Age of vax at humane society?

[sofficat]

I was volunteering at a humane society today and in the front of the medical record notebook there was a notice that said every puppy/kitten starting at the age of 3 weeks must be vaccinated every 2 weeks until 16 weeks old. I questioned one of the vet students I was with and she said that if they don't start at 3 weeks then it means (pretty much) certain death for the puppy/kitten (because of the nature of the environment). I was (at first) appalled, so when I got home I looked on VIN and a few references said it is possible to start vax as early as 2 weeks. Then I saw that if there is no maternal antibodies (aka no milk from mom) then you probably should start at about 3 weeks of age. So... what are your experiences with shelters and age of vaccinations?

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[ShelterGirl]

We don't start puppies or kittens on DA2PP or FVRCP, respectively, until they're at least 4 weeks old. I'd have to look it up, but I believe we wait until 2 months old for puppy bordetella vax. The vets I work with believe the risk outweighs the benefit when they are super young, even if they aren't with their mommas. After that, every 2-4 weeks until they're 4 months old. I'm interested in hearing what other places do!

 

[rexosaurus]

I've never worked in a shelter, but man that seems so young? It'll be interesting to see what people respond with

 

[sofficat]

We don't start puppies or kittens on DA2PP or FVRCP, respectively, until they're at least 4 weeks old. I'd have to look it up, but I believe we wait until 2 months old for puppy bordetella vax. The vets I work with believe the risk outweighs the benefit when they are super young, even if they aren't with their mommas. After that, every 2-4 weeks until they're 4 months old. I'm interested in hearing what other places do!

waiting 4 weeks is a little risky... antibody levels will prob be too low to fight off any true virus/bacterial threat (in a shelter setting). imo.

rex- i know what you mean, i was really surprised and could barely wait to get home to look it up. 3 weeks?!!

 

[ShelterGirl]

I should clarify - kittens < 2 lb and puppies < 2 mo. go to foster homes. They don't stay in the shelter - way too germy!

 

[sofficat]

just bumping up in hopes of getting more responses.

 

[JerseyisCutest]

.

 

[NSilverwolf]

Every incoming cat to our shelter got Heska Ultranasal and Felocell-P as long as they had their eyes open. Basically as long as they weren't dying the head of shelter med wanted them vaccined on intake. One of the main reasons was that if a cat with panleuk made it into a kennel, it greatly reduced the risk of the other cats contracting it. All kittens under two pounds were shuttled into foster homes as soon as possible but regardless of whether they were in foster care or not they were required to be boostered with both until they reached 8 weeks (and were presumably adopted).

If for some reason we had a 2 month to 4 month old kitten in the shelter for longer than a month they were boosted every 4 weeks.

After that until they reach 4 months the vets recommend monthly FVRCP boosters (but as those are at the adopter's cost we don't have firm number rates on how much that occurs because they could choose to see another vet at another clinic).

We very rarely see puppies under two pounds at our shelter (we're up in the Northeast and I can only recall...maybe a dozen in my 4 years there) and if we do...they're usually adopted within a week of coming in so the distemper/kennel cough vaccines are usually all we have time to give.

 

[Electrophile]

Yikes. I know shelter medicine is more like herd health than standard small animal medicine, but that early (3 weeks) is just not good medicine.

 

[VeganSoprano]

For the really contagious devastating diseases - meaning basically panleuk, parvo, and distemper - it's well worth it to vaccinate as early as possible IMO. The risk of the vaccine can't possibly be greater than the risk of disease.

I've seen kittens die from panleuk and puppies die from parvo that likely could have been prevented if they'd been vaccinated appropriately for the risks of a shelter environment. But I've never seen anyone die from an FVRCP or DAP vaccine. To me good medicine means treating appropriately to the environment. Just as vaccinating a 4-week-old in a private home would be bad medicine, so would leaving a 4-week-old in a high risk environment with absolutely no protection against common, deadly diseases.

 

[Electrophile]

Once again, I appreciate the nature of shelters and the very contagious diseases in shelters (I'm vice president of the shelter club at our vet school and have fostered and volunteered at the local shelter for years). However, the immunologic issue is that maternal antibodies interfere with vaccine in the first place, so they pretty much do nothing helpful and could potentially be harmful. One paper I heard about (been meaning to read) found that only about a third of puppies at 6 weeks (let alone 3 weeks) have even sufficiently low enough levels of maternal antibodies for the vaccine to have any affect. It would be far more prudent to place the kittens in proper foster care (God bless the people who can foster the really young puppies and kittens!) with adult animals that are already vaccinated and vaccinate them later closer to 8 weeks.

Only recently has it come out the potential harm in early vaccines and vaccines in general through vaccinosis and later consequences in health. As for not being lethal...my Malinois puppy was very very sick within 3 days after his DHPP vaccination at 11 weeks (105 F temperature, painful and swollen joints, lethargy, elevated leukocyte count, dehydration, bloody diarrhea, negative parvo ELISA and fecal). If he would have been in a busy shelter, he could have quickly succumbed. He's now had his parvo and distemper titer tested and he's at full immunity to both. He will not be getting either vaccination again unless the titer starts to fall for whatever reason. Vaccines are far from harmless.

 

[JerseyisCutest]

But I'm wondering if everyone is referring to puppies and kittens that aren't nursing at 3 or 4 weeks because they were separated from the parents? If so, their maternal antibody level would begin to fall much earlier than our normal pets who stayed with their parents and nursed until 5 or 6 weeks. I just assumed that's what people were talking about was orphaned babies.......if not, then I don't really see the point in vaccinating that early because maternal antibodies will much more than likely be far too high if they are still nursing.

 

[bakaduin]

Electrophile-
The puppies and kittens are getting the early vaccines, Im assuming, because they didnt get colostrum and are lacking on maternal antibodies.

 

[Electrophile]

That may be a different kettle of fish indeed and all the more reason to get those kittens or puppies out of the shelter. Not a good situation all around.