If you just got a new puppy, you need to study up and learn about vaccinations fast. In order to keep your puppy healthy, you need to make sure that your puppy has the necessary vaccines.

Core Vaccines

Core vaccines are the vaccines that pretty much all veterinarians agree that your puppy should have. These core vaccines are vaccinations that are designed to help protect your puppy against diseases that can be fatal for your puppy or that are very easily transmitted from one dog to another.

There are four main core vaccines that most veterinarians will recommend you get for your dog. One of the most familiar core vaccines is the rabies vaccination, which will protect your dog against a rabies bite from an infected animal. The next is the adenovirus vaccination, which protects your dog against this serious respiratory illness.

Third is the parvovirus vaccination, which protects your dog against parvo, which can spread quickly and be deadly. Finally, distemper is the fourth vaccination in the core vaccines. Distemper is a fatal disease that is highly contagious and doesn't have a known cure.

Non-Core Vaccines

There are other vaccines that your puppy can get. These vaccines are considered non-core vaccines because whether or not your dog needs to get them can depend a lot upon where you live, disease that are active in the area, and the type of lifestyle you want your dog to have.

If you live somewhere with lots of ticks, Lyme disease vaccine is a very common non-core vaccine that many dogs get. If you plan on taking your dog to the dog parks and letting your dog socialize with other dogs, kennel cough and leptospirosis are two vaccines that your vet may recommend.

Vaccination Schedule

Once you and your vet agree on the core and non-core vaccines that your puppy needs, you are going to have to come up with a vaccination schedule. Some of the vaccinations are going to need to be spaced out, and many of the vaccinations are going to require you to follow up boasters. This schedule may go out for a couple of years, so make sure you know when to bring your puppy back in for the rest of their shots. 

When you get a new puppy, one of the most important things you can do is make sure that your puppy gets vaccinated on time. Vaccinations will help protect your puppy and keep your puppy healthy. 

Contact a center like Murrells Inlet Veterinary Hospital for more information.

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