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PROTECTING THE NEW PUPPY OR KITTEN
WITH VACCINE
The placenta in our companion animals is four cell layers thick (in humans it is only two cell layers thick). Human babies are born with maternal protection that they receive on a constant basis across the placenta while the infant is still in utero. Our companion animals do not receive the protection while in the uterus. Our pets must receive these antibodies and some immune system cells in the mother’s first milk (colostrum). The quality of this colostrum varies a great deal from animal to animal, and pregnancy to pregnancy. The quantity of colostrums each animal in the litter receives also varies considerably. In short, we do not know how much protection each puppy or kitten has received from its mother’s colostrum.
When we vaccinate your pet, if this colostral protection is still present, the vaccine will be rendered ineffective. We need to get two doses of the vaccine into your pet after his/her colostral protection is gone and its own immune system can respond to the vaccine. We are unable to predict when this protection will stop without very expensive blood testing. Laboratory research has shown that the protection starts to decline between 6 and 12 weeks of age and is usually gone by 16-18 weeks of age. Again, remember we can not predict when in your pet!
Our goal is to vaccinate your pet as few times as we deem medically necessary to prevent disease. If we start to late or stop too early, the mother’s protection may be gone, the puppy’s or kitten’s not started, and your pet will get sick. For these reasons, we recommend that your pet be vaccinated at 6, 9, 12 and 16 weeks of age, the most important being 12 and 16 weeks of age.
Please remember, if you elect not to do the 6 week and 9 week vaccine, your pet may be at risk to contract the diseases we are attempting to prevent because its mother’s protection may be gone.
If you elect to do only one dose after 12 weeks of age, the mother’s protection may be present still, the vaccine ineffective, and your pet will be unprotected and may get sick.
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