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Vaccinations

Why Vaccinate Your Pet?

Vaccinating your cat, dog, puppy or kitten is one of the most important things that you can do as a responsible and caring owner. It will help your pet to live a long and healthy life.

These vaccines provide antibodies against the most common and contagious, life-threatening diseases that your dog or cat will come across during their lifetime. Many of these diseases either have no cure, or would involve long, expensive and often unsuccessful treatments for you pet.

When should I vaccinate?

During the first few weeks of life, your puppy or kitten will be protected from disease by immunity passed on by the mother before birth, and through her milk. (These are known as maternally derived antibodies). Unfortunately, this immunity only lasts until your puppy or kitten is around 12 weeks of age. This is why it is so important to get the vaccinations completed as soon as possible.

We recommend having the first vaccination at 8 weeks old in puppies, and 9 weeks old in kittens.

The second vaccination is then given between 3-4 weeks later.

This means that the protection provided by these vaccines starts at the approximate time that the immunity passed on by your pet’s mother runs out.

After the primary course, an annual ‘booster’ vaccination is essential, providing your loved pet with continuous protection. Annual boosters are very important as, unlike in humans, the effect of vaccination only lasts a limited time.

What Diseases Does The Vaccine Cover?

Cats

Feline Viral Rhinotracheitis – ‘CAT FLU’ – Very common in the West Midlands, we see several cases every week

Easily transmitted from one cat to another
Causes sneezing, fever, lack of appetite, discharges from the eyes and nose and coughing
Even if a cat recovers, symptoms may occur on and off for life

Feline Calicivirus – Very common in the West Midlands, we see several cases every week

Another major cause of ‘cat flu’
Widespread and highly contagious
Causes ulcers in the tongue and mouth and pneumonia (lung inflammation), sneezing and runny eyes
Treatment is difficult
Infected animals will continue to spread the disease to other cats, and may have lifelong problems

Feline Panleucopenia – cat ‘Parvo’ or Enteritis

This disease can survive for up to a year outside of your cat’s body
Most cats will come into contact with it in their lifetime
Causes diarrhoea, vomiting, severe dehydration and fever
Once infected, a cat can spread the disease to other cats in the area
Vaccination is essential for this potentially fatal disease – treatment is very difficult, and not always successful

Feline Leukaemia Virus (FeLV) – Common in the West Midlands

This disease can result in a number of health problems for your cat, ranging from bacterial infections to cancers
After being exposed to the Virus, an infected cat may show no symptoms for months, if not years, while continuing to affect other healthy cats
A potentially fatal disease

Dogs

Canine Parvovirus – Common in the West Midlands

Spread via infected faeces dog to dog
Highly contagious and often fatal
Causes fever, vomiting, and diarrhoea with blood
The disease can stay in the environment for months, continuing to infect other dogs

Canine Distemper