Many people love to pet dogs and cats. However, they are not aware of the responsibility they call upon themselves. Undeniably, puppies and kittens are the cutest animals you can pet. Taking care of them is a beautiful feeling, and we believe that you give your best to comfort them. However, you must know that there is more than just feeding the cute little puppy you recently owned!
Puppies are delicate and vulnerable to many diseases, just like human newborns. Therefore, if you own a puppy, you have to give your best to be a responsible pet owner. It is possible that if you have owned a puppy for the first time, you might not know about the usual puppy vaccinations and when to get your pet vaccinated. However, you need not worry. This guide will assist you in learning about your puppy’s vaccination shots quickly!
Vaccinations available for puppies
Like a human’s newborn, a dog’s newborns are also vulnerable to catch any illness during the first year of life since the immune system cannot work efficiently in the first year of life. Therefore, when you purchase a puppy, it would be better if you ask beforehand if the puppy had gone through any vaccination shots, especially those extremely important for your puppy.
There are different vaccinations available for puppies which they must get in the first year of life;
The 5-in-1 DHPP vaccine
It is one of the most crucially essential vaccines that your puppy must get at the right time. It protects your puppy from five deadly contagious diseases caused by viruses. The illnesses include; distemper, two different types of hepatitis, parainfluenza-related diseases, and parvovirus infections. You can also refer to it as a ‘distemper’ shot.
The distemper is a condition in which your puppy suffers from coughing, ear and nasal discharges, sneezing, and gut disturbances. If the disease worsens, your puppy might show up with seizures, paralysis, or death. In addition, your puppy can contract the virus from an infected animal in the surrounding through airborne droplets.
Suppose your puppy catches the virus and you have not got it vaccinated. In that case, you need to give it the supportive treatment it needs, like controlling vomiting, coughing, sneezing, seizures, etc. however, there is no medicated treatment for distemper.
Another contagious disease is hepatitis that affects your puppy’s liver, lungs, kidneys, and spleen. Your puppy might show various signs and symptoms. However, the most prominent ones are liver pain, jaundice, slight fever, and vomiting. It would help if you did not consider canine hepatitis like that of human’s hepatitis because both conditions are different and occur in other species.
The other vaccine included in DHPP is to fight against the Parainfluenza virus. The virus can produce kennel cough-like symptoms in your puppy. Therefore you must get your puppy the DHPP shots as per schedule (discussed later.)
Vaccine for Bordetella
Bordetella is a bacterium that is famous for causing infectious tracheobronchitis (kennel cough) in puppies. In layman terms, you can consider that it is the bacterial pathogen that can disturb the upper airways of your puppy and make it suffer from respiratory issues.
The symptoms of the disease that your puppy might show include dry cough if it is mild; however, if it worsens, you might see your puppy gagging and unable to breathe because of worsened cough.
Other than Bordetella, viruses can also cause Kennel cough. Therefore it is crucial to rule out the causative agents and start the antibiotics as soon as possible. But, above all, to protect your cute puppy from this deadly and painful disease, please get it vaccinated against Bordetella!
Vaccine for Leptospirosis
Leptospirosis is also a bacterial disease, which tends to spread among animals and humans as well. Your puppy may or may not show any signs of the disease if the immunity works effectively. However, the usual symptoms are fever, vomiting, diarrhea, etc. If the condition remains untreated, your puppy might suffer from multiple organ failure, so it would be best if you do not take the disease for granted!
Vaccine for Lyme disease
Your puppy is vulnerable to catch an infection from ticks and develop Lyme disease. The ticks usually get the condition from a bacterial class called Spirochete. If your puppy has developed the infectious disease, you will notice reduced or no appetite, limping, high-grade fever, and lethargy.
If you overlook such a condition, your puppy may develop the nervous system, joint, and kidney-related disorders.
Rabies vaccine
Rabies is a contagious disease of wild mammals like bats and raccoons. However, there is an overpopulation of dogs in developing countries, and therefore puppies might also catch it. The alternative name of the infection is ‘encephalitis,’ caused by a virus. The disease spreads from dogs to dogs/humans through saliva.
Rabies affects the nervous system, and an affected puppy would experience headache, hallucinations, fear of water/light, muscular paralysis, etc. the world considers Rabies as one of the most significant deadly diseases among humans and dogs.
Check out our article for How Often Do Dogs Need Rabies Shots
How many shots do puppies need?
We have mentioned all the vaccines that your puppy must get in its first year of life. First, however, let’s have a light on the correct and proposed vaccination timetable. Besides, you will also learn how many shots do puppies usually need!
The DHPP vaccine schedule
The proposed vaccination schedule for the DHPP vaccine recommends that your puppy needs the first dose at 8th week, 2nd dose at 12th week, 3rd dose at 16th week, 4th dose at one year, and then a dose after every three years.
Bordetella, Leptospirosis, Lyme disease vaccine schedules
According to the international timetable followed for puppies vaccinations, your puppy must get all these three vaccination shots at one year of life and then single doses each for every year.
Rabies vaccination schedule
It would help if you got your puppy vaccinated against Rabies virus at 16th week, then 2nd dose at one year, and then single dose every three years.
Overall, your puppy needs 6-7 shots (few are compulsory while rest are optional; depends on what your vet recommends) in the first year of life, and later on, when your puppy grows up and becomes an adult dog, you need to get it the booster shots.
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In conclusion
When you own a puppy, you start to feel affection towards it within a few days. You enjoy the time spent with your puppy, and you try to take care of it like a family member. Not only feeding your puppy at the right time is your responsibility but getting it vaccinated against deadly illnesses is also an important task to do!
In this article, we have discussed the vaccinations available for puppies and the proposed timetables. Besides, we have also mentioned the number of shots puppies usually need! Hopefully, it will prove helpful!
Source
https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/health/puppy-shots-complete-guide/
