Changes to dog vaccines in the UK – nothing to worry about!

There’s been a nationwide change this year in the UK where one of the dog vaccines, leptospirosis 2, is being phased out and all dogs will need to be vaccinated against leptospirosis 4.

This is happening partly because ‘lepto 2’ is an older vaccine, and research is showing that ‘lepto 4’ is more prevalent in the UK. Also, it’s because the drug companies don’t want to have to make two versions of the same thing, so they’re simplifying the market …. This is a UK-wide change.

Here at Kelperland over the years, we have vaccinated probably 50% with L2 and 50% L4. We have seen no difference both in terms of vaccine reactions (almost nil for both) or disease susceptibility, thankfully very low but truthfully difficult to accurately diagnose and tell between L2 and L4.

If your dog is younger (ie <5 ), he will probably be vaccinated against L4 anyway. If he is older, he may well be vaccinated against L4 and thus will have to ‘restart’ his vaccines this year. This means two injections, four weeks apart. Quite rightly, the vaccine companies are paying for the second dose 😊 We’ve been doing this for 4 months now and are very pleased to note that we’ve seen no adverse effects to restarting L4 in this way.

So, if your dog is due a booster vaccination this summer, and we talk to you about ‘restarting the L4’, this is what it’s all about. A bit of a nuisance, but unavoidable, no extra cost and no risks to your pet.