Vaccination

Vaccination is an important part in maintaining the health and well-being of your cat or dog. Regular vaccinations and checkups are essential, and foregoing them puts your pet at risk of getting seriously ill.

Unfortunately vaccines do not give 100% protection against disease, and sometimes pets can become infected despite being up to date with their vaccinations. Reasons for the failure of vaccine vary, but most commonly are associated with certain viral strains (vaccines do not always protect against every strain of a particular virus), failure of the pet to respond to a booster (given when the pet was too young or stressed), or the pet was already infected with the disease that the vaccine was supposed to be protecting it against. If you suspect vaccine failure, contact your veterinarian to discuss possible reasons and options for future protection.

Like anything, vaccination is not entirely free of risk. Sometimes your pet will have a reaction, usually minor, to a vaccination. The reaction could manifest as a simple bump where the injection was given, right through to more severe reactions causing your pet to go off its food and become depressed for up to 24 hours. On extremely rare occasions, some pets will start to vomit, suffer from diarrhoea or become profoundly depressed - in this case you should contact your veterinarian immediately so that appropriate treatment can be given as soon as possible.

Cats

With advances in modern veterinary medicine there are vaccines available for a wide range of diseases. Listed below are just some of the diseases against which your cat can be vaccinated.

• Feline Panleukopaenia
• Feline Herpes
• Feline Calicivirus
• Feline Chlamydia

Kittens are usually first vaccinated between 6 and 10 weeks of age and a booster is given 4 weeks later. If the booster is given before the cat is 12 weeks of age it will be necessary to give a second booster shot to fully protect your cat. Full protection from the vaccine is not acquired until 7-10 days after the final booster.

Subsequent booster vaccinations for adult cats are usually given in one year intervals, but some modern vaccines are effective for longer than one year and boosters can be given further apart. It is still strongly advisable to bring your cat in annually for a general health check if it isn't getting a booster vaccination.

Dogs

Like cats, dogs need to be vaccinated for protection against commonly encountered bacterial and viral infections. There are a number of vaccines available for dogs, not all of which are always recommded by your veterinarian. One also has to remember that dogs may require more vaccinations than their feline companions in situations where they may be put into boarding kennels.

The following is a list of diseases commonly vaccinated against:

• Parvovirus
• Canine Distemper
• Canine Hepatitis
• Parainfluenza
• Kennel cough
• Leptospirosis

Puppies are usually first vaccinated at 6-10 weeks of age and a booster is given 3-4 weeks after the first vaccination. If the puppy is less than 12 weeks of age when it gets its second vaccination it will require a second booster to ensure adequate immunity develops. Immunity develops 6-10 days after the final booster is given.

Kennel cough is a vaccine that is necessary in dogs that are going into boarding kennels. There are two main vaccines available, an intranasal and an injectable. Both protect against the same bugs, but the intranasal vaccine offers potent, short term protection while the injectable offers longer lasting protection. Either of these vaccinations are required by most boarding kennels before your dog can stay. It is best to get your dog vaccinated for kennel cough at least 2 weeks before it is due to go to the boarding kennels.

Leptospirosis is a disease spread by rats and mice and is most prevalent in the North Island. For this reason we strongly recommend the leptospirosis vaccination for all dogs when they are vaccinated against the core viruses (Parvo, parainfluenza, distemper and hepatitis).

Like the cat vaccines, many of the dog vaccines are thought to provide protection for longer than a year (leptospirosis should be boosted every year). Since kennel cough and lepto vaccinations need to be boosted annually, we recommend that the core vaccine be boosted at the same time. If you choose not to vaccinated you dogs annually, we still recommend an annual health check to ensure that your dog is fit, healthy and mentally sound.

Rabbits

Since the introduction of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease (also known as RHD, RCD and calicivirus), we have started to vaccinate pet rabbits against the virus. Your rabbit should be vaccinated at 10-12 weeks of age. It is strongly recommended that this vaccination is boosted annually.

RCD was introduced illegally in the late 1990's to control feral rabbit populations. It causes a severe illness which is usually fatal. The disease gets its name from the characteristic bleeding it causes in its victims.