Fortunately both for us as humans and for our pet dogs, there are measures which we can take to prevent serious and fatal diseases. However not all dogs need all owners to take the same measures. The lifestyle and life stage of your dog bring them into contact with different diseases.

This article is to look at how a dog comes into contact with diseases that you can prevent and then how we put strategic measures in place to manage those risks.

Fatal Disease managed with Vaccination followed by Annual Boosters

As with humans, vaccines save lives. The fatal diseases which we protect our dogs from are Parvovirus – which still occurs in Weston-super-Mare, Infectious Hepatitis, Distemper and Leptospirosis.

We recommend booster vaccination to maintain protection. The boosters against parvovirus, distemper and hepatitis last for 3 years. This means that we are not over-vaccinating your dog which is what happens when other veterinary centres use cheaper vaccines. The leptospirosis protection lasts for twelve months and so requires an annual booster.

We recommend that every dog, irrespective of the age or lifestyle, receives annual booster vaccination. There are exceptions but the decision not to vaccinate should be taken after discussion with your vet.

Kennel Cough protection by annual vaccination

There is a vaccine which helps to protect your dog against kennel cough, a serious and unpleasant disease. This vaccine protects against two of the infectious agents of this disease. There are other infections causing kennel cough so protection is not complete. That said, in our experience, vaccinated dogs suffer less from the disease.

We recommend this vaccine for all dogs under 2 years and for all dogs which are sociable and meet other dogs during their daily lives.

Green Pastures Team

PS We offer our Dynamic Dog Plan which includes all the healthcare products and services which your dog needs at discounted prices – see http://greenpasturesvets.co.uk.mediatopiaprojects.co.uk/dogs/dynamic-dog-plan