Animal Welfare Professionals

Hello,

I am seeking best practice vaccine protocols from other shelters. If you can share examples, that would be great! 

Specific questions about vaccine protocols. 

1. Do you vaccine pregnant animals? If so, what is the protocol? If no, why? 

2. What is the vaccine protocol for kittens 4 to 16 weeks? 

Hi, Attached is our Vaccination Protocol at Austin Pets Alive. We vaccinate all pregnant and injured (benefit outweighs the risk!) and start at 6 weeks. In our Neonatal Kitten Nursery we start vaccines at 4 weeks and 1 lb due to exposure. If puppies 4 weeks of age are onsite for any amount of time we will vaccinate them. Generally speaking any babies in foster start vaccine at 6 weeks. 

Hi there, 

ASPCA Pro has great resources about shelter vaccination: https://www.aspcapro.org/resource/preventive-health-care-vaccinations. 

According to the ASV Guidelines pregnancy and mild illness are not contraindications to administering
core vaccines in most shelter settings because the risk from virulent pathogens in an unvaccinated animal would be far greater than the relatively low risk of problems posed by vaccination (AAFP 2009;
AAHA 2006; Larson 2009). And the University of Wisconsin- Madison Shelter Medicine Programa recommends starting vaccination at 4 weeks of age and the number of vaccinations recommended for kittens is related to the age at which they are given rather than to a specific quantity. It is essential that revaccination every 2-3 weeks continues until the kittens are 18-20 weeks of age, regardless of the age when vaccination was started (https://www.uwsheltermedicine.com/library/resources/intake-and-vaccination-protocols-in-kittens.)

Becca - Why 2 modified live vaccines in an adult?  1 should be adequate if I understand the mechanics correctly.

Thanks