Vaccination against diseases is the best prevention for keeping your little dog healthy and protected. Vaccines for dogs are vital to give them a strong immune system. But do you know which vaccines are compulsory for your dog and when you have to give them? Read on and take a look at our vaccination calendar for dogs! 🐾
Vaccines for dogs can be classified as compulsory and optional, although this can vary depending on where you live.
Compulsory vaccines:
- Parvovirus: helps prevent Canine Parvovirus, a disease that damages the intestines. It causes loss of appetite, depression, fever, vomiting, foul-smelling, bloody, watery diarrhoea and progressive dehydration.
- Distemper: It is a very harmful condition that affects the puppy’s digestive, respiratory and nervous system, and can lead to death. It is also highly contagious.
- Rabies: it is transmitted through saliva; in dogs, the most common way is for it to enter the dog’s bloodstream through a bite. Nowadays it is a vaccine that can also be given while the dog is a puppy, although it is warned that its effectiveness begins after a couple of weeks, so caution is necessary.
- Infectious canine hepatitis: a disease that affects young, unvaccinated dogs up to one year old and is difficult to diagnose given the few clinical signs. The virus enters through the mouth and nose and, through the blood, reaches organs such as the liver, kidneys and eyes.
- Leptospirosis: it is transmitted through urine, but can also be passed via the placenta, bites, contact with rats or eating contaminated meat.
Optional vaccines:
- Kennel cough: It is a highly contagious disease and causes serious respiratory problems. It can even lead to pneumonia and, in the most serious cases, cause the dog’s death.
- Lyme disease: It is usually transmitted by a tick bite. It is usually harmless, but in some cases that become complicated, it can cause the dog’s death.
- Canine babesiosis: It is known as canine malaria. It is also transmitted by a tick bite and is a very aggressive disease that needs urgent treatment to prevent the dog’s death.
- Leishmaniasis: it is one of the most common diseases in dogs and, if left untreated, the dog will die in less than 12 months due to kidney failure. And although the vaccine does not prevent infection, it does increase immunity to the dangerous pathogens.
Here is a vaccination calendar for dogs to guide you on which one your furry friend needs at each stage. Save it and check it whenever you need to! It will be very useful…
Optional vaccines in Spain are usually given annually, and there is the option of creating “polyvalent vaccines”. That is, mixtures of various dog vaccines in one, to prevent different diseases such as canine hepatitis, leishmania, leptospirosis, Lyme disease, etc.
Now you have everything you need to keep your dog protected against all these diseases, since most of them, once the vaccine is in place, can be treated by a vet and cause no harm to your furry friend. That is why prevention is so important.
So vaccinate your best friend and make sure to keep their calendar up to date to avoid any scares… And remember that, for all illnesses and accidents, Petplan will protect your dog so you can give them the best care should they need it.
