Vaccine Question

[karentn]

I gave my 9 week old puppy his second shot today. It was the Spectra 8 with a live parvo virus. He is in a pen with a litter of 6 week old puppies who won't get their first shot until tomorrow because that's when they come in. Is there a chance that the 6 week olds can become infected with parvo from the 9 week old's vaccine? I didn't even think about this until a friend brought it up.

[Deidre]

It is known that puppies that are vaccinated esp with the live vaccine do shed the virus for some time after their shot so it can be risky to place a pup amongst a litter of puppies that have not been vaccinated. I would remove the older pup immediately and cleanse the pen with diluted bleach and keep him as far away as you can from the younger litter; it is a controversial subject and vets vary in their opinion on this subject...some believe that vaccinated pups shed the virus and others don't agree, I personally believe that it is best to be safe than sorry. I have learnt my lesson when I vaccinated one litter of pups with the bordetella vaccine and the other litter of pups (different mothers born on the same day) I chose not to vaccinate them with the bordetella vaccine and guess what, the puppies that had not been vaccinated with that vaccine ended up with bordetella so I can presume that the same applies to parvo and other viruses that the vaccine covers.