Garrett
and Alisa are newlyweds with a new house and an
8-week-old French bulldog named Boston.
Alisa
knows Boston needs to be vaccinated but she has heard
that even with vaccinations, Boston should not be
allowed outside "for a while." Her question:
How long is that? I can understand her confusion. With
a little understanding of vaccinations and how they
work, "a while" can be more accurately
defined.
Vaccinations
are powerful tools to prevent several deadly diseases,
some of which are untreatable. I can think of no more
appropriate example of the saying "an ounce of
prevention is worth a pound of cure" than
vaccinations.
Essentially,
vaccines are biologically active substances designed
to stimulate the recipient's immune system in
preparation for assault from a particular
disease-causing organism. I'll explain how vaccines
are used in canines, but keep in mind that there are
similarities in vaccine protocols with many different
species.
Puppies
have inherent protection passed on to them from their
mother. This protection is both within the bloodstream
before birth and then from the mother's milk during
feeding.
The
specific antibodies the mother has are related to the
organisms she has been exposed to both naturally and
through vaccination. When these antibodies are passed
to her puppies, they are called maternal antibodies
and provide the same protection she possesses to her
puppies.
Boston
has this protection, but it won't last. A puppy's
maternal protection starts to wane at about 4 weeks of
age, depending on the individual, and is gone around
14 to 16 weeks. It is somewhere within this 10- to
12-week window that the puppy's immune system must
shoulder the load. This is where vaccinations begin.
Vaccinations
are given on a schedule and as a series. One vaccine
given at 8 weeks is almost worthless. Instead, it is
just an early stimulus of the pup's immune system. It
must be repeated to be ultimately effective.
Understanding this relationship of vaccine timing and
repetition is important.
I
usually start vaccinations around 8 weeks of age. Any
earlier and the antibodies provided by the mother will
block any effective antibody development by the
puppy's own immune system in response to the vaccine.
This maternal blocking, coupled with an immature
immune system in an 8-week-old puppy, make the first
vaccination minimally effective. The vaccines are
repeated then at 12 weeks and 16 weeks as the maternal
antibodies are disappearing and the pup's immune
system is taking over. I call this time between 6 to
14 weeks the "window of vulnerability."
It is
during this time when a puppy has less and less
protection from the maternal antibodies and not enough
from its own immune system. This is precisely why I
advise people to keep their puppies out of public
places, where they might contact other dogs. Even the
feces of other dogs can harbor potentially bad new
diseases such as parvovirus. There is simply no need
to tempt fate. Keep them at home until the vaccination
series is complete, usually by 16 to 18 weeks, then
take them out.
Remember,
it all comes back to "an ounce of prevention is
worth a pound of cure." And now you know that
"a while" means 16 to 18 weeks.
___
(Jeff
Kahler is a veterinarian in Modesto, Calif. Questions
can be submitted to Your Pet in care of LifeStyles,
The Modesto Bee, P.O. Box 5256, Modesto, CA 95352.)