A pet vaccination is an injection that is given to your pet to prevent them from catching nasty diseases. Vaccinating your pet also helps to keep infectious diseases at bay and protect other pets too.
In most cases, animals receive an initial vaccination when they are several weeks old, and another a couple of weeks later. They should then receive a booster injection once a year for life, to keep their immunity levels high.
All annual pet vaccination appointments at STAR Vets include a nose-to-tail health check with one of our friendly Vets.
Puppies can either have two or three vaccinations depending on the protocol that has been chosen by the breeder or their new owner. The first puppy vaccination is usually done at 8 weeks old.
For more information, please ask our team.
Kittens should have their first vaccination at 9 weeks old, and their second 3 weeks later.
Feline vaccinations are important for both indoor and outdoor cats. Ask our team for more information.
Kits (baby rabbits) can be vaccinated from 5 weeks old.
A vaccination typically protects your pet for up to 12 months. After that, your companion may be exposed to conditions that could make them very poorly. In cases where your pet misses their booster vaccinations, you may be required to start their course of vaccines again.
If you’re not sure when your dog, cat or rabbit had their last round of vaccinations, give us a call on 01530 270 170 and we can check for you.
Vaccicheck is a service we offer to clients who choose not to vaccinate their dogs every year. We strongly recommend annual vaccination, however, if you choose not to, our Vaccicheck service can determine whether your dog has some residual immunity against Parvovirus, Distemper and Infectious Canine Hepatitis.
We can make arrangements to take a blood sample to send to an outside laboratory that will measure the level of antibodies present in a dog’s blood.
Even if immunity appears to be present against these three diseases, we would still strongly recommend a vaccine against Leptospirosis, as we are not able to assess immunity against this disease. We would also recommend a full annual health check with one of our Vets.
