Belles and Beaus tips for protecting your new puppy.
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Protecting Puppies from Disease
April 2008
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Protection from infectious diseases in young dogs is initially “passive,” meaning it is transferred from the dam to the puppies via colostrums, milk produced during the first 72 hours after birth.
If a dam is not currently vaccinated or if puppies do not suckle adequately during this time, failure of adequate transfer of maternal antibodies in colostrums can occur. In either case, puppies can be more susceptible to infectious disease, underscoring the importance of good pre-breeding health practices and careful attention to neonates during the early days after whelping.
The immunity that is stimulated by vaccinating puppies after the waning of maternally derived antibodies, usually during the early post-weaning period, is called “active” immunity. Traditionally, following a series of puppy vaccinations after weaning and an initial booster at 1 year of age, revaccination was done every year in adult dogs to continue protection. But in recent years, considerable discussion has arisen with respect to the duration of immunity produced by today’s vaccines. Duration of immunity — how long immunity protection lasts after vaccination — is important but not simple to define because it is based on the complex interplay among a dog’s immune response, health and the vaccine.
Some scientists and veterinarians have expressed the feeling that optimal vaccine use should be determined based on several factors:
• Measurement of serum antibodies (protection) against the disease agent.
• The disease incidence and severity in
a locality.
• Available data on vaccine protection
and safety.
• The health, welfare and lifestyle of an individual dog or individual kennel.
In 2002, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) updated its vaccine guidelines using the recommendations of a growing number of veterinary practitioners and infectitious disease experts. Although many of these experts support giving core vaccines at longer intervals, the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) reports there is little published scientific documentation to indicate whether every three years is any more appropriate than every two years or every seven years.1
Although most dogs respond well to vaccines, vaccination carries some risk. The most common adverse responses are mild and short term and include fever, sluggishness and reduced appetite. Dogs also may experience temporary pain or swelling at the site of vaccination. Although most adverse responses resolve within a day or two, excessive pain, swelling or listlessness should be discussed with a veterinarian. If a dog has repeated vomiting or diarrhea, whole body itching, difficulty breathing, collapse or swelling of the face or legs, a veterinarian should be contacted. These signs indicate a serious reaction called anaphyllaxis.2
Measuring Immunity
Duration of immunity may be determined by performing an annual serum antibody titer, which measures the amount of antibody against a particular antigen present in the blood, says W. Jean Dodds, D.V.M., an immunologist/hematologist and president of Hemopet, a nonprofit canine blood bank and health databank in Garden Grove, Calif. “When adequate immune memory is already established, there is little reason to administer booster vaccines. This is true for all core and noncore vaccines except rabies, in which state laws determine the frequency of immunization,” she says.
Dodds recently published a study in which she measured titers in an attempt to learn whether the method can reduce the number of vaccines needed for companion animals.3,4 Evaluating 1,441 dogs for parvovirus antibody titer and 1,379 dogs for distemper virus antibody titer, Dodds found that 95.1 percent had adequate parvovirus titers and 97.6 percent had adequate distemper virus titers.
Vaccine histories were available for 444 of the 1,441 dogs and for 433 of the 1,379 dogs. Only 43 dogs had been vaccinated within the previous year; the majority of dogs — 268 dogs or 60 percent — had received a booster vaccination one to two years beforehand.3
Vaccines for Individual Dogs
Vaccines are medically powerful agents about which important decisions, considering relative risks and benefits, must be individualized to the needs of the dog, says the AVMA. Vaccine guidelines from both the AVMA and AAHA encourage veterinarians to adopt customized vaccination programs that focus on what is best for an individual dog.1 Revaccination recommendations should be designed to create and maintain clinically relevant immunity while minimizing adverse event potential, the AVMA says.
Veterinarians may need to take into account multiple factors, including a patient’s overall health, lifestyle, exposure to other animals and climate. “Prevalence of disease, and therefore likelihood of exposure, can vary not only from region to region across the country but even among areas within a region,” Lawler says. “In addition, dogs that are transported around the country for shows or field trials, especially during seasons with sudden changes in barometric pressure and relative humidity, can be subject to additional stressors that increase susceptability.” Lawler suggests that breeders and handlers work with a veterinarian who has experience managing groups of animals. The familiarity a veterinarian develops with a group of dogs helps him or her make informed decisions about which booster vaccinations may be required.
Importance of Immune Protection
Though vaccination recommendations have been revamped by the AVMA and AAHA, it is still important to be sure your dogs have adequate immune protection. Consulting with your veterinarian about the age, life style, health status, home and travel environment of your dogs will allow him or her to develop an appropriate vaccination schedule for your individual dogs. In households or kennels with multiple dogs, the importance of providing adequate immune protection is crucial.
1 Report of the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) Canine Vaccine Task Force: 2003 Canine Vaccine Guidelines, Recommendations, and Supporting Literature.
2 What you should know about Vaccination. American Veterinary Medical Association. Revised 10/02.
3 Dodds WJ. Changing Vaccine Protocols.
4 Twark L, Dodds WJ. Clinical application of serum parvovirus and distemper virus antibody titers for determining revaccination strategies in healthy dogs. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. 2000; 217:1021-1024.
A NEW PUPPY IS LIKE A FLOWER; WITH LOTS OF LOVE IT WILL BLOOM INTO A BEAUTIFUL FRIEND NO MATTER HOW LITTLE FERTILIZER YOU USE.
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