08/02/2024
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Is my puppy OVER VACCINATED😳😳😱 .. or UNDER VACCINATED!?!?
I was reading a post about under and over vaccinations in pets and puppies..
I went back to school for immunology so have a good deal of information on this subject … I responded to the post but felt that this was very valuable information for everyone ..
So here’s what you need to know!
*Understanding vaccinations and antibodies in puppies and adults* as well as breeder vs pet home… if you like this, don’t forget to share, like and comment!
It is recommended to give a series of shot set when puppies are young … it is true that sometimes only one shot is needed for a puppy to be immunized but other time up to three shots is needed to prevent serious illness. This depends on the individual virus… I will explain this further down .. but almost all puppies are given extra vaccines 👀👀👀👀
Why is this!?!?
Breeders are recommended to give more vaccinations when puppies are young because we do not know when the mothers natural immunities ware off .. mother’s antibodies, typically wear off starting at six weeks of age and going all the way up to 16 weeks of age, but how much of mothers antibodies each puppy receives varies dramatically depending on how much colostrum the mother produced and how much each individual puppy received… puppies at the end of the litter often receive significantly less than the first puppies same with runts they often receive significantly less than largest Pups…
You can do test to see how much antibodies each puppy received from the mother, and then wait till mother’s antibodies are gone and give a shot. This reduces the amount of shots down to just the bare necessary amount … but each test cost about $50 .. more in some locations… you will have to continue to get EACH puppy tested for EACH virus you want antibodies tested for … until the mother’s antibodies are gone… and this could rack up thousands of dollars over the course of a few weeks in a litter of 8-10
If you wait till the puppy is 16 weeks of age * when all puppies mothers antibodies should have worn off .. to give its first vaccination, then this means that if it catches any of the viruses that you would typically vaccinate for earlier in this timeframe, the puppy could easily die..
Breeders start vaccination early to make sure that the puppy is covered for as much of life as possible to prevent any type of virus from taking the puppies life
Next- how many vaccinations does your puppy need to receive to be fully immunized…, this is how that works..
The first shot introduces the body to the foreign virus. This takes the longest amount of time for the body to recognize it as foreign, and it has to create an antibody for it. .. this typically takes 5 to 7 days..
Puppies that get a virus and can die within 5 to 7 day period of time this vaccination … if they can survive the virus for over a week, then they have a chance of producing antibodies on their own.. the age of the puppy reflects dramatically the puppy can handle…. we have had two week old puppies die from a cold… adults, don’t even seem phased…
But for some of the vaccinations, one shot is all that would be necessary because after this, the body does have the ability to start producing those antibodies for that specific virus within about a 3 to 5 day window after the first exposure… so if a puppy can survive something for about 5 to 7 days* it’s a little bit longer because the body still takes about 24 to 48 hours to get the antibody production in full gear… then it has a chance for recovering after a first dose is given…
After you give the second dose, the body already has basically the blueprints for the antibody on file so it only takes about 3 to 5 days to start producing.. and 24 to 48 hours to start producing them in mass
after the second time the body has encountered a specific virus. It is much more on guard and is able to start producing the antibodies even faster as a small level of antibodies are allowed to circulate throughout the system after the second shot is given…. And after a second shot is given, it typically only takes the body about three days to start making that antibody in mass.
This is sufficient for almost all all the vaccinations and really it is important to give two *most of the time* so that the body only takes three days to start mass producing antibodies,. Meaning your pet may still get sick for the first few days, but then then it will start to recover as the antibodies flood their system….
Things that are less harsh like a kennel cough would only need one vaccination
The problem arises is we don’t know when the antibodies ware off so any shots given prior to Mom’s antibodies wear off are null and void as her body protects against those…
Parvo is the only one that truly needs three shots.. and three shots once the mother’s antibodies have worn off… this is just because of how deadly Parvo is in young puppies… I have gone through Parvo a few times in 20 years so I know quite a bit about it and how to handle it and the best way to eradicate it from your program quickly…
Back to shots once the third shot is given the body keeps a large number of antibodies in the system for a long time that once the virus enters it’s already destroyed… sometimes there may be a 24 hour lag.. your pup may still get sick for 24 hours, but then immediately begin to recover… this is where the three shots standard comes from… making sure your pet only has a 24 hour window of sickness…
Now breeder note*** keep in mind that if you’re a breeder and a puppy comes into your home even if it’s three shots, it can still get sick for a day or even 12 hours with Parvo and still spread that to everyone in your program..
yes!!! Fully vaccinated with three shots… so while the shots will prevent major sickness and will prevent the puppy from dying, it will not prevent it from passing it along to other dogs during this 12 to 24 hour period…
So breeders need to be extra careful careful!
I will also state that over vaccination is less of a problem than an entire litter dying of a virus… in 20 years the most severe issue we have had with vaccination is a small bump at the site…. This typically happens after a first vaccination…. On average 99.9% of dogs are perfectly fine with extra vaccinations…
As far as vaccination once they’re an adult ..
In the average pet home, it is not necessary to keep up with yearly vaccinations or even bi-yearly vaccinations …
A well vaccinated puppy you can typically go up till the dog is four or five years old safely before revaccinated … and then I recommend another one between seven and eight years old…
But you can also just get an antibody test done for all the major viruses and see which ones it is low on and only vaccinate it for those… if you want to be extra safe 🙂 because being able to test for antibodies -just one time and on just one dog is much more affordable than 10 pups every week for up to 6 weeks! And can easily be done by their families to prevent any type of unnecessary vaccination
Backstory -if dog encounters an actual virus specifically speaking of Parvo for this one because it’s the one I researched the most.. will have immunities for its entire life against the virus… however the antibodies and the adult system does decline slowly over its life so how vaccinated it is still becomes less and less as it ages…
What does that mean? ?? it refers to how long it takes the body to start producing antibodies in mass the older your dog gets. It can start being sick for a longer period of time before body gets out the amount of antibodies needed to control the infection.
So A few vaccinations throughout their life I would recommend esp if they are active in the community… but we do not recommend yearly unless you are a breeder…
Why is that? - Breeder note*
How much antibodies the mother has directly relates to how many antibodies she is able to pass along to her puppies …
If the puppies happen to come across a virus in the breeders home, which can happen just from it coming in on the soles of your shoes as we all know … and the mother only has a small amount of antibodies to pass to pups …The antibodies she has passed will be wiped out quickly and early on, and the puppies can still easily die from the infection.
However, if the mother has been vaccinated within a few months of giving birth. Her levels are the highest … we have measured our females antibody levels and have done a great deal of study on this specifically with Parvo… and a female gets vaccinated one year prior …in some cases as few as 1/4 of her antibodies left in her system while a different girl had half the antibodies… and third girl only had a trace amount.. so the retention of antibodies definitely depends on the individual dog… these things could reflect that perhaps an influence from their mother therefore, if she was well vaccinated, and you did not continue to give vaccinations to your puppies till they were over 16 weeks them some of their puppy shots were not effective, which would decrease the amount of antibodies that stayed in their system…
But every mother that was vaccinated right before her heat had extremely high levels..
Why is this important to a breeder this is important because if the puppies come across a virus and the mother is well immunized against that virus then the puppies can go through one and sometimes even two full on infections before the mothers antibodies have worn off giving them time to get old enough to receive an actual vaccination… because remember, even though the puppies have had the virus, their mother’s antibodies have fended it off and their immune system has not yet been touched so they don’t have any ability to fight off that infection yet… you only get that ability one of two ways your body is either introduced to a vaccine that mimics the virus or has dead virons.. or it is introduced to the actual virus…
When introduced to a vaccine, the puppy does not get sick. It may have a reaction at the shot site, but it does not cause the illness. … but will allow the puppies immune system to be triggered by future infections.. giving them a better chance at survival.
Because if a puppy comes across the virus with a naked immune system. It almost always means death, especially if that virus happens to be Parvo or distemper when puppies are very young. .. anything can take a very young puppy..
So to wrap it up .. yes..strong vaccination of puppies.. I would consider crucial to make sure that your puppies have a good chance of survival.. this includes the mothers with keeping up with vaccinations prior to pregnancy ..… now we don’t typically breed girls past three years of age … so that’s only a few extra..
For pet puppies and our males, we recommend one vaccination at 12 months just to be extra safe .. And then we don’t vaccinate again until they are 4/5… and then we do another one around eight years old….
