Vaccinations for Your Pet
Routine vaccinations are one of the best ways to keep your pet healthy and protected. At Unionville South Pet Hospital, we advise vaccinations tailored to your pet's individualized risk factors, life stage, and lifestyle to determine which vaccines they need and how often. Following the routine puppy and kitten series of vaccinations and one-year booster shots, we recommend vaccinating dogs for distemper, hepatitis, parainfluenza and parvovirus. Cats should be vaccinated for panleukopenia and upper respiratory viruses.
Based on previous vaccine history and life stage, vaccination boosters are administered based on current American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) and America Association of feline Practitioners (AAFP) recommendations. Many viral vaccines provide immunity for longer than 3 years, while bacterial vaccines such as bordetella (kennel cough) and leptospirosis do not stimulate long-term immunity and need to be boostered every year.
定期疫苗接種是維持寵物健康與預防疾病的最佳方式之一。在 Unionville South Pet Hospital，我們僅使用經過充分測試的疫苗組合，以預防本地區最嚴重的傳染病。我們會根據每隻寵物的風險因素、年齡階段及生活方式進行個別評估，來決定所需疫苗種類及接種頻率。
在完成幼犬與幼貓的基礎疫苗系列及一年後的加強針後，我們建議狗狗接種犬瘟熱病毒（distemper）與犬小病毒（parvovirus）疫苗；而貓咪則應每三年接種一次貓泛白血球減少症（panleukopenia）及上呼吸道病毒疫苗。
Vaccinations begin between ages six and eight weeks of age for puppies and kittens. We booster until about 16 weeks-old because this is the time when puppies and kittens begin to lose the immunities provided by mother's milk and have a fully developed immune system. Puppy and kitten boosters are administered to lessen the severity of certain life-threatening diseases. After four months of age, most pets are protected for one year.
Your pet's vaccinations are tailored to fit their lifestyle. If they visit grooming salons, boarding facilities, obedience classes, dog parks, outdoor cats, go hiking and other places, they may be in more frequent contact and exposure with diseases. They may need yearly protection against distemper, parvo, bronchitis, and rabies.
疫苗通常在幼犬與幼貓六至八週齡時開始接種，此時牠們從母乳獲得的免疫力逐漸減弱。為了降低某些致命疾病的風險，需要進行一系列的加強針。在四個月大之後，寵物通常可獲得為期一年的保護力。
寵物的疫苗計畫應依其生活型態量身訂做。如果您的寵物經常前往美容院、寄宿設施、訓練課程或狗公園等場所，牠們接觸病毒的機會較高，因此可能需要每年接種犬瘟熱、犬小病毒、支氣管炎（kennel cough）及狂犬病疫苗。
此外，若您經常帶寵物外出旅行，可能還需要預防當地常見的疾病，例如萊姆病（Lyme disease）及鉤端螺旋體病（Leptospirosis）。對於高齡或體質較敏感的寵物，可能會出現過敏反應，因此需要採用不同的疫苗接種方案。Eve 醫生會為您的寵物進行詳細檢查，以制定最安全且有效的保護計畫。
Additional resources
