So, you got a kitten. Bowls for food, bedding, toilet with filler and toys purchased. Now it's time to take care of your pet's health. He is now healthy - and in the future? Even if you decide that the animal will never leave the borders of your apartment, this does not mean at all that you yourself will not bring dangerous viruses from the street on your shoes. Do kittens need vaccinations, what kind of vaccines do they need, and in what order is vaccinated animals? Read this article.
A newborn baby is protected by the mother's immunity. But after 8 weeks this barrier disappears. Then the small animal remains defenseless in the face of many dangerous diseases. Some of them (distemper, panleukopenia) are developing so rapidly that the owners simply do not have time to save their pet. Therefore, the first vaccination of a kitten is carried out after he reaches two months of age. But before that, worms are removed from the animal with a special anthelmintic agent, which is bought only in a veterinary pharmacy. It is given on an empty stomach, two hours before a meal. After 10 days, the procedure is repeated. If the baby’s body is weakened (for example, you pick up a stray kitten suffering from malnutrition or illness), you must first treat him. The animal must be completely healthy before vaccination, otherwise the immune system will not work out. Now let's talk about how the vaccine is administered.
A kitten at the age of eight weeks is vaccinated in two stages. Moreover, the second dose is injected 25 days after the first. Then rabies vaccination is given. Thus, the animal is considered protected from calicivirus, panleukopenia, chlamydia, herpes virus and other diseases throughout the year. Next, the pet must be subjected to this procedure every year. Together with the first vaccination in a veterinary clinic, you will be given a passport of an animal of international standard, which will indicate the date and name of the vaccine. A document is also necessary if you decide to transport your pet on an airplane or train (on vacation or to exhibitions).
If you bought a thoroughbred animal from a nursery, then most likely he has already been vaccinated. The kitten, however, needs to be checked. Find out everything in detail, and make sure that along with the pedigree you are provided with clear information about what exactly he was already given and pricked, and when exactly. If the drug was transferred to animals without complications, then it makes sense to use it in the future.
Some owners believe that this is a very dangerous thing - vaccination. A kitten, they say, can thus be deprived of immunity. Some even say that there is a danger just to instill a disease from which a pet is vaccinated.
This is not true. In the first day after the injection, the animal may be sleepy and lethargic - this is a normal process, there is no reason for concern. But if this condition lasts longer - contact your veterinarian immediately. But even an expired vaccine or a latent disease present in the body at the time of the procedure cannot “infect” the kitten with an infection. Now about how to proceed.
An older pet also needs a vaccination. A kitten that has reached six months of age is also vaccinated. The immunity in such adolescents is already strong enough to carry out the procedure once, and not in two doses, as for babies. They, like adult animals, are immediately given a remedy for a whole “bouquet” of dangerous diseases: feline leukemia, infectious peritonitis, panleukopenia, viral rhinotracheitis and others. In veterinary clinics you will be offered a choice of various vaccine preparations, both domestic and imported. All of them serve as reliable protection, however, foreign (Intervet, Merial, Fort Dodge) are more easily tolerated by animals. In addition to standard vaccinations, a special ringworm vaccine has been developed.