When discussing your pet’s health, we most likely asked you if your animal is vaccinated or not. Vaccination is the most common form of preventive medicine. Why is it important? What are the benefits and the risks of vaccinating?
A vaccine is a suspension of attenuated or dead microorganisms that is administered to prevent a disease.
In animals, the most common administration route is an injection through the skin, or in the nose through the mucous membrane.
A vaccine is meant to stimulate immunity against a specific disease. This means that your animal’s immune system is stimulated to respond to the vaccine in order to react again properly in the future.
Depending on the type of vaccine and the age of the animal, the vaccination schedule will vary to achieve the best immune response. Also, not all vaccines are as effective. For this reason, it is important to follow the veterinarian’s recommendations to ensure that your pet is well protected.
There is a group of vaccines called core vaccines, and depending on the lifestyle of the dog and their owners, other vaccines may be necessary based on possible exposure to other viruses and bacteria. For example, a dog that is your outdoor buddy, that goes to the groomer, and is boarding from time to time will probably need more vaccines than a dog that stays in the city and goes out for short walks and meets very few dogs.
In Quebec, the rabies vaccine is not mandatory in dogs, but it is highly recommended. As a matter of fact, it is better to vaccinate for rabies before you suspect that your dog was in close contact with a raccoon during your camping trip, or waiting until your dog bites someone and you are required to provide proof that your dog is protected against rabies! Also, the vaccine is required to travel to many destinations outside Canada, including to go to the United States. Therefore, it is important to ask ahead of time about the requirements for your dog to enter a foreign country.
Like anything, 0 risk doesn’t exist. Studies have shown a 0.38% of various levels of side effects in dogs, and 0.52% in cats. With less than 1% risk of side effects, we can say that vaccination is very safe!
To make sure that it remains a low-risk procedure, a health exam has to be performed prior to the vaccines. It ensures that the animal is in good health and therefore able to receive its vaccines. For example, if an animal shows signs of infection it is usually better to wait for vaccines because going through with vaccination at this point could overwhelm the animal’s immune system, which is already busy! Also, in such cases, the vaccines may not work as there wouldn’t be a proper immune response.
The immune system is a little bit like memory, it forgets with time! To maintain your animal’s immunity, booster shots are needed. How often you give the booster varies on the vaccine and what it contains. Your veterinarian will give you the proper vaccination schedule to meet your pet’s specific needs.
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Please do not hesitate to contact the Passionimo veterinary clinic near you.