Vaccinations for your Puppy and Kitten.

Homeward Bound Pet Safety guide on vaccinations for your Puppy and Kitten, along with the benefits for having the vaccinations for your puppy & kitten.

Healthy, happy puppy and kitten

We will look at the following for a healthy puppy and kitten –

1. Vaccinations your puppy and kitten needs.

2. What are the vaccinations for your puppy and kitten

3. What age does the kitten and puppy need the vaccinations

4. Why do they need them

5. Passport for your pet if you are taking your pet out of the country

When puppies, kittens are born they are usually protected from infections by their mothers milk, provided she has been vaccinated, this only lasts for a few weeks so any puppy, kitten will need regular vaccinations from an early age. 

Vaccinating your pets is as important as vaccinating a child. 

Boosters will be needed annually, some vets offer plans, discounts and savings. 

I use Vets4Pets and I always go for the Vac4Life, one off payment of £99, that’s it for life, I just take my cats for the booster annually, which the vet normally sends me a reminder, which helps me as I have 5 cats, 2 rabbits plus 5 guinea pigs! 

Firstly let’s take a look at vaccinating kitten and cats – 

The vaccinations help to protect your cat from infectious diseases and prevent them from passing anything on to other animals in your area. 

• What age does the kitten need the vaccinations?
• The first vaccination for your kitten is the most important thing you should do.
• Your kitten will need two sets of vaccinations, the first vaccination is generally around 9 weeks old and the second vaccination is normally 3 months old, thereafter a booster vaccination annually. 

General rule is to keep them in until the kitten has had vaccinations been neutered and had a microchip implanted; this is normally implanted when they are under when being neutered or spayed. This is easier said than done as in my case when I got my little boy Cesar last September at 8 weeks, within 2 weeks of getting him, he had watched my other cats using the cat flap and he worked out how to open it and get out! 

This is little Thomas above who is due to get his vaccinations done very soon, then neutered and microchipped. 

Here is little Cesar, the smart boy!

Why do they need the vaccinations –

The vaccinations will protect your kitten/cat against the following – which are the most common vets will advise you to have done

• Cat Flu ( feline herpes virus and feline calicivirus)

• Feline infectious enteritis 

• Feline leukaemia virus

Neutering seems to vary – some rescues get the kittens neutered/spayed by the age of 4 months, some vets won’t neuter until the kitten is 6 months, so check with your vet. 

If you have rescued a kitten or cat, they will have been fully vaccinated, neutered, spayed and microchipped, the rescue will have also registered the microchip for you and advise you when boosters are needed and then a donation is made to the rescue as the rescues don’t get funding and generally run by volunteers, so the donations help with the veterinary bills.

The donation is generally £120-£180, as I say it varies, but remember this will save you money in the long run. For example a kitten will now generally cost you around £80 plus just for a domestic shorthair kitten, then the vaccination costs, then neutering, you would be looking at around £300+, so rescuing is more rewarding and cheaper option plus you get full backup with the rescue if things don’t work out for whatever reason.

Now let’s take a look at the vaccinations for your puppy.

Vaccinations for your puppy is one of the most important things you need to do, again this helps puppies grow into dogs that remain free from infectious diseases and prevents them from passing nasty horrible diseases on to other animals. 

Don’t forget to register the microchip that’s been implanted. Register with us today and give you pet the best chance of getting home with homeward Bound.

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What age does the puppy/dog need to be for the vaccinations?

Puppies will have been vaccinated by the breeder sometimes as early as 4-6 weeks old but typically 8-10 weeks. First vaccination and then 2-4 weeks apart for the second.

Your pup will then need boosters, between 6-12 months, your vet will advise you on this. 

The vaccination protects your puppy against the following –

• Canine distemper 

• Canine parvovirus

• Kennel cough

• Leptospirosis

• Parainfluenza

If you are rescuing a puppy, the rescue will have had everything done for you.

A fully qualified vet will be the only person who can vaccinate your puppy. 

Cost of the vaccinations again Vets4pets offer the Vac4Life one off payment of £99. But contact a number of vets in your area to check out the cost effective option for you. 

Passport for your pet – If you planning to take your pet out of the country you will need to have your rabies vaccination done on a regular bases and check your animals health certificate or pet passport to find out when booster vaccinations are due.

Your pets vaccination record must show the following –

• Your pets date of birth

• Microchip number was implanted and where it is in your animal’s body normally in – this is normally under the skin in between the shoulder blades. 

• Vaccination date

• Vaccine manufacturer and product name

• Vaccine batch number

• Date the vaccines valid until

• And the vets signature and contact details

Once you have registered the microchip, please remember if you ever move, change contact numbers, make sure you update your contact details this is so important, so many pets microchip details of the owner sadly don’t get updated or sadly even registered and many pets get lost and unable to reunited with their owner. 

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If you identify that your pet has a microchip but sadly not registered or have the incorrect details, and from another Defra approved microchip database you are able to transfer the microchip over to us at Homeward Bound – if you quote the following code ****

We are happy to offer you a discount, this will enable you to add in all your contact details, your puppies/kitten/dog/cat’s name, DOB, breed, colour, markings, Plus the added benefit of FREE updates for the life of your pet. Don’t delay registering today with Homeward Bound Pet Safety will give you the best chance of reuniting you with your pet, if they ever get lost or stollen.

You can also KC register your dog on our sister company http://www.edkc.com

We have some great things coming soon so keep an eye out on emails from us that I’m sure you will love being an animal lover.

I hope this blog has been useful to you, love from the Team at Homeward Bound Pet Safety Family.

Written by Sam McAlpin.