How often are vaccines necessary in adult dogs and cats?
Each animal’s potential for exposure to infectious diseases is different. Therefore, the veterinarian will decide the best plan for vaccinating your pet on a case-by-case basis. In general, adult dogs and cats do not require vaccines as often as a pup or kitten. Until recently, the standard of care was to administer all vaccines on an annual basis. However, recent studies have shown that some vaccines last much longer than one year in adult animals. Generally, all vaccines are administered at least once every three years. At Lakeside Animal Clinic, we stagger the vaccines so that your pet is examined and vaccinated once yearly, but each individual vaccine is only given once every three years. The City of Houston and Harris County have both recently adopted protocol to allow Rabies vaccination every three years, with certain conditions (See Question #7).
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