During Lockdown last year, we were severely restricted in the work that we were able to perform. This meant, that whilst priority was given to emergencies and urgent care, quite a lot of the routine aspects to our veterinary healthcare was hindered.
Once of the main areas that ended up being neglected was routine vaccinations. As a result of this, a lot of animals missed their annual booster vaccination. This has meant that we now have quite a severe backlog of dogs and cats who are either overdue or certainly due their vaccines urgently.
Whilst we know that some aspects of an animal's vaccine protection does last longer than 12 months, it is well documented that other parts need to be repeat every 12-15 months.
In dogs it is important that the DISTEMPER, HEPATITIS and PARVOVIRUS (DHP) is repeated every 3 years, and LEPTOSPIROSIS is needed to be done every 12-15m. With some animals now being nearly 12m overdue, this means that it could be 4 years since their last DHP jab, and 2 years since their last LEPTO jab! A similar occurrence could emerge with cats and CAT FLU, ENTERITIS and LEUKAEMIA jabs taking on a similar pattern.
What we don't want to happen is the overall immunity of these dogs and cats to be compromised individually. It is also a worry that if the generalised vaccination level amongst the pets drops (so called "herd-immunity"), then localised outbreaks are more likely to occur, which puts additional risks to unvaccinated animals, as well as the young, elderly and infirm.
The timing of this is a problem. We have ended up with a perfect storm of:
All of this means that we have found it very hard to be able to continue to offer both vaccination appointments AND "sick pet" appointments throughout the day.
We have introduced these "COVID Catch-Up" clinics to try and ease the backlog of vaccination appointments. This means that:
We are still offering the normal priced "standard" appointments where you are welcome to discuss any concerns that you may have with your pet. These can still be booked with reception as normal.
Bilton Veterinary Centre
259 BIlton Road
Rugby
Warwickshire CV22 7EQ
Tel: 01788 812650
email: enquiries@biltonvets.co.uk