Vaccination Aspects in Senior Dogs and Senior Cats

“My dog or cat is already old and was vaccinated before – now it’s not that important anymore.” That’s not true!

Vaccinations don’t just protect specifically against certain pathogens. There’s another aspect as well. The immune system also ages and becomes less efficient overall. Vaccinations can activate the immune system in general, so it can respond faster and more effectively. Of course, vaccinations don’t prevent or reverse the aging of the immune system, but they likely also counteract this declining performance in dogs and cats. In human medicine, this additional aspect of vaccinations has already been well documented. In veterinary medicine, targeted studies on this are still lacking.

This additional stimulation of the body’s defenses is based on so-called adjuvants, which are contained in the vaccine dose and enhance the immune response to the vaccine. Certain modified live vaccines and recombinant vaccines can also effectively stimulate the immune system, even though they don’t contain classic adjuvants.

This doesn’t mean that older dogs and cats should generally be vaccinated more frequently. The vaccination decision must always be made individually. The general health status, infection risk, existing underlying conditions, possible immunosuppressive medications, and the type of vaccine used all play a role.

Conclusion:
Don’t over-vaccinate – but also don’t skip sensible vaccinations due to age.

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