Mary Allen
Vaccinations are important in order to ideally eradicate life-threatening infectious diseases, or at least to reduce their frequency or weaken the course of the disease. The vaccination of the individual animal serves on the one hand to protect itself against infection, but on the other hand, it also reduces the infection potential for the entire pet population. Only when more than 70% of the dogs are vaccinated do epidemics have no chance!
Vaccinating the dog means protecting it from contracting certain infectious diseases. Vaccination is therefore also referred to as “immunization”. What diseases do you vaccinate your dog against?
Vaccinating Dogs: How It Works
In general, pathogens that are less dangerous (live vaccine) or killed (inactivated vaccine) are administered to the dog when vaccinated. There are now also some diseases Vaccines that only contain certain components of the pathogen (subunit vaccine). The dog’s immune system responds to the vaccination and produces protective antibodies. Does the dog become infected with the actual pathogen, his immune system remembers it and responds quickly and effectively. (In fact, this process is called “immunological memory.”) Basically, it can be said that Live vaccines produce a better immune response than inactivated vaccines. However, live vaccines always mean an actual, albeit mild, infection of the animal and thus carry a slightly higher risk of complications.
By the way: You can also have your dog vaccinated against some bacterial or mycotic (through fungi-caused) infectious diseases. Vaccination of the dog does not always prevent infection with every disease. sometimes can the pathogens still get into the animal’s body and multiply. Vaccination alleviates the Effects of the disease, for example in an otherwise often fatal disease, then comes about only mild symptoms. Or the vaccination does not protect the vaccinated animal itself, e.g bitch the puppies. These would otherwise be defenseless against the pathogen because the immune system in the womb and in the first few weeks after birth does not work as effectively.
Vaccinate Dogs: Basic Immunization And Vaccination Scheme
The vaccinations in the first two years of life, with which the dog should build up basic protection against a certain disease, are called basic immunization in dogs. (Sometimes, however, this term only includes the vaccinations for the first few months.) In the beginning, these are usually two or three injections at intervals of a few weeks. The vaccination scheme for each disease then determines how often the primary vaccination has been carried out, usually every three years. However, some vaccines also have a longer or shorter effect (dog vaccination schedule). How often the dog has to be vaccinated cannot be answered in general terms. It also depends on which vaccinations make sense for your dog individually. You should have your puppy vaccinated for the first time at 8 weeks of age, but it can be done earlier if deemed necessary.
What Is Herd Immunity?
Herd immunity is the protection of a group of animals (or people) against disease by prior vaccination. It is sufficient for a certain proportion, e.g. 95% of the individuals, to be vaccinated in order to protect everyone. The pathogen can then no longer find a target to spread. As many healthy, vaccinated dogs as possible protect those who are not vaccinated because, for example, they have a disease that makes vaccination too dangerous. Therefore, it makes sense to vaccinate animals that are not directly threatened!
An example: An older, chronically ill dog comes to a boarding kennel. He cannot be vaccinated against kennel cough, for example, because it is unclear whether his body could process this vaccination. However, since the other animals in the facility are vaccinated against it, it is very unlikely that the disease will spread and the unvaccinated dog is therefore also protected.