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Are dog vaccinations needed or not? This is a very crucial question for pet owners. Do happen to have a new pekingese puppy or an adult one who needs his booster shots? Be careful, the appropirate vaccinations will truly help your pekingese’s health – however unnecessary ones can also damage his health big time!

For quite some time, we were also led to believe that your pets should have that 7-in-1 booster shot every other 3 weeks as a puppy and then annually once he is an adult. But we didn’t question them since we highly put our trust in both the pharmaceutical company and our vet. Unfortunately, we were misled and now we finally know the truth. Dr. Christina Chambreau DVM stated that like us people, our pets don’t need any yearly revaccinations.

Other experts like Dr. Ronald Schultz Ph.D. (immunologist and Chairman of the Department of Pathobiological Sciences, University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine) and Dr. Tom Phillips DVM Ph.D also stated that no immunologic requirement dor annual revaccination is needed. The animal’s immunity to viruses would perisist for years if not for their entire lifetime. In other words, our pekingese’s immune system has a “memory” and the memory cells would fight whatever disease is introduced if one successful vaccination had been done before.

In short, all those annual booster shots doesn’t work since his system is already loaded with antibodies from his previous vaccinations. It won’t benefit your dog in any way if you continue your booster shot. There is one myth among pet owners that vaccines are harmless. That is wrong and you must realize that you are not in any way protecting your beloved pekingese if you submit him for booster shots, you are destroying his health and immune system!

Dog Vaccinations

When it comes to puppies most veterinarians are in agreement. Puppies should receive their first canine distemper, canine adenovirus (infectious canine hepatitis) andcanine parvovirus at 7-9 weeks of age, then at 12-13 weeks of age, and finally at 16-18 weeks of age to insure they are solidly protected against these diseases. Shots given earlier than 9-12 weeks usually do not work because they are blocked by residual immunity passed on from its mother. This is because antibody from the puppy’s mother is usually still in their bodies. But in rare occasions there is not enough of it to protect the puppy if it is exposed to these diseases. So rather than take that risk, veterinarians usually give them all an early vaccination. An alternative is to have the puppy’s antibody level checked instead. But that procedure is more expensive and time consuming than just giving the vaccine. I generally give the intranasal kennel cough (bordatella) vaccine at 12 and 18 weeks of age. At 12-16 weeks of age I give puppies a killed three-year rated rabies virus vaccination. Source: 2nd Chance, http://www.2ndchance.info/dogvacs.htm by Ron Hines DVM PhD

Usual Vaccine Side Effects on your Pekingese:

Depressed, loss of appetite and sleepy. General malaise is a common reaction when your pekingese had their shot. It is a result when a live virus aling with other additives are being injected into your pet’s system to enhance their immune system which their body is busy fighting it off. These reactions are to be expected for the next 24 hours after the shot.

Grumpy, Irritable and aloof. Your pekingese is hurt after his shot so it is normal for him to be irritable when you try to touch him. And if he has bee injected in the hind leg, it is expected that he would limp a bit. This effect is seen in the next 3-5 days so don’t be so worried. Always check on his injection site for signs of infection and if the site becomes a big lump and has abcess or the skin around it becomes flaky in the next 24 hours, bring him back to the vet ASAP.

A non-painful, firm bump under the skin at the injection site. This is common but if the lump grows, becomes red and swollen then bring your pekingese to the vet immediately.

Dog vaccinations are undoubtedly important for our beloved pets its just that annual boosted shots are not recommended. By giving them the appropriate shots during their puppy years would already ensure a lifetime coverage. Being a responsible owner it is your job to make sure you really take good care of your pekingese’s health at all times. It pays to do research and learn from the experts to avoid causing health hazards to your beloved pet.

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