Vaccination protects companion animals from painful and often fatal infectious diseases. Understanding the evidence base for vaccination schedules helps owners make informed welfare decisions.
Vaccination is among the most impactful preventive welfare interventions available for companion animals. Diseases like parvovirus and distemper cause severe, often fatal suffering that vaccination prevents with minimal risk. Modern vaccination protocols balance protection against unnecessary vaccine exposure through appropriate core versus non-core designation and titer-based decisions for adult animals. Owner vaccination compliance protects both individual animals and population immunity.