At Aurora Pet Hospital, we continuously strive to provide the most effective and safest "evidence-based" treatments and therapies available for our feline and canine patients.

Dr. Meisner and Dr. Keem recently attended a continuing education seminar titled: "2015 Vaccines and Vaccination Guidelines: The Essentials". Here they learned about the latest advances in vaccine technology. The speaker is Internationally recognized, as one of the experts in infectious disease prevention in animals, and is a distinguished member of both the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) Vaccination Guideline Committee, and the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) Feline Vaccination Advisory Panel.

In less than a decade, exciting new vaccines have been licensed, others withdrawn, and new information accumulated about others. We firmly believe we owe it to our clients, and more especially our patients, to only vaccinate using the safest and most effective vaccines available.

Based upon the conclusive evidence presented at this seminar, we have changed some of the vaccines we are using now, and also some of the protocols we are recommending.

We are still recommending the protection provided by the Feline Leukemia vaccine for all kittens (as the AAFP strongly advises), but are changing the one for adult cats that need it, from an annual vaccination to one administered every two years.

It has been found that injectable vaccines can leave a number of dogs vulnerable to infection by the widespread Canine Parainfluenza virus. For this reason, we have changed from administering the oral Bordetella vaccine we have used for the past 3 years, to a low dose one administered intranasally. This new vaccine, "Intra-Trac KC", offers the protection of not only Bordetella, a leading agent of Canine Respiratory Disease Complex (commonly known as "kennel cough"), but Parainfluenza as well. It is a vaccine administered annually, and is so safe and effective, it can be given to puppies as young as 3 weeks of age.

At Aurora Pet Hospital, we firmly believe in the old adage: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". It is always sad for us to see a beloved pet affected by a disease than can be easily and safely protected against via vaccination.

We always welcome questions or concerns you may have regarding our recommended vaccine protocol, or vaccination in general. We also want you to know we regard vaccination as a medical procedure, and we only recommend those vaccines an individual dog or cat needs. Nothing less, but nothing more.