What do vaccines do?? Vaccinations are designed to stimulate the immune system of an animal, so that when they are exposed to the disease, the body is ready to fight it. They reduce and/or prevent clinical signs from appearing, although the animal may still be contagious for a while, and may shorten the amount of time they are ill for. The conditions that we vaccinate against are:

Parvovirus: is a highly contagious disease, that causes diarrhoea with blood, vomiting, and abdominal pain, and can affect the heart in very young pups (particularly those whose mother is not vaccinated). It is more serious in pups and elderly dogs or those with other disease. There is a VERY high mortality rate for pups that contract this horrible virus

Distemper: another highly contagious disease, which causes a variety of signs including fever, sneezing and nasal discharge, vomiting, diarrhoea, and later on muscle tremors, seizures and paralysis.

Infectious hepatitis: is extremely contagious, usually affecting dogs under 2 years of age. It causes fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, and decreased appetite,

Kennel cough: is caused by a combination of a virus and bacteria – parainfluenza virus and Bordetella bronchiseptica being the main ones. It causes a dry, hacking cough, and dogs become more vulnerable to other lung infections.

Coronavirus: mainly affects puppies and causes vomiting and diarrhoea, although usually less severe than parvovirus. the Coronavirus vaccination isn't necessary unless you are in areas that contain large areas of stagnant water or irrigation.

Leptospirosis: dogs can either show no signs (and still spread the disease) or may stop eating, develop a fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, breathing problems, and problems with their liver and kidneys, and conjunctivitis.

Dog vaccinations

There are a few different combinations of vaccines available. The ‘basic’ vaccine is called a C3 and you can include other disease to vaccinate against from there
C3: Includes Parvovirus, Canine Distemper and Canine Infectious Hepatitis (also called adenovirus).
C4: as above plus parainfluenza 3 (major cause of kennel cough).
C5: C4 plus Bordetella bronchiseptica vaccine, another component of kennel cough. This can either be given as part of the vaccine injection, or separately into the nose. This is the vaccination required by most boarding kennels and dog associations.
You dog can also have an extra vaccine that covers against coronavirus and leptospirosis - discuss this with your veterinarian.

Normal vaccination protocol at our Kippax Veterinary hospital:
Puppies:
Vaccination number 1: at 6-8 weeks of age
Vaccination number 2: at 10-12 weeks of age
Adolescent health check: at 20 weeks of age.
Then annual boosters: we have recently introduced a new vaccine which provides protection for several diseases for 3 years. However there are still some components of the vaccine that need to be updated yearly and an annual health check is advised.

Older dogs (if their vaccination has lapsed): A single vaccination is sufficient to bring immunity up to date for some animals but for some diseases a second injection given 4 weeks later is required for full immunity. Annual boosters are required, as for puppies.