Vaccinations
Your pet is your best friend - are you his?
We know that you care for your pet and want to ensure that he remains happy and healthy throughout his life and will do all you can to acheive this.
One easy way in which you can help to ensure that your pet is protected from infectious diseaes is to ensure that he is vaccinated as a puppy or kitten and regularly throughout his adult life.
At the Veterinary Centre we offer a full range of low cost vaccinations for puppies, kittens and rabbits at VERY COMPETITIVE prices or for even more of a saving, why not take advantage of our VACCINATION CLUB and enjoy FREE annual vaccinations! For further information click here.
Why is Vaccination Important?
Pets can and do become seriously ill or die from infectious diseases that could have been prevented through vaccination every year.
Regular vaccination can prevent your dog from infectious diseases such as canine parvovirus, canine distemper, canine hepatitis, leptospirosis, canine parainfluenza and rabies, your cat from infectious diseases such as cat 'flu', feline leukaemia virus and feline infectious enteritis and your rabbit from myxomatosis and viral haemorrhagic disease (VHD).
Why do you need to vaccinate your pet regularly?
Primary Vaccination
For the first few weeks of life, your pet is usually protected against disease by the immunity they receive in their mothers milk. Gradually this protection decreases, and the maternal immunity declines to a sufficiently low level for the animal to no longer be proected. This allows the animal to respond to vaccination and so at this stage it is possible to start the vaccination programme. At the Veterinary Centre we recommend a puppy is vaccinated from the age of 8 weeks, a kitten from the age of 9 weeks and a rabbit from the age of 6 weeks.
Annual Vaccination
Many people believe that if they have their pet vaccinated when they are young the immunity they receive will protect them for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately this is not always the case. After the last injection, the immune level reaches a peak and then begins to decline. After a year, the level of protection offered to your pet may no longer be sufficient.
Re-vaccination stimulates the immune response so that protection is maintained for another year. Without these yearly vaccinations, your pets immune system may not be able to protect from serious, often fatal disease.
Therefore, maintaining your pets annual booster vaccinations is critical.
How vaccines work
Vaccines work by training the white blood cells in your pets body to recognise and attack the viruses or bacteria contained in the vaccine. This should prevent infection with that particular organism if your pet should come into contact with it again.
For more information on the diseases your pet will be vaccinated against please click on one of the links below.
