North Canterbury Vets are a mixed practice which deals with dairy cows, beef, sheep, deer, horses and alpacas as well as companion animals. Our team has an ethical focus to assist in developing and growing our clients' businesses and providing quality health care to ensure that their livestock and pets live healthy and productive lives.
Dog Vaccinations And What They Protect Your Dog From
Ever wondered what is in the vaccines we give to our companion animals and why?
We are fortunate in that we have a lot of protection available for our cats and dogs for some of their nastier diseases.
Vanguard plus 5 is our core pup and dog vaccination. It contains protection for four different diseases and is often called the “Parvo vax" because Parvo Virus is a nasty virus that we still occasionally see and which the vaccine is extremely good at preventing.
This vaccine contains immune stimulation to help your dog combat :
*Canine Parvo virus - a nasty often and fatal disease of pups and unvaccinated dogs.
*Canine Distemper virus - another very nasty often fatal virus which is now very uncommon in New Zealand due to extremely good immunity from vaccinating.
*Canine Hepatitis - can be a cause of pup deaths.
*Canine Parainfluenza - a cause of contagious cough.
Vanguard plus 5 is given as a course of injections from around 6 weeks old, with boosters every 3-4 weeks, with the last pup vaccine usually given between the ages of 12-16 weeks.
The reason for several vaccinations as a pup is to ensure protective levels of antibodies which aren’t inactivated by maternal antibodies which fade over time.
After initial puppy vaccinations, Vanguard plus 5 is given as a booster 1 year later and then is a strong enough vaccine to only need injecting every 3 years.