Vaccines help keep pets protected against serious, highly contagious, and life-threatening diseases. Certain vaccines are important for all dogs or cats, and your Jacksonville veterinarian may recommend other vaccines based on your individual pet’s lifestyle, overall health, age, and other risk factors.
How Vaccines Work
Vaccines are designed to reduce the chance of cats and dogs getting certain diseases that can be severe, difficult to treat, and easily spread through the environment or from other pets. As an added benefit, if a pet does get a disease that he or she was vaccinated against, the symptoms are often less severe and don’t tend to last as long.
Why Puppies and Kittens Need Vaccines
The antibodies that young pets receive from their mothers’ milk protects them while their immune systems are first developing. But this protection declines over the first few weeks to months of life, making puppies and kittens susceptible to diseases. This is when vaccines first become valuable.
At Jacksonville Community Pet Clinics, we vaccinate puppies or kittens every few weeks, from when they’re 6 to 8 weeks of age until about 16 to 20 weeks. These vaccinations stimulate a pet’s immune system to kick in. Finishing the full series of puppy/kitten vaccines is crucial for providing your pet with adequate protection.
Vaccines set puppies and kittens up for a healthier life down the road.
Why Adult and Senior Pets Need Vaccines
Although diseases like parvovirus and distemper may be thought of as ones that only puppies and kittens get, the truth is that pets need boosters for certain vaccines at regular intervals throughout life to ensure that they stay adequately protected. This is the case for several reasons:
- Not all pets who are vaccinated develop an immune response.
- A pet’s level of immunity to specific diseases decreases over time, based on how long vaccines remain protective.
- Other vaccines don’t provide pets with long-term immunity, so these vaccines need to be given more frequently.
- As pets age, their immune system tends to decline, so vaccinations can help boost an older pet’s immunity.
Core Vaccines
The essential (or “core”) vaccines provide protection against rabies, as well as severe respiratory and gastrointestinal viruses.
Core Canine Vaccines
- Rabies
- Canine distemper
- Canine adenovirus-2
- Canine parvovirus
- Canine parainfluenza virus
- Leptospirosis
Core Feline Vaccines
- Rabies
- Feline calicivirus
- Feline herpesvirus-1 (rhinotracheitis)
- Feline panleukopenia (feline distemper)
Some of these core vaccines are given together, as a combination vaccine, which minimizes the number of pet shots your dog or cat will receive at a time.
Vet-Recommended Lifestyle Vaccines
Other vaccines are available to help protect pets based on exposure risk. These are referred to as lifestyle vaccines.
Canine Lifestyle Vaccines
- Bordetella bronchiseptica (kennel cough)
- Canine influenza
Feline Lifestyle Vaccines
- Bordetella bronchiseptica
- Feline leukemia virus (FeLV)
Your Vet’s Vaccination Plan for Your Pet
Your Jacksonville veterinarian will tailor a vaccination program to your individual pet. By making sure your pet is vaccinated following your vet’s recommendations, you’ll be helping to keep your pet protected against severe, highly contagious diseases that are far cheaper to prevent than to treat.
Jacksonville Community Pet Clinics offers affordable pet shots and mobile pet shots. We charge only $10 for a rabies vaccine. Call us to schedule pet shots at our affordable animal clinic.
