The Importance of Vaccinations and Their Different Types

Vaccinating your dog or cat is one of the most essential steps in assuring that they will have a healthy life. Like people, animals need vaccines regularly for proper effectiveness. But vaccines can become complicated and can vary from one pet to another. Asking your veterinarian which vaccines are right for your dog or cat (especially if they are a puppy or kitten getting their vaccines for the first time) is the best place to start.

What are Vaccines?

Vaccines are products designed to enable protective immune responses and prepare the immune system for combating future infections from disease-causing agents. They stimulate the immune system’s antibody production and can provide immunity against several diseases. Vaccines can ease the severity, or even prevent, some diseases completely.

Essential Vaccines for Pets

It is important to know that necessary vaccines differ between dogs and cats. While dogs need one kind of vaccine set for diseases that they come into contact with often, cats need another set for the diseases that they come into contact with. Some essential vaccines for a dog or cat (such as a rabies vaccine) are even requiring by law to have.

Essential Vaccines for Dogs:

• Distemper, Hepatitis, Parainfluenza and Parvovirus (DHPP) - This all-in-one combination vaccination shot is commonly called the ‘distemper shot’. It protects against the four diseases in its name. 
• Rabies - The rabies virus is fatal in both pets and humans. The rabies vaccine is required by law in most states.  

Your veterinarian may also recommend additional vaccines for your dog based on where you live and your dog’s lifestyle:

• Leptospirosis - This bacterial infection is most common in moist climates where there are standing or slow-moving water areas. This is a disease that can also be spread from animals to humans. 
• Bordetella (‘Kennel Cough’) - A virus that causes an extremely contagious upper respiratory infection and cough. Your veterinarian may recommend this vaccine before your dog goes to a dog park, kennel, groomer, or anywhere else where there are other dogs that possibly haven’t had their shots. 
• Lyme Disease - A bacterial infection carried by ticks. This disease is extremely common in certain parts of the country (both the East and West coasts and the Great Lakes areas, especially). 
• Canine Influenza - A viral upper respiratory disease that originated in Florida in 2004 and has quickly spread across the United States. Outbreaks happen often in animal shelters and kennels. 
• Corona Virus - A virus that infects the intestinal tract and is more common in the Southern United States. 

Essential Vaccines for Cats:

• Feline Viral Rhinotracheitis, Calicvirus and Panleukopenia (FVRCP) - The feline ‘distemper shot’. This combination vaccine protects against three different diseases: feline viral rhinotracheitis, calicvirus and panleukopenia (known as ‘Feline Distemper’). 
• Rabies - Like dogs, rabies is deadly for cats and a rabies shot is required by law in most of the United States. 

Additional Vaccines for Your Cat:

• Chlamydia - A bacterial infection that causes severe conjuctivitis. The vaccination for it is often included in the distemper combo vaccine. 
• Feline Leukemia (Felv) - A viral infection that is only transmitted through close contact and this vaccine is generally only recommended for outdoor cats. 
• Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) - Like feline leukemia, FIV is only transmitted through close contact and is generally only recommended for cats that go outdoors. 
• Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) - A viral infection most common in feral colonies, it is almost always fatal. Most house cats don’t run a significant risk of contracting this disease. 

When it comes to making sure that your pet receives their vaccines on time (which is essential), be sure to create a schedule to follow from the time your pet receives their latest vaccine to the time suggested by your veterinarian.

The Perils of Lyme Disease

Lyme Disease is well-known as ‘that disease that comes from ticks’. But what Lyme Disease is, in clinical definition, and the effects it has on a person or animal are not as defined as would be expected. While humans have more of a fighting chance against preventing tick-transmitted Lyme Disease, dogs and cats do not. That is why it is important to check your pet regularly for ticks.

What Is Lyme Disease?

Lyme Disease is a bacterial infection capable of affecting dogs, cats, humans and other mammals. The primary carrier of Lyme Disease is the deer tick, which usually begins its early stages by feeding on rodents. As it matures, the tick can attach itself to a dog or a human and transmit the bacteria that causes Lyme Disease.

Symptoms of Lyme Disease include:

• Depression 
• Lymph node swelling 
• Appetite loss 
• Fever 

Lyme Disease can also cause joint pain and swelling and lameness, as well as renal failure.

What To Do If You Think Your Pet Has Lyme Disease

The most advisable thing for you, as a pet owner, to do if you think your pet has Lyme Disease is to take them to the veterinarian for evaluation. Evaluations include a physical exam, blood tests and even radiographs.

How Is Lyme Disease Treated?

Your veterinarian can determine the best treatment plan for your pet. Antibiotics are the most used option. With prompt and proper treatment, your pet’s condition should begin improving within 48 hours.

Ticks!

Ticks are ectoparasites (parasites that live on the outside of the body) that feed on the blood of mammals, or ‘hosts’, such as dogs and humans.

Ticks are classified as arachnids, like mites and spiders. Tick species’, such as the brown dog tick and the American dog tick are both common examples of ticks that affect both canines and felines. Ticks such as these require three ‘feedings’ of their host’s blood daily.

Being that tick presence varies according to where you live, what time of the year it is (tick presence varies in warm and cool weather), your pet’s habits and your method and frequency of tick preventative product use.

Ticks attach themselves to your pet by inserting their mouth into your dog’s skin via barbed spikes, followed by the commencement of feeding. Many ticks can also produce a glue-like substance to stay attached.

What Can a Tick Do To My Pet?

Ticks are highly capable of causing many different diseases in your pet. Although rare, ticks can consume enough of a host’s blood to cause anemia. Certain female ticks can cause a rare paralysis in their host from a toxin they produce during feeding. But the disease most familiar to pet owners is Lyme Disease. Another serious disease is Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

Lyme Disease can cause arthritis and swelling of joints that can result in lameness. Rocky Mountain spotted fever can cause fever, lameness and other serious ailments. Along with these, ticks can transmit other serious diseases to your dog or cat. Your veterinarian can answer any questions you may have concerning ticks and the different diseases they can carry.

Preventing Ticks and Knowing Their Routine

It might be surprising to know that it is very difficult to prevent your pet’s exposure to ticks. Whether going on walks, hikes, or other outdoor activities, ticks can always attach themselves to your pet. The best way to prevent ticks is with regular tick control use. Your veterinarian can help you with deciding the best product for your dog or your cat and their current situation. Your veterinarian is also knowledgeable of the specific diseases common in your area that can pose a risk for your pet.

While ticks can be found everywhere, warm climates and certain rural and wooded areas, especially in the Northeast, are places where ticks are more present and can increase your pet’s exposure rate.

How To Know If Your Pet Has Ticks and How To Remove Them

Ticks are visible, so it is a good idea to check your pet regularly. If you happen to find one, be careful when removing it, because any contact with the tick’s blood can potentially transmit their infectious diseases onto your pet, or even you.

Before you start, treat the area where the tick is with rubbing alcohol and remove it with tweezers. Make sure that you have removed the biting head and any other body parts. It may only take a few hours for disease from the tick to be transmitted to your pet, it is preferred that you take your pet to the veterinarian for evaluation through blood tests following the removal of the tick. They will also recommend a tick preventative for the future.