Why we recommend dog and cat vaccinations
You can protect your four-legged family member from all kinds of dangers; however, when it comes to “invisible” enemies like distemper and parvovirus, cat and dog vaccinations are the only effective way to keep them at bay. That’s why, at Church Street Vets in Mudgee, we recommend a combination of core (essential for all pets) and non-core (lifestyle-based) vaccines to provide your pet with the best protection possible.
Moreover, in addition to keeping pets safer, cat and dog vaccines can also help to reduce or even prevent the spread of harmful diseases in our community. This, in turn, not only helps to protect other animals but also, in some cases, people too. Therefore, to ensure that your pet only receives the vaccines they truly need, we base our recommendations on factors such as their health status, vaccine history, lifestyle, and home environment.
If your pet is currently unprotected from infectious diseases, then call 02 6372 6780 to schedule their vaccine appointment today.
Our Core Vaccines for Dogs
Core vaccines are those which we recommend for all dogs, regardless of their lifestyle. This is because, in other words, your pet does not need to have a direct encounter with another animal to be at risk for the following diseases:
- Distemper
- Hepatitis
- Parvovirus
To ensure protection against these diseases, we provide dogs with what we call the C3 vaccination.
Our Core Vaccines for Cats
Similarly, cats also require certain vaccines to stay healthy, even if they spend all their time indoors. Specifically, the diseases they need to be vaccinated against are:
- Feline Herpes Virus
- Panleukopenia Virus
- Feline Calicivirus
Fortunately, our F3 vaccination provides cats with ample protection from all of the above.
Non-Core Vaccines for Dogs and Cats
First, we’ll need to assess your pet’s health, lifestyle, and living environment to help you determine which non-core vaccines they’ll need over the course of their lifetime. Next, here are some of the non-core vaccines we recommend for dogs and cats:
- Canine Cough – dogs only, mandatory for dogs that will be boarding
- Canine Leptospirosis & Canine Coronavirus – dogs only
- Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) – cats only, typically those that are allowed outside
Puppy and Kitten Vaccinations
Since puppies and kittens can be very vulnerable to illness when they are young, it is important to start vaccinating them at about 6-8 weeks old. Therefore, here are our recommendations:
Puppies
6 – 8 weeks: 1st vaccination
10 – 12 weeks: 2nd vaccination
14 – 16 weeks: 3rd vaccination
Kittens
8 weeks: 1st vaccination
12 weeks: 2nd vacciantion
If we recommend that your kitten receive the FIV vaccine, they will first undergo a series of 3 injections, with each given 2-3 weeks apart.