Vaccinations

Vaccination – helping to protect your pets against disease.

Vaccination can prevent or reduce symptoms of many diseases, and therefore promote good health and a longer life for your dog or cat.

Puppies and kittens are curious and love to explore. No matter how clean your house is or how healthy you think your pets are, your dog and cat can still be exposed to infection.

Vaccinations for young puppies and Kittens:

Young puppies and kittens are constantly growing – so are their immune systems. Early on, their immune systems aren’t ready to fight off disease.  Luckily for them, their mother passes on disease fighting antibodies. As the levels of their mother’s antibodies in a young animal reduce, the antibodies stimulated by vaccinations take over to protect them against disease.

This is why we recommend a series of 3 vaccinations for your puppy and kittens.

Puppies and kittens should receive their first vaccination at 8 weeks of age, second vaccination (4 weeks after their first) 12 weeks of age and third vaccination at (4 weeks after their second) 16 weeks of age.

Adult dogs and cats:

Once protection has been established from the series of three puppy and kitten vaccinations, your pet requires a booster vaccination every 12 months to maintain protection against disease for the rest of their lives.

What disease does the vaccinations cover:

Dogs vaccinations offers your pet protection against:

• Canine Parvovirus
• Canine Distemper
• Infectious Canine Hepatitis

We also recommend that you protect your dog against Kennel Cough and Leptospirosis.

Leptospirosis is most commonly spread via rodent urine into pools of stagnant water. Dogs become infected when their mucous membranes or abraded skin comes into contact with this infected water or even contaminated soil. Recently there have been cases reported as far apart as inner urban Sydney to outback Queensland.

Kennel Cough is a highly contagious disease that causes your dog to get a persistent dry cough, retching, lethargy, raised temperature and sometimes if untreated can progress to pneumonia.

We recommend all dogs be vaccinated with a C7 vaccination to maximise their protection against the above diseases.

Cat vaccinations offers your pet protection against:

• Feline Infectious Enteritis also known as Feline Parovirus or Panleukopenia.
• Feline Calicivirus
• Feline Rhinotracheitis

The Feline Respiratory disease (Cat Flu) is almost always caused by one of two viruses, Feline Calicivirus  or Feline Rhinotracheitis.

We also recommend vaccinating your cats against Feline Leukaemia and Feline Aids if they go outside or you have a multi cat house hold.

Yearly health checks and vaccinations is the key to your pets long term health and well-being.

Feline Vaccinations

In cats, the primary diseases that are routinely vaccinated against are:

Enteritis (Feline Panleukopenia): can lead to severe disease especially in unvaccinated kittens less than 12 months of age. Causes fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, liver failure and even sudden death.

Feline Calici Virus: part of the cat flu. Causes sneezing, conjunctivitis, and ulcers in the mouth.

Feline Rhinotracheitis (Feline Herpes Virus): part of the cat flu. Causes sneezing, conjunctivitis, loss of appetite, and in the worst cases can lead to permanent nasal and sinus infection. Cats of all age are at risk, especially young kittens, Siamese and Burmese cats.

The vaccine against these 3 diseases is called and F3 vaccination.

Vaccination against another component of the cat flu complex is also available:

Chlamydia: a bacterial disease causing conjunctivitis, respiratory disease, infectious arthritis and even abortion in pregnant queens. (F3 plus Chlamydia is an F4)

If your cat EVER ventures outside (even if supervised) it is at risk of being infected with

Feline Vaccinations

In cats, the primary diseases that are routinely vaccinated against are:

Enteritis (Feline Panleukopenia): can lead to severe disease especially in unvaccinated kittens less than 12 months of age. Causes fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, liver failure and even sudden death.

Feline Calici Virus: part of the cat flu. Causes sneezing, conjunctivitis, and ulcers in the mouth.

Feline Rhinotracheitis (Feline Herpes Virus): part of the cat flu. Causes sneezing, conjunctivitis, loss of appetite, and in the worst cases can lead to permanent nasal and sinus infection. Cats of all age are at risk, especially young kittens, Siamese and Burmese cats.

The vaccine against these 3 diseases is called and F3 vaccination.

Vaccination against another component of the cat flu complex is also available:

Chlamydia: a bacterial disease causing conjunctivitis, respiratory disease, infectious arthritis and even abortion in pregnant queens. (F3 plus Chlamydia is an F4)

If your cat EVER ventures outside (even if supervised) it is at risk of being infected with Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV=Feline Aids):

This disease is potentially fatal.  It is spread from cat to cat via bites. Vaccination is available and will be recommended by your veterinarian if your cat goes outside.  The virus leads to a failure of the cat’s immune system and may cause death. Initial symptoms such as fever, sores and diarrhoea eventually progress to long-term infection. There is no treatment or cure for FIV.

Vaccination Schedule for Cats*

(FIV=Feline Aids):

This disease is potentially fatal. It is spread from cat to cat via bites. Vaccination is available and will be recommended by your veterinarian if your cat goes outside. The virus leads to a failure of the cat’s immune system and may cause death. Initial symptoms such as fever, sores and diarrhoea eventually progress to long-term infection. There is no treatment or cure for FIV.

Vaccination Schedule for Cats*

*Note: The vaccination schedule may differ from cat to cat and your veterinarian will decide the most suitable vaccination schedule for your cat.

FIV Vaccination requires an initial course of 3 vaccinations. This can be done at 10, 12 & 14 weeks of age (and can also be commenced later in life). Boosters are then required every year.

Note: One week after the final kitten vaccination your kitten can go outside and socialise with other cats.

Canine Vaccinations

In dogs, the diseases that are routinely vaccinated against are:

Parvovirus: causes potentially fatal diarrhoea, especially in pups and dogs under 2 years.

Distemper: causes coughing, diarrhoea and sometimes twitching, seizures, loss of balance and sometimes blindness

Hepatitis: causes vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and possibly even liver failure.

The vaccination against these three diseases is called a C3.

Further protection against the components of Canine Cough is also available; these diseases are spread via infected droplets:

Parainfluenza: a viral disease causing a nasty cough

Bordetella bronchiseptica: bacteria causing a harsh, dry cough and lethargy

A C5 vaccination (including C3 plus Canine Cough components) is the minimum requirement for most boarding kennels and is recommended for dogs mixing frequently with large numbers of dogs (eg Obedience training and Park visits).

Other diseases your veterinarian may advise vaccination against:

Coronavirus: causes severe bloody watery diarrhoea, pain and vomiting, appears very suddenly.

Leptospirosis can cause sudden or long-term illness including fever, sore weakness, vomiting, diarrhoea, kidney failure and death

Vaccination Schedule for Dogs*

*Note: The vaccination schedule may differ from dog to dog and your veterinarian will decide the most suitable vaccination schedule for your dog.

Note: One week after the final puppy vaccination your puppy can go outside and socialise with other dogs.