Quite frequently we get the question of when to vaccinate puppies and why we do it when and the way we do. We posed this question to our doctors to help provide a comprehensive understanding for you.
“We here at Mueller Pet Medical Center recommend that puppies start their vaccinations at 8 weeks of age and get them boostered every 3-4 weeks until they are 16 weeks of age. Puppies are born without any immunity. When they nurse from their mother in the first 12 hours of life, the first milk (called colostrum) is packed full of antibodies from diseases the mother has experienced or been vaccinated for. This immunity is transferred to the puppies which protects them while their own immune system is developing.
At about 6-8 weeks of age, the maternal immunity or antibodies that came from mom in the colostrum start to fade and their own immune system starts to develop. If vaccines are given before 6 weeks of age, maternal immunity will deactivate the vaccine and the puppy gains no protection. Vaccines given between 6 and 8 weeks of age may be affected by maternal immunity which is why, if your breeder gives a vaccine at 6 weeks of age, we usually recommend a booster at 9, 12, and 16 weeks of age to consider them completely protected.
It is not wrong to give the vaccine at that time but maternal immunity may interfere with the puppy’s ability to start responding to to vaccine so it may or may not be helpful. It is also important to give your puppy’s immune system 3-4 weeks in between vaccines to get the maximum response from each of the vaccines. Giving vaccines every two weeks does not allow the immune system enough time to respond to the vaccine and that means more injections for your puppy without gain in protection.
We consider a puppy’s immune system to be fully developed at 16 weeks of age so it is very important that they get their vaccine at that age or shortly after. It is not the number of vaccines but the timing of the vaccines that is so important!â€
Our family protecting yours,
The Mueller Family
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