Northdale Vets's home page
Emergency 01903 202474
Worthing Branch 01903 202474
Lancing Branch 01903 851158
Findon Branch 01903 265968

Vaccinations

Some helpful information

Vaccinations are important to help prevent your pet becoming ill. Prior to the vaccination, the vet will conduct a careful examination.

If you have a new puppy or kitten, ask about our Pet Health Club which spreads the cost of your pet's routine treatments and includes the full puppy and kitten vaccination course. Even older pets can benefit from discounts and saving money on the Pet Health Club, so ask our team for details!

Dogs initially are routinely vaccinated against Distemper, Hepatitis/Adenovirus, Leptospirosis and Parvovirus. Puppy vaccinations can start from 8 weeks. Usually two injections are required and the puppy should not be allowed to mix with other dogs until a week after the second. Additional immunisation against Kennel Cough is available and may be recommended by some kennels. It is advisable to check the kennelling requirements before boarding your pet. After the initial immunisation you will get a voucher for a free health check for your puppy at six months of age. This gives the opportunity to discuss any problems which may have arisen in the important first months of your dog's life, and to spot any conditions or illnesses which may require treatment. Our current protocol is based on our vaccine provider's protocol of an annual booster for Leptospirosis and every three years for Distemper, Hepatitis/Adenovirus, Parvovirus and Paraininfluenzavirus.

Cats are usually vaccinated against Flu, Enteritis and Leukaemia Virus. As a minimum Flu and Enteritis vaccination will be required before boarding. Leukaemia vaccination is particularly advised in young cats and those that are in regular contact with other cats. Vaccination can start from 9 weeks of age, with the second vaccination due 3 weeks later. Thereafter, in line with current recommendations, there is an annual booster vaccination required. Rabies vaccination is now available for cats and dogs travelling abroad – please see our section on Pet Passports for more details.

Rabbits can be vaccinated against Myxomatosis and Viral Haemorrhagic Disease, which is now available in a single vaccine and can be given from 5 weeks of age.

The annual vaccination gives the vet an opportunity to check your pet's general health and therefore the chance to deal with any problems that may have risen.

Vaccine antibody titre testing

If you are concerned about over vaccination or adverse reactions to vaccines we can offer titre testing at Northdale Vets.

As a practice we believe vaccination is essential and strongly advise all puppies receive 2 vaccinations at 8 and 10 weeks against important and deadly diseases. 

The first booster at 1 year is essential to ensure full cover. We usually then give distemper, parvo and hepatitis vaccines every 3rd year. 

These are considered core vaccines by the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA). However, some dogs may retain immunity to these diseases longer than 3 years. We can send off a blood sample for antibody titres to distemper, parvo and hepatitis to test for immunity and see if a vaccination is needed.

The BSAVA (British SAVA) also list leptospirosis as a core vaccine. It is spread in stagnant water and rat infested areas mostly so rural settings are a risk. Unfortunately titre testing is of no value in assessing immunity against lepto as antibodies play little part. We therefore recommend a yearly lepto vaccine as immunity is short lived in this vaccine.

We also give a full health check at vaccination which is useful for detecting problems and discussing issues. For those owners wishing to test for immunity, we can offer a health check, lepto2 vaccination and titre testing for DHP. If the titres were low on any one disease then we recommend a full DHP vac is needed as they are combined and this can be given for reduced cost.  Please contact the surgery for more details.

If you want to use kennels you would need to check the kennel will accept a certificate for titres as proof of immunity. The result is only valid at the time taken and will need regular retesting to ensure immunity remains. This is likely to need doing annually. If you are interested book an appointment with a vet to discuss details when your vaccination is due, and we can decide how to proceed.

Return to Services