Almost every dog is vaccinated. What diseases are vaccinated and why?
Rabies
Vaccination of dogs against rabies is mandatory by law. Every dog aged 3-6 months must be inoculated. There are several types of rabies vaccines, one-year, two-year or three-year vaccines. At our clinic, we prefer to vaccinate the first rabies vaccination every year (even if the vaccine is three years lasting), after this revaccination rabies are valid for three years (Nobivac R or Rabisin). This vaccine can also be vaccinated to cats and ferrets.
"combination of five" - DHPPi - L
Standard annual vaccination of dogs. Under the abbreviation "D" there is a distemper ("distemper", "H" is an infectious liver inflammation (hepatitis), "P" - parvovirosis, "Pi" - parainfluenza and L - leptospirosis. Distemper and the infectious inflammation of the liver has almost eradicated in our country, so the risk of infection is small, but to keep this small risk still, it is still necessary to vaccinate dogs against these diseases.
Parvovirus is a disease we are still unfortunately encountering. It attacks mainly puppies from non-hygienic breeds, puppies with poor immunity and non-vaccinated puppies. In some areas, parvovirus occurs more frequently (occurs in Brno). Sometimes dogs can become ill even after vaccination. The scheme is: vaccination of Puppy vaccine at the age of 6 weeks, then at the age of 8 to 9 weeks of DHPPi (L) vaccination, 3-4 weeks of DHPPi - L, for another 3-4 weeks or aged 3 months (L) + R (rabies). Parvovirus is manifested by apathy, lethargy, vomiting (often with blood), diarrhea with blood, severe dehydration. It affects mostly young animals.
Also, leptospirosis is a disease that occurs in our country. Higher risk of infection is in hunting dogs, near watercourses, dogs often hunting rodents. It is a very serious illness affecting the kidneys and the liver. With leptospirosis it is necessary to strictly observe the terms of vaccination - because it is a bacterial (non-viral) antigen, the protective antibodies hold immunity for a maximum of 11-12 months. If the annual vaccination delay is greater than one month, and especially when it comes to an animal of the risk group, it is recommended that the leptospirosis (L) be revaccinated 3-4 weeks after the delayed vaccination. At our clinic, we also vaccinate L4 - a vaccine containing 4 leptospira serotypes, besides the standard L. We strongly recommend this vaccine, while keeping the vaccination schedule significantly reducing the risk of infection in vaccinated dogs.
Parainfluenza is the last virus contained in the combination of five. Together with other pathogens, it causes infectious laryngotracheitis of dogs. Because it is not the only cause of the disease, it does not protect completely against the highly infectious dog cough, however, in vaccinated dogs there tend to be more mild clinical signs. The high risk of infection is particularly prevalent in environments with a high concentration of dogs (eg exhibitions, exercise booths, dog hotels ...). The disease spreads similar to human flu by droplet infection. In addition, Pneumodog vaccine can be vaccinated against infectious laryngotracheitis of dogs - the vaccine is effective, but even this one does not protect the dog to 100%.
OTHER OPTIONAL VACCINATIONS FOR DOGS:
Borreliosis
Borreliosis is a known disease transmitted by ticks affecting both humans and animals. Dogs are mostly affected at the locomotory system – it causes lameness and fever. In the prevention of the disease, effective tick protection play a crucial role. Although there is no vaccine available for humans, dogs have been vaccinated for several years against borreliosis. The vaccine is generally recommended in areas with endemic (frequent) occurrence of the disease. Please note the higher price of this vaccine. However, it is necessary to mention (often also neglected even by veterinarians) the fact that the course and likelihood of borreliosis infection in dogs differs from the course and likelihood of infection in humans. Dogs are significantly more resistant to borreliosis - clinical borreliosis in dogs is relatively rare. Also treatment is easier than in humans - dogs affected by boreliosis respond well to antibiotic treatment. Demonstration of SNAP antibodies in a dog's blood test does not confirm an acute disease - positive antibodies are very often seen by healthy dogs. This often leads to misdiagnosis. To confirm the diagnosis of acute borreliosis, the IgM and IgG antibody titres should be determined. Our veterinary clinic sends samples to the Laboklin Reference Laboratory in Germany for suspected disease.
Tetanus
Tetanus is a very serious, sometimes fatal, disease caused by toxins produced by Clostridium tetani. Today we rarely encounter this disease, but a higher risk of infection we expect in dogs living or moving around horses, stables, etc. The puppies are most at risk during the teeth replacement period, ie between 4th and 7th month. Therefore, vaccination against tetanus is recommended in dogs that live in a horse environment.
Herpesvirus
Herpesvirus is a viral disease dangerous to sucking puppies. The infected mother usually has no clinical symptoms but the pups are already infected. The mortality of puppies infected at the age of 14days may be very high. In breeds where this disease occurred or puppies died for unknown reasons, we recommend vaccination with herpesvirus vaccine. The bitch is vaccinated at the time of hatching or 7 days after mating. 2. The vaccine is administered 1 - 2 weeks before delivery.
