Additional Services

Vaccinations

Our Doctor recommends vaccines be given on an annual basis. For your convenience this is usually done at the time of your annual physical health exam. Rabies is the only vaccine, which after a 1 year booster, can be given every 3 years. You may have read some ongoing debates lately about over vaccinating your pet. The truth is that there is still weakness in the current science used to complete this study, therefore no agreement has been met to decipher a better vaccination schedule than annually. Pfizer studies show titers (blood tests to determine a pets immunity to a certain virus) that demonstrate how an animals immunity stays consistently at its safest level when vaccinated every year. The best way to determine what vaccines will be most beneficial to your pet is to discuss their disease risk with the doctor. Some questions you may want to ask yourself to assess your pet's risk factor are as follows:

• How old is your pet?
• When your pet goes outdoors is it unsupervised?
• Does your pet come into contact with other pets or their environments?
• Is there wildlife in your area, including mice, squirrels, birds, possums, raccoons, or skunks?
• Are there ticks in your area?
• Do you travel with your pet to areas where ticks or mosquitoes may be present?
• Does your pet have an opportunity to drink from standing water outdoors (pnds, puddles, etc.)?
• Does your pet sleep with you and your children?
• Do you ever take your pet to a groomer or boarding facility?
• Do you take your pet to cat or dog shows?
• If you own a dog, do you take it hunting?
• Is your pet spayed or neutered?

This is only a partial list of the factors that influence disease-risk. Your veterinarian may have additional questions to help determine an immunization program that is best for your pet. See your veterinarian today for a complete list of immunizations and what they vaccinate against.