Dogs are very susceptible to some dangerous infectious diseases. The most dangerous for the dog, which in most cases leads to the death of the animal, are diseases such as infectious hepatitis, carnivore plague, leptospirosis and rabies. Leptospirosis is not completely cured, it is chronic, and usually leads to many complications. If we talk about rabies, then this is a deadly disease that a person can get from an animal. Unfortunately, to date, only the prevention of this dangerous disease by vaccination has been developed. With clinical manifestations, rabies is not treatable. That is why it is so important to competently and in due time vaccinate puppies.
A puppy under the age of 6 to 8 weeks is protected from diseases with antibodies that he receives in the first days of life with colostrum of the mother. This phenomenon is called collostral immunity. However, by 6 to 8 weeks of life, the action of collostral immunity expires, and the baby can become seriously ill. It is by this time that vaccination is necessary to introduce new antibodies into the body of the animal for protection. The first vaccination of the puppy is carried out at the age of approximately 8 weeks, and if the animal is kept in a nursery, where the risk of infection increases at times, the puppy is vaccinated at the age of 6 weeks.
The first vaccinations are given to puppies with an interval of three weeks. Subsequently , the dog is vaccinated annually to maintain overall immunity. Naturally, the animal to be vaccinated should be clinically healthy. The puppy should have a good appetite, normal body temperature, the eyes should be without expiration, normally the dog should not even have a runny nose. Otherwise, the animal’s body will develop insufficient protection, and this, in turn, is fraught with complications.
Naturally, caring for a four-legged pet is not limited to one vaccination; the question of when the second vaccination should be given will be relevant even after the initial vaccination. After all, the second vaccine, according to veterinarians, is considered a guarantee of establishing strong immunity in the animal. It must be remembered that after secondary vaccination, the puppy can be taken for walks only after ten to twelve days.
But when a third vaccination is given to an animal, only an experienced veterinarian can tell you, as this directly depends on the general condition of the puppy and the characteristics of the dog’s body adaptation to a certain type of vaccine. Usually, the third vaccination is given to dogs at the age of 6 months, after the change of milk teeth, because it is at this age that the animal's immunity is weakened.
Of course, it is best to do the first vaccinations for puppies at home, because in a clinic where sick animals are treated, an unprotected baby can easily get infected with dangerous infectious diseases. And immunity is not produced in the body immediately after vaccination, this process takes about 10 days.
If you decide to buy a four-legged friend in the market or take it from the street, the puppy is vaccinated in this case after some time, since the incubation period of the disease can occur in the animal, and vaccination in this case can cause irreparable harm to the dog’s health. A puppy purchased on the market or picked up on the street needs some preventative measures. Firstly, such animals are injected with special serum (antibodies against various infectious diseases). This procedure helps the body of the animal to effectively deal with the latent infection, and only about two weeks after the introduction of the serum do the necessary vaccinations for the puppies take place.