Vaccinate Your Pup. Timely vaccinations are puppy-care 101. Not only is it important to know how to vaccinate your puppy, but also what milestones to administer them. In general, you must vaccinate your puppy to keep it clear of canine viral infections during the first few years. However, you may also need to get booster vaccines (i.e., additional vaccine doses that keep the body’s immunity primed) to keep their health in check. But before we dive into the nitty-gritty of when to get your puppy jabbed, let’s first look at some common questions regarding vaccines –
What are puppy vaccines and what do they do?
Vaccines are immunological stimulants – which is just a fancy way of saying “prevents diseases”. To be more precise, vaccines contain small, weak portions of a particular pathogen (i.e., disease-causing agent) or a chemically similar alternative made in a lab. Once injected, the vaccine will protect the body from a specific disease for a particular period of time. Vaccinate Your Pup .Puppy vaccines work exactly the same way – just that the diseases they prevent are the ones that affect your puppies!
Are puppy vaccines different from normal ones?
Canine vaccines are only different in that they target diseases specific to dogs. And they are absolutely safe – there isn’t more or less care given to making vaccines for puppies than for other animals or even humans. Once you vaccinate your puppy, it will stay clear of most potentially lethal infections in early life such as parvoviruses, distemper, etc.
Do you have to vaccinate your puppy?
It is paramount that your little furball is vaccinated against all the conditions advised by your vet in a timely fashion. These vaccinations can be (and often are) the difference between your puppy not making it through its first year and living a long life. Most puppies up for adoption are already vaccinated by the breeder (due to the early administration time). But you should always double-check with your breeder and ask for a detailed certificate before adoption.
When should you vaccinate your puppy?
The timings for when to vaccinate your puppy differ based on the type of vaccine. Typically, vaccinations are completed within the first ten weeks. But boosters are required annually or half-annually. Just like the vaccines themselves, these boosters are very important since the effective duration of these jabs can vary greatly. Below is a summary of all the main vaccines that we advise and when they are generally administered:
| Vaccine | First Dose | Second Dose | Third Dose | Booster |
| Canine Parvovirus | 8 weeks | 12 weeks | 16 weeks | Three years |
| Canine infectious hepatitis | 8 weeks | 12 weeks | 16 weeks | Three years |
| Canine distemper | 8 weeks | 12 weeks | 16 weeks | Three years |
| Leptospirosis | 8 weeks | 12 weeks | 16 weeks | Every year |
| Kennel cough | 8 weeks | 12 weeks | 16 weeks | Every year |
| Rabies | 8 weeks | 12 weeks | 16 weeks | Three years |
Now that we’ve established why it is so essential to vaccinate your puppy, we leave it to you to take care of the rest! And if you would like to adopt your own furry companion without the looming doubt of early vaccinations, go down to Camlist today!