[A fridge full of vaccines! Do you know what all of these shiny vials protect against?]
It’s time for another installment of Rose Loves Vaccines! In this post, we’ll talk about the core vaccines recommended for dogs and cats and the illnesses they protect against. You’ll learn how they’re spread, symptoms, treatment, and their importance to your pet’s health! Missed the previous posts? Check out Part One for a basic vaccine overview and Part Two for some real talk about the immune system!
[Antibodies and antigens and lymphocytes, oh my! What exactly do these microscopic medical marvels have to do with vaccines?. Imagine courtesy of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.]
In the second part of our series on vaccines, I’ll be giving a brief overview of how the immune system works and how vaccines help train it to fight disease! Keep in mind that this information has been simplified somewhat for easier understanding (on both my part and yours, I’m certainly no immunologist!); the immune system is a wildly complex and intense part of any living being! But as primers go, this should help further your understanding 🙂 Missed the first part of this series? Check out Part One for a basic vaccine overview.
[Vaccination is vital not just for the health of our pets, but for our own health as well. Image courtesy of the WHO.]
Vaccination is a topic near and dear to my heart. I am a rabid (no pun intended) proponent of vaccination and particularly enjoy educating my clients on its importance. This letter is the first in a series which will hopefully shed some light on the myths, facts, and importance of routine vaccination not only for your pet’s health but also the health of all those around them.
[The first reluctant cuddle with her pups. Roxy keeps a quiet, anxious eye on both me and her little ones as she tries to figure out unexpected motherhood.]
On Thursday I was asked to step up and foster a young dog who had just had a Cesarean, lost several of the pups, and was struggling to adjust. My foster work for the BCSPCA has always been a huge part of my life and I agreed without a second thought. Probably I should have thought about it — Roxy’s anxiety turned out to be a little more than I bargained for! Her improvement since then has been tremendous and I feel so lucky to care for her and her two remaining ups, Esther and Cyrus, but there’s no denying that our first night together was…well, rough!
[My year came to an end with a massive cold snap (-37C) and a callout delayed by a battery drained by the frozen weather. Luckily a friend came to my rescue, and I made a quick resolution to always make sure my car would start before taking call!.]
2018 is upon us, and resolutions are on everyone’s lips. While I’m not a real fan of New Year’s resolutions I have been recently mulling over some changes I’d like to make in my life. In this profession it’s easy to get lost in the job, but we do ourselves no favours when we stop separating work and play.