Louisville vet, veterinarian in Louisville, KY

Vaccinations - Dogs

Distemper
Distemper vaccination is important for all puppies. This disease is still present in most areas and it is still hard to treat successfully. Even when a puppy is nursed through the acute phase of the disease there can be long term health problems. The most common of these is a tendency to develop seizures.

Adenovirus Type 2
This virus causes a form of kennel cough and also protects against hepatitis in dogs. This is fortunate because there were more vaccine reactions using the hepatitis virus itself , even in a weakened state. While viral hepatitis is not as common as it once was in dogs, it has not been eliminated as a threat.

Leptospirosis
This is actually a bacterial disease, so the protective "vaccination" is actually a "bacterin". There are many strains of Leptospira and there are many instances of zoonosis (people getting the disease). We recommend vaccinating against Lepto and start puppies with a two shot series and give an annual booster thereafter.

Parainfluenza
Parainfluenza is one of the many causes of kennel cough and is included in the vaccine products containing distemper and parvo protection.

Parvovirus
Parvovirus is probably the most common viral illness of dogs at the present time. It is much more common in puppies than it is in adult dogs. It can be very hard to successfully vaccinate a puppy for this disease because the antibody protection the puppy acquires from its mother can interfere with vaccination. It is important to vaccinate puppies every three to four weeks for this virus starting at 6 weeks of age and continuing until they are at least 16 weeks of age. Since it is combined with the other vaccines it is often easier just to give it yearly with them.

Coronavirus
Since coronavirus is a puppy disease that isn't very detramental to a puppies health, we advise only a one time vaccination early in the puppies life (at 9 weeks of age).

Bordetella
Bordetella is the most common cause of tracheobronchitis (kennel cough) in dogs. It is a bacterial illness that is most common among dogs that congregate at places like dog parks as well as shows, kennels or other places frequented by large numbers of dogs or dogs recently at such places. It does not appear that this bacterin gives a full year of immunity in many instances. For dogs that are often exposed to situations in which the infection is likely probably should be vaccinated twice a year. There are intranasal as well as subcutaneous bacterins available for this disease. The intra-nasal bacterin confers immunity more quickly but the injectable version may last longer.

Lyme disease (Borrelia)
Lyme disease is caused by a bacterial organism, Borrelia burgdorferi . It is carried by Ixodes species of ticks and may have other tick or insect carriers. It is more common in some areas of the United States than in others. We advise lyme vaccination if ticks are a possibility for your dog. Remember, this includes camping, trips to the lake or summer homes, as well as dog parks. The vaccination is done twice the first year, then is boostered once annually thereafter.