Globally reducing number of routine injections

The World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) has published vaccination advice for veterinary surgeons and dog owners.

Set to help ensure that that all dogs are fully-protected from infectious disease, Vaccination Guidelines for New Puppy Owners also looks at reducing the number routine injections.

One of the basic principles of the advice is to inject every animal with core vaccines, but less frequently inject with non-core vaccines if it is unnecessary to the individual animal.

The association's Vaccinations Guidelines Group, who produced the advice, has defined non-core vaccines as those only required by animals within a certain risk group depending upon environment and lifestyle.

In dogs, these commonly include vaccines for leptospirosis and kennel cough.

Other basic principles within the advice include that core vaccines should not be given too often, that non-core vaccines should not be given needlessly and that the WSAVA strongly supports the annual health check concept.

In order to show some of the ways these principles can be brought to practice, the guidelines list seven steps, including that all puppies should have initial vaccines against core diseases distemper, parvovirus and hepatitis.

Click here to read the Vaccination Guidelines for New Puppy Owners in full.