Homevet

Annual dog vaccinations are required to protect against Distemper, Parvovirus, Leptospirosis, and other infectious diseases. The exact frequency of doing the inoculations is dependent on a number of factors so please discuss your dog’s situation and requirements with the vet.

Dog vaccines are a routine part of pet care. Also for dogs, normally they need annual protection against heart-worm. There is an annual injection, or a monthly chew to eat. There is a 2 minute on-site Heart-worm blood test (just needs 3 drops of blood) to check for heartworm disease exposure first, if your dog is not currently on preventative medication.

Dog vaccines are something that we do routinely as part of a veterinary housecall and many pets prefer having their annual shots at home.

Rabies vaccination is also required every 3 years in Hong Kong and can be given at the same time as the other vaccinations. A dog licence (from the Government) is needed in HK to prove that dogs have had their Rabies vaccine and are properly registered by owners. The pet has a microchip number and this is indicated on the dog licence. Homevet will organize registration or re-issuing a dog licence and can also help with any other issues such as change of pet ownership.

Young puppies are highly susceptible to infectious diseases and should be vaccinated against them as soon as they are old enough to allow it. Infectious diseases like this are distemper, infectious hepatitis, parvovirus, parainfluenza, and rabies. In Hong Kong, the frequency of cases of Parvovirus and Distemper are very high. And these diseases are very difficult to treat successfully once caught, and puppies and dogs do still die of these diseases every year. So dog vaccines are very recommended.

In Hong Kong also there are many stray village dogs, as well as dogs sometimes being brought across the border illegally- and so if these are most likely unvaccinated, there is a high need for dog vaccinations in the pet dog community: because there is a large reservoir of infectious disease in all the unvaccinated dogs in Hong Kong. Also due to the Hong Kong environment never getting cold in the winter, and the small communal areas available, disease transmission is more easy.

We believe that protection is better than cure – especially when the diseases can be so very serious in our pets.