As a dog owner, it is a big responsibility of yours to ensure that your dog is up to date with all of its vaccinations. This is essential for the health and safety of your dog, as well as other dogs that it may come into contact with. A lot of people just take pet vaccinations to be a formality when they go to the vets, however it holds significantly more importance than this as there are several reasons why your dog must be vaccinated. Whilst your dog should have it’s vaccinations as a puppy, you should also take it for annual boosters to ensure that they stay up to date and are vaccinated against everything.
Your dog is part of the family, and it is your responsibility to look after and care for them. This includes having them vaccinated so that they are immune and at minimal risk of becoming sick. So, we thought we would give you a bit more information on why you must get your dog vaccinated.
It is required legally
Though people are aware that dogs must be vaccinated, a lot of people don’t know that this is actually a legal requirement. The sole reason for this is to keep your own dog safe, along with all other animals. For example, without vaccinations your dog can pick up diseases and illnesses as they will not be immune to these. Whilst this can be extremely harmful and sometimes critical to your dog, it also puts other animals at risk too, as your dog can pass this on.
An unvaccinated dog carrying any sort of disease can cause significant threat and danger to anyone that comes into contact with it. If the dog was to bite another animal or even a human, the disease can be transmitted which presents a lot of risks and danger.
It builds up their immune system
Vaccinations are essential to build up a dog’s immune system. The reason the first vaccinations are required for dogs at such a young age is because this is when they are most vulnerable and susceptible to becoming ill or catching diseases. At this point, dogs aren’t able to fight off illness and infection as well as when they are older, which is why it is so important to get them vaccinated.
Furthermore, this doesn’t just apply to when dogs are young, as their health naturally deteriorates as they get older and they may be more prone to developing illness or infection. Therefore you must stay on top of vaccinations and take your dog to have its booster every year so that they are keeping in good health and have a strong immune system so that they can fight off illness and infection.
It’s affordable
Some people are put off taking their dog for its yearly booster as they are concerned this will cost a lot of money. Trips to the vets can be expensive, however yearly boosters are affordable for pet owners. Affordable vaccinations are also in place to encourage dog owners to stay on top of these and ensure that their dog receives its booster every year.
Furthermore, with vaccinations there is a lower risk of your dog getting sick. The cost of having to pay for treatment for your dog if they were to get sick would be far greater than the annual cost of a vaccination. This is another reason why owners are encouraged to stay on top of this.
It keeps them healthy
The main reason that having your dog vaccinated is so important is because it keeps them in good health. You don’t want your dog getting sick, and staying on top of their vaccinations is the way to prevent this. Some diseases are fatal to dogs. Without being vaccinated, they are at a much higher risk of becoming sick, and they will also have a much weaker immune system and so would be less likely to be able to fight it off.
It is required for pet boarding
If ever you require to put your dog in the kennels, you must be up to date with their vaccinations in order to do this. Kennels do not board any dogs that have not been vaccinated, so this is another thing to be mindful of. If you were to board your dog without its vaccinations and it was carrying any kind of disease, this would put all the other animals at risk and be potentially harmful and dangerous to them.
For more information or if you are looking to buy a new puppy, simply get in touch with us via our contact page and we will be more than happy to help.
