccinations have lapsed or you are not sure if he has had any before and he is over a year old we would normally give either the full vaccine, followed by a Leptospira vaccine 2-4 weeks later, or 2 Leptospira vaccines if the rest of the components have been given in the previous 2 years.
If your dog is going to kennels or taking part in activities that involve exposure to a lot of different dogs we can administer the vaccination against kennel cough.
This is a highly infectious group of diseases that produces a cough that sounds like whooping cough.
It is caused by a number of agents but the most severe form is caused by a bacteria called Bordatella.
The kennel cough vaccination we use will protect against Bordatella and parainfluenza virus, it is given intra-nasally as this has been found to be more effective than by injection.
Protection lasts a year and a single vaccination is sufficient to produce immunity.
There may be a transient non-infectious cough or sneeze as the vaccine stimulates the local tissues.
We also offer rabies vaccination for dogs participating in the Pet Travel Scheme.
Please phone the surgery for further advice on this or see Defra website on Pet Travel Scheme (PETS).
Cats
Kittens can start their primary vaccination course at 9 weeks old and have 2 injections 3 to 4 weeks apart.
They receive a single booster a year after the kitten vaccinations and this completes the primary course. Booster vaccinations are carried out yearly.
Adult cats whose vaccinations have lapsed require the full kitten primary course again.
We would normally give cats a vaccination against two types of cat flu and feline enteritis in a single injection.
This is the vaccination required by catteries and cat shows and is recommended even if your cat in going to remain indoors as transmission of cat flu can be airborne.
If your cat is going to be going outdoors or otherwise have close contact with other cats we would recommend have the vaccination against feline leukaemia in addition to the normal flu and enteritis vaccination.
The schedule is the same as above.
We will help you make a decision on the most appropriate vaccinations for your cat to receive based on an assessment of what his lifestyle is likely to be.
Vaccinations can be added or dropped in later life if circumstances changed.
We can offer rabies vaccination for cats participation in the Pet Travel Scheme.
Please phone the surgery for further advice on this or see Defra website on Pet Travel Scheme (PETS).
Rabbits
We would advise that all rabbits, whether indoor or outdoor, be vaccinated against Myxomatosis.
This is a disease that is particularly prevalent in this area and is transmitted by rabbit fleas, midges and mosquitoes so no direct contact with wild rabbits is necessary.
It can also be trodden into the house on footwear.
A single vaccination can be given from 6 weeks of age.
If there is any contact at all with outdoors we would recommend 6 monthly injections to ensure optimum protection.
A yearly vaccination schedule will provide a degree of protection but may not be completely protective if there is exposure.
There is an additional vaccination which can be given against Viral Haemorrhagic Disease.
This is a very virulent disease which can be spread by direct contact, by migrating birds and on contaminated footwear or clothing.
Vaccination is highly protective and only needs to be boosted yearly.
Vaccination can start at 10 weeks of age but must be given at least 2 weeks apart from the Myxomatosis injection.
Ferrets
Ferrets are susceptible to canine Distemper virus.
Although there are no licensed preparations for ferrets in this country, the Nobivac vaccine is licensed in Scandinavia so we would recommend this vaccination from 12 weeks of age and every 3 years thereafter.
Our practice uses mainly Intervet Nobivac vaccines. Click below for a link to Intervet's webpage about the future of vaccination covering issues regarding vaccines and the diseases they protect from.
