How Vaccinations Protect Your Pet
If you’re looking forward to enjoying your feline or canine’s company for many years to come, don’t neglect to vaccinate your pet. Vaccines play an important role in your pet’s long-term health and wellness. Through vaccinations, you can help extend your pet’s life. Brooklyn pet owners and those living in the surrounding area can vaccinate their pet at Clinton Hill Animal Clinic. Below is what you should know about pet vaccinations.
What Vaccinations Do
Vaccinations boost your pet’s immunity to deadly diseases that can lead to his early demise. Diseases such as rabies, distemper, and others are quite contagious and can threaten your dog or cat’s life. Vaccines prompt your pet’s body to produce antibodies against these diseases. If your dog or cat is exposed, his immune system will start fighting against the disease to prevent him from becoming ill. Some vaccines protect your pet from ever getting the disease. Others weaken the symptoms of diseases so your pet doesn’t become deathly ill.
When to Vaccinate
Kittens and puppies should start their vaccinations as early as 6 weeks old. Once they’re weaned, they no longer have the protection of their mother’s milk. Baby pets need a series of vaccinations, extending from 6 weeks to 12 weeks, at 3-4 week intervals. Your Brooklyn veterinarian can set up your baby pet’s vaccination schedule when you bring him in for a checkup.
After 12 weeks, your kit or pup may be vaccinated annually or every 1-3 years, as scheduled by our veterinary specialist. Your adult pet should also be put on a vaccination schedule as per recommendations from our veterinarian.
Kinds of Vaccinations
Our animal hospital offers both core and non-core vaccines for your dog and cat. Core vaccines are essential as they’ll protect your pet against the most common life threatening diseases. For dogs, core vaccines include rabies, distemper, parvovirus, and canine hepatitis. For cats, core vaccines are rabies, distemper, Feline Herpes Virus, and Calicivirus (respiratory infections).
Non-core vaccines are given to cats and dogs depending on their lifestyle and risk of exposure to certain diseases. If you live in an area where Lyme disease is rampant, our veterinary specialist may recommend your dog get vaccinated for Lyme disease. If your pooch spends time in a kennel, he will need a Bordetella vaccine, as most kennels won’t even accept dogs who haven’t had one.
If you have an outdoor cat, you may want to consider non-core vaccines for Feline Chlamydophila, Feline Leukemia, and ringworm.
Pet vaccinations not only protect pets, they also protect pet owners and other animals in your community against infectious diseases.
Bring Your Dog or Cat to Our Brooklyn Animal Hospital for Vaccinations
To schedule an appointment to vaccinate your beloved pet, contact Clinton Hill Animal Clinic in Brooklyn at (718) 623-3999 today.