West Mount Vets
Dog Vaccination.
We recommend your dog is vaccinated.
Vaccination gives dogs protection against some of the most dangerous infections, and can also be used to protect against other, less dangerous, but more common diseases. The injections are barely noticed by most of our patients.
Diseases.
These are the diseases against which the vaccines provide protection:
Distemper. The main source of infection is by inhalation during close dog-to-dog contact. Signs can take up to three weeks to appear and include a runny nose and eyes, a lack of appetite and weakness through sore throat and fever. Later this is followed by coughing and pneumonia with diarrhoea through gastro-enteritis.
In surviving dogs, nervous signs such as fits and twitching can appear later on due to brain damage. It is often fatal and is seen in Halifax most years and in our other surgery areas every few years.
Adenovirus. One form of canine adenovirus causes infectious canine hepatitis (liver disease) and another is a part of the complex of diseases responsible for kennel cough. The virus is usually contracted by direct contact with infected animals or their urine or faeces. Signs include lack of appetite, high temperature, pale gums and conjunctiva, vomiting, bloody diarrhoea and abdominal pain. Hepatitis is also often fatal. It can lead to blindness in puppies.
Parvovirus. This virus is shed in the faeces of infected dogs, it is very resistant and can spread on shoes, clothing and on the coat and pad of dogs.
It causes a severe and often fatal gastro-enteritis, frequently with heavy blood loss in the stomach and intestine. This can appear quickly and include depression, severe vomiting, refusal of food and water, abdominal pain and profuse smelly, bloody diarrhoea. It can also cause damage to heart muscle in very young puppies. We see outbreaks several times a year.
There is no reliable treatment for these three infections. Antibiotics, transfusions and intensive care sometimes help, but affected animals will often die despite our best efforts.
Leptospirosis. One form causes mainly kidney damage, the other causes severe hepatitis.
Leptospira bacteria are most often caught from stagnant or dirty water (e.g. canals) or direct contact with urine. One form of the disease from rat or mouse urine and another from dog urine. It is no longer common, but is important because it can also affect humans.
Signs include high temperature, severe thirst, lethargy, abdominal pain, vomiting, bloody diarrhoea and jaundice.
This disease can be treated successfully with antibiotics if diagnosed early enough, but progresses very quickly and can easily kill or lead to permanent liver or kidney failure.
Parainfluenza. This virus another of the triggers for kennel cough. It is not usually a serious illness, but kennel cough is slow to respond to treatment and can lead to more permanent bronchitis.
Bordetellosis. This is caused by a bacterium and is the most common cause of kennel cough, a very infectious respiratory disease. In many dogs it is a relatively non-threatening illness, although it can cause a very irritating dry cough which may continue for several weeks. The cough may cause retching, mild tiredness, loss of appetite and a mildly raised temperature. Occasionally the lungs can be affected, with subsequent pneumonia.
It is not included in the normal injectable vaccines but is given on request in the form of nose drops. It is especially useful when dogs are boarding away from home, or start a training class
Rabies. Although this not a disease we see in the UK, we do vaccinate many pets against rabies since the advent of the Pet Travel Scheme. The scheme requires a blood test to check that the vaccine has let to adequate protection against the disease.
