Whether you’ve just rescued a new adult pet or adopted a puppy or kitten from your local shelter, the lovable new addition to your family needs a short checklist of items to get ready for a long and healthy life. Sunshine Animal Hospital, serving Louisville, Superior, and Broomfield, CO, encourages a preventative care approach to keeping pets healthy.
Catching any illness in its early stages saves pets and pet parents pain and suffering as well as costly treatments. In addition, Sunshine Animal Hospital recommends that Louisville, Superior, and Broomfield, CO, pet owners purchase an inoculations package as soon as possible. Several very dangerous and sometimes fatal diseases in the wild animal population often pass to domestic animals and pets. Rabies, leukemia, parvovirus, and distemper often cause devastating health problems or death.
How Do Vaccinations Work?
When a vaccine is administered to a pet, a very small amount of a safe version of the pathogen is introduced into the body. This low and altered dose helps the body to recognize the virus more quickly and signals the immune system to produce antibodies to fight it. Vaccinations often work in stages, beginning with one dose and following with a booster after a several-week waiting period.
Because this method of protecting pets from extremely harmful diseases involves exposure to a minimal amount of these molecules, pets can experience some very minor temporary effects depending on the vaccine given, such as drowsiness, loss of appetite, or sneezing. If these persist, you should return to your veterinarian for a pet exam to be sure these side effects do not indicate anything more serious.
Start a Pet’s Life Off Right
At first, some pet parents may balk at spending money on treatments for illnesses their pets don't have. However, some of these viruses are probably closer than you'd think, and can still be a threat to full-time indoor pets.
In particular, young animals benefit from inoculations because their immune systems are still in the process of forming and strengthening. Their bodies are typically too small for syringes, so intranasal administration works well.
Prepare your pet against the most harmful diseases with the help of Sunshine Animal Hospital in Superior, CO. Contact us today for an appointment!