Required Vaccines for Your Senior Dog

Vaccinating is a vital part of preventive care for all pets, including your senior dog! Routine vaccinations provide protection against several highly contagious and potentially life-threatening diseases, helping to safeguard your pet’s long-term health and well-being. Some diseases can even transfer from your dog to humans, so vaccinating protects you and your family as well. Dogs 8 years and up are considered to be in their senior years. (Think about humans 55 years and older.) They may have less energy, joint or mobility issues, and require more tender love and care. So keeping their vaccines up to date is vital to make sure they’re supported and protected from harm’s way.

Senior dogs need a series of core vaccinations that are recommended regardless of lifestyle or environment. These include DAPP (Distemper, Adenovirus, Parainfluenza, Parvovirus), Rabies, and Leptospirosis.

This combination vaccine (multiple vaccines in one) protects your senior dog from four common and contagious viral canine diseases:

Canine Distemper and Parvovirus are both serious, and often fatal diseases, that affect multiple organ systems and may require lengthy hospitalization, so protecting your pup is essential!

Rabies virus can be transmitted to dogs through a bite from an infected animal. Across the US, animals most often infected include raccoons, skunks, and bats—all creatures your senior dog can come across outdoors. It’s important to note that this disease is fatal. Since it is one of the few life-threatening diseases that pets can transmit to humans, most states and/or county codes require all dogs to be vaccinated against rabies by law.

Leptospirosis (also known as “Lepto”) is a zoonotic, highly contagious bacterial infection that impacts dogs across the country. A zoonotic disease is an illness that can spread from animals to people through things like bites, scratches, or contact with their poop, saliva, or other body fluids. Leptospirosis is often transmitted to dogs when they have contact with, or drink from, warm bodies of water (e.g., lakes, streams, or puddles), walk where an infected animal has been (especially wildlife, rodents, and farm animals), or have direct contact with an infected animal.

If your dog contracts leptospirosis, it can cause fever, lethargy, poor appetite, and muscle pain, progressing to vomiting, diarrhea, yellowing of skin/gums (jaundice), and signs of acute kidney injury (elevated creatinine/azotemia).

In addition to the core vaccines required for senior dogs, there are various lifestyle-based vaccines like Bordetella, Lyme, and Influenza. These non-core vaccines are recommended based on your pet’s age, home location, daily activities, and frequency of contact with other animals.

Discuss these factors with your veterinarian to see if any of the lifestyle-dependent vaccines are suitable for your dog. Most of these vaccines need yearly boosters to maintain your dog’s protection.

Keep in mind that your pet’s risk of contracting one of these diseases can change at any point. Frequent reassessment with your dog’s veterinary care team is essential in helping them stay protected as their activities and environment shift throughout their life.

Is your dog due for a vaccination? Book an appointment with a local Thrive Pet Healthcare veterinarian today.