Dog vaccines and deworming: the schedule to follow

Vaccination and deworming are the two most effective preventive steps you can give your dog. They protect it from often fatal diseases, and some also protect your family. The exact schedule is set by your vet, but it is useful to understand the logic so you don’t miss any step.

Why vaccinate?

A vaccine teaches the immune system to recognise a germ before it meets it for real. Most of the diseases dogs are vaccinated against have no specific treatment: once the dog is ill, all you can do is support it and hope it pulls through.

In Morocco the risk is real. Parvovirus and distemper circulate, notably among stray dogs, and rabies is still present. An unvaccinated puppy walking in the street is genuinely exposed.

The diseases we vaccinate against

• Distemper: a highly contagious virus that attacks the lungs, the digestive tract and the nervous system. Often fatal, it leaves neurological after-effects in survivors.
• Rubarth’s hepatitis: serious viral hepatitis, now rare thanks to vaccination.
• Parvovirus: a fulminant haemorrhagic gastroenteritis, the leading cause of infectious death in puppies. The virus survives for months in the environment.
• Leptospirosis: a bacterium spread by rodent urine, in stagnant water. It affects the liver and kidneys and can be passed to humans.
• Rabies: always fatal once it develops, and transmissible to humans. Vaccination is mandatory in Morocco.
• Kennel cough: a vaccine recommended for dogs that go to boarding kennels, shows, clubs or mix with many other dogs.

The first three, often with parainfluenza virus added, are combined in a single injection, sometimes written CHP or CHPPi in the record. Leptospirosis is written L, rabies R.

The puppy’s schedule

A puppy receives antibodies from its mother’s milk that protect it for a few weeks, but also neutralise the vaccine. As we don’t know the exact date that protection fades, the injections are repeated. The most common scheme is:

• around 8 weeks: first injection against distemper, hepatitis and parvovirus;
• around 12 weeks: second injection, with leptospirosis, and the rabies vaccine from three months;
• around 16 weeks: third injection, with the leptospirosis booster.

In high-risk situations, such as a litter from the street or heavy parvovirus circulation, the vet may start at six weeks. What matters is that the last injection of the series is given at sixteen weeks or later.

The puppy isn’t protected after the first injection. Until one to two weeks after the last, avoid places frequented by unknown dogs and don’t let it sniff other dogs’ droppings. Carry it in the street, but don’t shut it away for that reason: socialisation is just as vital.

The adult dog’s boosters

A first booster is given a year after the puppy series. It is an important step, not to be forgotten.

After that:

• rabies is boosted every year in Morocco;
• leptospirosis is boosted every year, because protection is short;
• distemper, hepatitis and parvovirus protect for longer. Depending on the vaccine and the dog’s situation, the vet suggests a yearly booster or one every three years.

The annual vaccination visit is also the chance for a full check-up: heart, teeth, weight, skin, abdominal palpation. Many problems are picked up at this point.

What if the schedule wasn’t followed?

An adult dog that has never been vaccinated, or whose history is unknown, can be vaccinated at any age. The vet then follows a short protocol, usually two injections a few weeks apart. A booster long overdue is caught up in the same way.

Side effects

Most dogs show nothing. A little tiredness, a slight fever or a small lump at the injection site for a day or two are harmless. Allergic reactions are rare: a swollen head, hives, vomiting or difficulty breathing in the hours that follow call for an immediate return to the vet.

Only a healthy dog is vaccinated. If yours is ill, feverish or heavily infested with parasites, the vet will postpone the injection.

Deworming

Almost all puppies are born with worms, passed on by their mother before birth and through her milk. Roundworms slow growth, swell the belly, cause diarrhoea and vomiting, and some can be passed to children.

The recommended rhythm

• Puppy: every two weeks from two weeks of age until two months, then once a month until six months.
• Adult dog: at least four times a year, that is every three months.
• More often, up to once a month, if the dog lives with young children, hunts, eats raw meat or offal, or mixes with many other dogs.
• Breeding bitch: before mating, in late pregnancy and during nursing, as your vet advises.

Tapeworms and the hydatid cyst

Tapeworms are spread by fleas and by eating raw offal. One of them, Echinococcus, causes hydatid cyst in humans, a serious disease still common in Morocco, particularly in rural areas. The dog is infected by eating raw sheep offal and contaminates those around it through its droppings.

Two habits break this cycle: never give raw offal, especially around Eid, and deworm regularly with a product active against tapeworms, based on praziquantel.

Deworming properly

• Weigh your dog: the dose depends on weight, and underdosing is ineffective.
• Use a broad-spectrum dewormer, active on both roundworms and tapeworms.
• Treat all the animals in the household at the same time.
• Add a flea treatment, as fleas transmit a tapeworm.
• Pick up droppings and wash your hands, especially children.

External parasite treatments

Ticks, fleas and sandflies transmit serious diseases in our part of the world. Preventing them is part of the same health schedule; it is covered in our article ticks, fleas and leishmaniasis.

The health record

Every vaccine must be entered in the record, with the product sticker, the date, the date of the next booster, and the vet’s stamp and signature. You will be asked for this document at boarding kennels, in clubs, for travel, and after a bite. Keep it safe and note the boosters in your diary.

Key takeaways

Three injections for the puppy between two and four months, a booster at one year, then regular boosters, including rabies every year. A dewormer every month until six months, then at least four times a year. To set your dog’s schedule, book an appointment with a vet, and read our article on rabies in Morocco.