The importance of vaccines: $10 Lepto Vaccines through August
July 30, 2019 | News, August is National Immunization Awareness Month and while this is not a super fun holiday, keeping your pets up-to-date on their recommended vaccinations and preventative care, is one of the most effective ways to keep them healthy and happy! Many diseases are spread through contact with other animals or a contaminated environment, vaccines provide your beloved animals with a resistance to such diseases. No only does vaccinating your pets keep them personally safe, but also reduces the spread of dangerous diseases to other pets and in some cases, humans as well!
If maintaining a healthy wellbeing of your companion animals doesn’t justify keeping up on vaccines, there are countless other reasons to vaccinate:
- Avoiding the high cost of medical treatment for contracted preventable diseases
- Abiding by state laws and regulations (Rabies is a required vaccine by Indiana Law!)
- Required for dog parks, grooming, boarding, hospitalization, day care and even some pet friendly festivals!
- Only some vaccines required annually- others have a three year coverage!
Both our Michigan Road facility and Holmes Ave Animal Welfare Center offer low-cost vaccine and preventative care. For more information click here
Deal of the Month: Through August, both our clinics are offering $10 Leptospirosis (Lepto) vaccines.
Lepto is a zoonotic disease that can infect both humans and animals. Lepto is hard to avoid as the bacteria that causes the disease is found in the urine of mammals like raccoons, squirrels, possums, mice, chipmunks and rats. This means animals who live in both city and rural environments are at risk of exposure. Common types of exposure to the bacteria happen when an animal drinks from puddles, rivers, lakes or streams. Contact with rodents (like rats & squirrels) or other dogs (dog parks, multiple dog working facilities, groomers, etc) also are common types of exposure. Without treatment Lepto can cause kidney failure, be passed along to humans and/or preventable death for an otherwise healthy pet. What makes Lepto so dangerous is that once exposed many dogs show no signs at all- and if they do, the symptoms can be rather ambiguous.
Common signs for those who show them can include the following:
- Decreased appetite or not eating
- Increased drinking and urination
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Weakness and depression
- Muscle pain, stiffness, reluctance to move
- Conjunctivitis (red eyes)
- Difficulty breathing or coughing
- Jaundice
- Fever
To keep your pets safe from the dangers of Lepto, first time clients get a two-part series of shots spaced about a month apart. From there, the Lepto vaccine is then included only annually, same time as other yearly vaccines.
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