Picture taken from www.completedogsguide.com
To reduce the risk of disease in your Boston Terrier puppy, it is best you have him vaccinated, since so many pet diseases pets contract can be fatal.
These diseases are usually transmitted by contact with a virus or bacteria.
As a pet owner, you have the choice of deciding which canine vaccinations you would want your pet to be given.
HOW VACCINATIONS WORK
Vaccinations work in a way that apes the process and spread of the disease.
When your pet is vaccinated, a weakened form of the virus is injected into its body.
This sets off the immune system into producing antibodies whose duty lies in protecting the body against disease.
The body can now rise to the challenge of fighting the disease because it remembers the virus and so will protect it from contracting this disease in future too.
It will also produce the appropriate antibodies too.
VACCINATIONS FOR YOUR BOSTON TERRIER PUPPY
Puppy hood is a very vulnerable stage when your pup is prone to contracting various diseases, since their immunity is very low.
At this stage, pups absorb antibodies from their mother’s milk intestinally, while still in the first few days after birth.
Fortunately, Boston Terrier puppies receive immunity from some diseases from their mother before weaning, if she has been vaccinated.
Once weaned, pups need to be vaccinated, the moment they begin to eat on their own. If the dam has recently been vaccinated, she will have enough and more antibodies in her milk, which she feeds to her young.
Over time, these antibodies dissipate, with higher concentrations resulting in longer lengths of immunity.
When the pup reaches a point when there is no concentration of the dam’s antibodies present in the pup’s system, a vaccination schedule is set up to protect the pup against various diseases.
WHICH DISEASES TO VACCINATE FOR
You and your vet should discuss the vaccinations to be given to your pup and its frequency.
If talk of a Booster shot comes up, don’t be alarmed. All it means is that you give a particular vaccine more than once.
Since the follow-up vaccines “boost” the immunity level of the pup, it stands to be better protected from the disease and therefore the vaccine is called a “Booster shot.”
Often, most pups are given a combination vaccine, called a Multivalent vaccine, which protects your pup against multiple diseases.
This saves the pup from being injected over and over again by giving him just one injection. A multivalent vaccine, DHLPPCv combines the following into one injection:
DHLPPCV: THIS STANDS FOR:
- D: Distemper Virus: This is a dangerous viral infection.
- H: Hepatitis: This viral infection is caused by two related viruses that affect the liver.
- L: Leptospirosis: This bacterial infection severely affects the kidneys.
- P: Parainfluenza: This virus, along with the Hepatitis virus, causes upper respiratory infections.
- P: Parvovirus: This severe and sometimes fatal virus damages the lining of the intestinal tract.
- Cv: Coronavirus: Similar to the Parvovirus, this can be very severe, but has a different effect on the intestinal tract and is not fatal.
VACCINATION SCHEDULE FOR YOU BOSTON TERRIER PUPPIES
Given below is a sample of a vet’s schedule of vaccinations for pups. However, this may vary from vet to vet.
- 12 weeks: Give the 3rd combination injection and possibly a Lyme Vaccine inoculation. Repeat Lyme vaccinetwo weeks later, then annually
- 12-16 weeks: Rabies vaccine
- 16 weeks: Give the last combination vaccine
- 6-7 weeks: Give 1st combination vaccine—Distemper, Hepatitis, Parvovirus, Parainfluenza, Coronavirus)
- 9 weeks: Give 2nd combination vaccine
The reason you must give your Boston Terrier puppy all these vaccinations is that he develops a good antibody response to the disease.
If you take his age and the level of immunity he has received from his mother that will only complicate the “probability of protection.”
Instead, allow him to receive as much immunity as possible before the immunity his mother has given him.