Vaccinations are a safe and effective way to protect your pet against disease and are an important and fundamental piece of your pet’s preventative health care plan. Advances in veterinary immunology have made diseases that once were relatively common and fatal to pets easily preventable. There are also some vaccines that help protect your family from very dangerous and difficult to treat diseases, such as rabies and leptospirosis which can be passed from infected wild animals.
Young animals need to be vaccinated early on since the natural immunity that they get from their mothers’ milk gradually wears off and they become vulnerable to infectious diseases. We recommend giving puppies and kittens a series of vaccinations starting when they are approximately six weeks old, with the final vaccination series being administered when they are 15 to 17 weeks old.
Routine booster vaccines will also be necessary to keep your pet’s immunity high enough to protect them over time. It’s important to remember that as with other medication, not all vaccines are 100% effective in every pet; a vaccinated pet may not develop adequate immunity and could possibly become ill. However, the benefits of vaccination far outweigh the risks. When vaccinated, pets are protected against life-threatening diseases.