Our Customized Vaccination Plans Address Your Pet’s Individual Health Risks at Every Age and Life Stage
At Small Animal Primary Care, we recommend a series of age-appropriate core vaccinations and boosters for all our canine and feline patients, with some pets’ benefiting from selected additional vaccinations based on disease risk factors and lifestyle.
Relevant risk factors include whether your pet —
Our veterinarians will customize your pet’s vaccination program, asking you about your pet’s activities and lifestyle to determine which non-core vaccines to recommend for more complete protection.
Vaccines work by causing your pet’s immune system to produce protective antibodies to disease-causing organisms. Ideally, once vaccinated, your pet becomes immune to the often highly-contagious and sometimes deadly diseases targeted by the vaccines.
Vaccinations prevent many common illnesses, including diseases that can be passed from animal to animal or from animal to people. Vaccinations for rabies and distemper protect your pet from contracting these deadly diseases from wildlife. In Indiana, rabies vaccinations for dogs, cats and ferrets are required by law.
The benefits of vaccinations for pets, their families and the public far outweigh the risks. Most pets tolerate vaccines well, but there are risks of adverse reactions — most often short-term and mild. We encourage you to discuss any concerns you have about vaccination risks with our veterinarians.
Bordetella, commonly known as kennel cough, is a highly contagious bacterial disease that causes respiratory signs, such as coughing, nasal discharge and possibly fever.
Rabies is a severe, always fatal, viral infection of the brain and central nervous system. It is spread in the saliva of rabid animals such as skunks, raccoons, coyotes, foxes and bats. Animals most often contract this disease after being bitten by a rabid animal. Rabies is a zoonotic disease and can be transmitted to humans via bites from infected animals.
Rabies is a deadly viral infection of the brain and central nervous system. Pets are typically infected by being bitten by rabid wildlife such as skunks, raccoons, coyotes, foxes and bats. Rabies is a zoonotic disease and can be transmitted to humans bitten by rabid animals.
Feline Leukemia Virus causes immune system deficiency in cats. It is usually spread by direct contact with infected cats. It may also be spread from mother cat to kittens. Young outdoor and indoor/outdoor cats are at much higher risk for FeLV transmission than exclusively indoor cats.
A blood sample can be tested for FeLV. If a cat or kitten tests positive, that animal is contagious to other cats and kittens. The cat or kitten may be able to clear the virus, and the vaccine is available for all cats and kittens older than nine weeks that test negative for FeLV at least once.
Feline Immunodeficiency Virus is a form of AIDS that affects cats. The FIV vaccine is no longer produced.
Feline immunodeficiency virus, or FIV, is closely related to the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, in the way it attacks the immune system. Patients are left susceptible to infection from commonplace germs that a healthy person or cat easily resists. Like HIV, the cat virus may lie dormant in the body for years before the disease visibly manifests itself.
Despite the similarities, the feline virus is not known to infect humans, nor are cats known to be infected by the human virus.
Cats most likely to contract FIV are outdoor cats, especially males because they tend to fight more than females. The virus is transmitted in cats through blood or bites. Unlike HIV, there is little evidence FIV is spread through sexual contact.
Initial FeLV testing can be done on any young kitten. Initial FIV testing is done after 4 months of age to ensure limited reaction to any antibodies shared by the queen through the milk. Once the kitten’s household is stable and if fully indoors, an adult confirmation test will be performed to assess any early infection not detected by the kitten screening. Outdoor cats and cats exposed to kittens or other cats whose viral status is unknown, will be screened annually.
