Search Results for “vaccination guidelines”

Guidelines are offered to guide the veterinary practitioner in designing a comprehensive, individualized wellness plan for each stage of a dog’s life.

Review these tables to establish checklists to determine if your canine patients are receive optimum care for their specific life stage. When applicable, a link has been provided to other AAHA Guidelines for additional information. 

The guidelines are an update and extension of the AAHA Canine Life Stage Guidelines published in 2012. A noteworthy change from the earlier guidelines is the division of the dog’s lifespan into five stages (puppy, young adult, mature adult, senior, and end of life) instead of the previous six. This simplified grouping is consistent with how pet owners generally perceive their dog’s maturation and aging process and provides a readily understood basis for an evolving, lifelong healthcare strategy.

Vaccination priorities to consider when designing a comprehensive, life stage-targeted wellness plan for a cat.

Resources  from the 2019 AAHA Canine Life Stage Guidelines   for both pet owners and veterinary teams.

Technologies used in the manufacturing of vaccines for animals have expanded significantly over the past decade. The number of licensed vaccines continues to grow, driven largely by the need to protect dogs against emerging pathogens, enhance vaccine safety, and improve immunogenicity of existing vaccines. 83  

Veterinarians play a crucial role in protecting dogs, their families, and the public. Routine testing to screen healthy pets for zoonotic disease or shared disease (e.g., tick-borne illness) may allow early detection in people by acting as a sentinel for family health.

The ultimate goal of wellness care is improved quality of life and longevity. Comprehensive life stage wellness care permits early detection and treatment or control of disease and cost-saving in long-term healthcare expenses.

A patient’s life stage is one of the most relevant aspects of clinical practice because it guides risk assessment, a preventive healthcare plan, and appropriate treatment. A canine patient’s life stage also forms the basis for an ongoing dialog with the pet owner about a lifetime healthcare strategy for their pet.