I’m a very bad Nurse – I don’t want to see your animals. What I mean by that is: I would much rather everyone’s pets were healthy and happy and didn’t require medical attention from me in the first place! Of course accidents happen and we have little to no control over the those circumstances, but there is a whole area of medicine dedicated to protecting your pet from avoidable diseases and conditions: preventative medicine. Preventative medicine should be your best friend as a pet owner as it is the number one best way to make sure your pet stays healthy and happy.
Preventative medicine falls into two main categories: antiparasitic treatments (as discussed on our previous blog post) and vaccinations – and vaccinations will be the focus of this month’s blog.
There’s no two ways about: vaccinations are absolutely essential for your pet’s health. They work by stimulating the immune system to produce antibodies against specific diseases in a very safe and controlled way; This means your pet gains immunity to these deadly diseases without every having to contract them. Dog vaccines can be given from 6 weeks old and cat vaccines begin at 9 weeks old. The diseases we routinely vaccinate dogs for in Ireland are: Distemper, Hepatitis, Parainfluenza, Parvovirus and Leptospirosis. The reason we vaccinate against these diseases is because they are often fatal and one can even be passed on from an infected animal to a person (leptospirosis). The most heartbreaking thing that we as veterinary professionals have to deal with, in my opinion, is watching a puppy suffer and die from parvovirus simply because he was not given a vaccination against it. To know that this little life could have been spared the pain is almost unbearable and is the reason why I am so passionate that ALL puppies need to be fully vaccinated before going out into the big bad world of Galway – i’m sorry to say that Galway has a huge amount of parvovirus present so PLEASE protect your puppy and get him vaccinated fully. A booster vaccination is given every year to keep your dog’s immunity up-to-date and also to give a full general health examination at the same time. We do not routinely top up all vaccinations every year in order to avoid over-vaccination BUT at the very least a leptospirosis booster is required annually to protect both your dog and your family from deadly Leptospirosis.
Cats are not to be forgotten about: they need a vaccination every year just like our dogs. The diseases we vaccinate your cat for routinely here are: Herpesvirus, calicivirus, chlamydia, panleucopenia and Feline leukemia virus (FeLV). Again, these disease are often fatal and can cause immense suffering so why not protect your cat from ever having to contract them in the first place? FeLV is a disease we see here in Galway and is transmissible to other cats through something as simple as sharing a bowl of water or food: it is not worth the risk. Doing the annual booster every year also allows us to do a full general health exam which can pick up on subtle signs of a problem in cats such as weight loss or dental pain.
vaccinating our puppies and kittens from an early age and right through their life is one of the most significant steps we can take as owners to ensure they avoid falling ill, the cost of a vaccine is just the fraction of the cost of the treatment for just one of the diseases mentioned and that’s only IF there is a treatment that may work. treating a puppy for parvovirus for example can run into the high hundreds very quickly, and even with aggressive treatment there is no guarantee it will be successful.
So please believe me when I say: Prevention is better than cure!