Many Australian pet owners misunderstand vaccinations, which may harm their dogs’ health. If you’ve decided against vaccinating your dog or cat, you should know all the potential consequences for your pet’s health and safety.
Are you still unsure when to schedule vaccines for your cat or dog, or do you have any questions about the overall process? We hope the information we have provided will be helpful.
Keep reading for advice on the most popular core vaccinations and why vaccinating your dogs is essential.
Important Information Regarding Vaccinations
Vaccines protect your pet from disease by simulating an actual illness. This results in an increase in antibody production by the animal’s white blood cells. The immune system’s antibodies attach to pathogens and neutralise them, destroying diseased cells.
Your pet’s body will retain the results of this procedure. Therefore, the next time the same virus strikes, it will mount the same robust defences to fend it off.
Vaccinating your pet is crucial, but why?
Vaccinations are crucial for your pet’s preventive health care. Vaccinating cats and dogs while young will provide them with the best defence. One of the best ways to ensure a long and healthy life for your puppy or kitten is to vaccinate them as soon as possible.
Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), rabies, hepatitis, parvovirus, feline leukaemia, and other similar diseases may cause severe illness or death in young animals. It is better to protect your cat or dog from these illnesses by taking preventive healthcare measures than to try to cure them afterwards.
Crucial cat vaccines
Feline Enteritis (or Feline Panleucopenia)
Depression, lack of appetite, unexplained vomiting, and diarrhoea (sometimes with blood and severe stomach discomfort) are signs of highly infectious feline enteritis. The mortality rate from the condition is relatively high, particularly in kittens.
Cat Flu, also known as Feline Respiratory Disease.
Cat flu accounts for 90% of cases; the cause is the feline calicivirus or herpes virus. All cats are susceptible to cat flu, but Siamese and Burmese cats and small kittens are more vulnerable. Sneezing, coughing, runny eyes, nasal discharge, appetite loss, and tongue ulcers are symptoms of this very infectious illness.
Leukaemia in Felines (FeLV)
When the feline leukaemia virus affects the immune system, cats might experience a loss of appetite, lethargy, indifference, pale or yellowish mucous membranes, vomiting, diarrhoea, reproductive issues, and tumours.
A genus of Chlamydia, sometimes called Chlamydia.
Up to 30% of cats might have severe and chronic conjunctivitis from Feline Chlamydia. When kittens acquire the flu simultaneously, they are more likely to develop Chlamydia.
Vital dog vaccination: Chlamydia Parvovirus
Serious and possibly deadly, the canine parvovirus assaults the intestines, resulting in severe stomach discomfort, uncontrolled vomiting, and bloody diarrhoea. The disease’s devastating dehydration and infectious effects are the leading causes of death for dogs.
Distemper in Dogs
Fever, hacking cough, runny nose, vomiting, diarrhoea, depression, and lack of appetite are symptoms of distemper, a dangerous and infectious viral illness. Paralysis, muscle tremors, and fits are symptoms that often manifest later in the disease.
Hepatitis in Dogs
A virus that causes a deadly and highly infectious illness in dogs. Symptoms may manifest as a high temperature, sadness, lack of hunger, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and severe stomach pain.
Coughing in Dogs
Puppy classes, kennels, and dog parks are major vectors for transmitting a highly contagious illness. As a result of the disease, dogs may have a dry hacking cough that lasts for weeks and puts them in danger of pneumonia.
Leptospirosis in dogs
Rat urine is a significant vector for leptospirosis, which may infect dogs via contaminated water and food or by biting a rat. High mortality rates in canines are possible, and people may get a flu-like disease that lasts for a while after contracting the virus.
Be sure to incorporate your dog or cat vaccinations into their wellness programme.
Keep your pet’s immunisation records current at all times. Talk to your vet about creating a wellness package to ensure your pet gets all the key immunisations it needs to be healthy.
Port Kennedy Veterinary Hospital offers affordable wellness packages for dogs, cats, kittens, and puppies. These packages include frequent preventive treatments to ensure your pet stays healthy.