8 weeks is the perfect age. I would not wait to have her vaccinated because she is away from her mother and not nursing and is not getting those antibodies anymore :wink:
Vaccinating an 8 week old puppy. Advice needed please.
Hi all im getting my much waited for 8 week old Chi girl this Tuesday. I was supposed to get her at 10 weeks but shes done so well im having her earlier. I am taking her straight to the vets for a thorough check up. My breeder says the pup is too young at 8 weeks to be vaccinated, but when i rang the vets to book the appointment i was told that the vet would decide when he sees her. They know shes 8 weeks old. I dont want to take any unnecessary risks with her, and id very much appreciate any advice from all you lovely people. 
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Bella was vaccinated at 8 weeks. No problems!
Leslie
Leslie
Gizmo got his first set of shots at exactly 8 weeks... then the other round at 3 weeks...etc.
Most vets will say this: 8 weeks as a general guideline for first vaccines, but decide when they see the animal. Other factors they have to consider are current state of health, possibility of compromised immune system, auto-immune disorders that aren't obvious to you or the breeder, dosage and weight issues, etc... Your vet is only saying this because he doesn't want to guarantee that the vaccines will be given at that time, it's the right thing to do.
Gadget got his first set of shots @ 6 weeks because he was taken away from mom 2 3 weeeks the vet wanted to get his shots in him.. He did fine...
Thanx all thats answered my questions :wink:
:wink:jacob had his at 8 weeks but i wish i had waited a little longer he was so tiny and if you think about it the vets seem to give the same dose to every sized dog always wondered about that !? im waiting til britney and paris are about 12 weeks
My vet Gave Gadget a dose just for his size.. They weighed him and he looked at a chart and it told him how much to give him...
My vet is really knowledgable when it comes to little dogs..
My vet is really knowledgable when it comes to little dogs..
We also do this with cases that are questionable, dogs under 3 pounds, ferrets, etc. However, there isn't a "chart" we use since there isn't a published formulary. Generally for these animals we give half the vaccine.
There sn't a lot of research on it, and because the body only builds up a certain level of immunity, and each animal has an individual threshold (immune system strength is not necessarily affected by weight, but by number of circulating antibodies, antigens, and other immune-related cells) so dosaging is a difficult and often debated thing. I'm wondering about the chart for weight and vaccine dosage, I'm very interested in the formulary your veterinarian is using, since there's isn't a whole lot of research.
A quote from a veterinary vaccine/virology researcher and professor:
There sn't a lot of research on it, and because the body only builds up a certain level of immunity, and each animal has an individual threshold (immune system strength is not necessarily affected by weight, but by number of circulating antibodies, antigens, and other immune-related cells) so dosaging is a difficult and often debated thing. I'm wondering about the chart for weight and vaccine dosage, I'm very interested in the formulary your veterinarian is using, since there's isn't a whole lot of research.
A quote from a veterinary vaccine/virology researcher and professor:
o, the question is this: Should puppies recieve a smaller dose of vaccine because they are smaller and have less body mass or should puppies recieve a higher vaccine dose because they have circulating maternal antibodies that need to be overcome in order for a proper immune response to be initiated?
Well, for some diseases we do know that puppies should recieve basically more vaccine ie the vaccines that they get should contain more antigen (virus or virus particles which stimulate immunity) so that there is still excess antigen left after the maternal antibodies have neutralized some of it. These vaccines should also be more like the actual infective virus than is necessary for adult dogs. One disease that we use vaccines for puppies in such a manner is canine parvovirus. These types of vaccines are sometimes referred to as "low passage, high titer" vaccines.
For other diseases it seems intuitive that puppies should recieve less vaccine because of their smaller size since we give less dose of drugs to puppies in many cases. Actually, vaccines do not work in the same way as antibiotics or pain-killers do therefore, we should not just assume that puppies need less vaccine. This strategy, then, would not only be applicable to younger dogs, but also to smaller breed dogs as well. Manufactureres of monovalent vaccines (vaccines that immunize against one virus) and polyvalent vaccines (vaccines which immunize against more than one virus) recommend using the same vaccine dose for animals of all ages and sizes such that the average sized animal would recieve a sufficient amout of antigen. Does this mean that toy-breeds are always being overvaccinated and giant breeds are alway being undervaccinated? Is this dependent on whether you are using killed or modified live vaccines? The answer to both of these questions varies according to who you talk to. The "real" answers to these questions lie in future research. For example, we need to be able to understand if bigger animals have a proportionately larger amount of cells in their body that can respond to vaccines and if smaller animals have proportionately fewer cells that can respond. And if there is such a difference, is it clinically significant and should we be dosing more or less based upon it? Some references state that killed vaccines do require dose adjustments based upon body mass, but even this fact isn't really understood yet.
The first thing my vet does is weigh Marcus, every visit and all medications are tailored to his size. He's a bit over cautious but I like that.
don't you worry about diseases???? especially parvo!?chihuahua-lady said:jacob had his at 8 weeks but i wish i had waited a little longer he was so tiny and if you think about it the vets seem to give the same dose to every sized dog always wondered about that !? im waiting til britney and paris are about 12 weeks
I would like to know to :?luv4mygirls said:don't you worry about diseases???? especially parvo!?chihuahua-lady said:jacob had his at 8 weeks but i wish i had waited a little longer he was so tiny and if you think about it the vets seem to give the same dose to every sized dog always wondered about that !? im waiting til britney and paris are about 12 weeks
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