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 Vaccination - How Often?
Recent media reports have brought into question how often dogs and cats should be vaccinated to prevent potentially serious diseases.
Annual (once yearly) vaccination for domestic pets has been the norm since the 1980s when effective and safe vaccines for canine parvovirus and cat flu (feline upper respiratory disease) were developed.
Some recent reports suggest that vaccination every three years (triennial) is now all that is required. The question of triennial versus annual has arisen because of fears that "over-vaccination" can trigger or cause serious illnesses. However this has not been shown to be true for Australian dog and cat vaccines. Some vaccines can occasionally cause local reactions such as tenderness or even lethargy (tiredness) but these effects last for a short period (around 24 hours) and do not usually require any treatment.
At Mont Albert Veterinary Surgery we recommend that all pets have an annual vet visit which includes a thorough general health check and vaccination. This policy is based on our experience and knowledge for disease prevention generally and in our local area.
Dogs:
We recommend an annual all-in-one C5 vaccine for dogs. This covers distemper, hepatitis, parvovirus and canine (kennel) cough. An annual heartworm prevention injection can be given at the same time. A thorough general health check is included in your dog's annual visit for vaccination.
A vaccine is now available for dogs that may be given every three years (triennial) rather than every year. However, this triennial vaccine only covers three of the five diseases included in the annual C5 vaccine (distemper, hepatitis and parvovirus). A separate two-in-one vaccine for canine (kennel) cough and the injection for heartworm prevention should still be given every year.
Although we do not routinely recommend the triennial vaccine for dogs, we are happy to discuss this with you and to give your pet the vaccine of your choice. However some boarding kennels, grooming parlours and training schools may not accept dogs which have been vaccinated with a triennial vaccine.
Cats:
For cats we recommend an annual F3 vaccine, which covers feline enteritis and cat flu (feline upper respiratory disease). Some cats also require an additional FIV and/or FeLV vaccine. There are no registered triennial vaccines for cats in Australia so an annual F3 vaccination is the norm.
Rabbits:
The calicivirus vaccine is the only vaccine available for rabbits and is required annually.
Please don't hesitate to discuss any of this with our vets or nurses. We want to keep our patients as healthy as possible and will work with their humans to achieve that.
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