CDVMS In-Person CE Event: Vaccination Guidelines for the General Practitioner AND Lyme Disease - Why Do Blue Dots Happen to Good Dogs?

Presented by: Christopher Gargamelli, DVM, MBA

Vaccination Guidelines for the General Practitioner

This program reviews and highlights changes that were made to the most recent updates of the feline and canine vaccination guidelines by the American Animal Hospital Association. It separates puppies and kittens from the adult dog and cat populations to discuss why understanding the concept of maternal antibodies is so important for us and our clients. It also discusses the hot topic of antibody testing to help practitioners decide which situations and diseases these tests are useful for. Finally, the discussion will shift to common questions on storage and handling. Both the antibody testing and vaccine storage/handling are brief introductions to let practitioners know there is information in the guidelines related to these topics

Learning Objectives:

1. Review the 2017 American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) canine vaccination guidelines for general practice
2. Review the 2020 AAHA/American Association of Feline Practitioners feline vaccination guidelines
3. Discuss maternal antibodies and why it is important to understand this concept with relation to vaccinating puppies or kittens
4. Examine antibody testing and where it makes clinical sense
5. Explore vaccine storage and handling best practices.

Lyme Disease - Why Do Blue Dots Happen to Good Dogs?

This course covers an overview of Lyme disease, including its history, vector and reservoir hosts, clinical signs, treatment, and how to decrease risk of infection. Lyme vaccination protocols, how the vaccine works, and the different types of vaccines currently available will also be discussed.

Learning Objectives:

1. Review the history of Lyme disease and how to diagnose and treat it.
2. Gain insight into how to reduce risk of infection via tick control and vaccination
3. Understand how Lyme vaccines work