Vaccination Recommendations for Exotic Mammals

Causative Agent

Disease

Vaccine Type

Recommended Animal Groups

Recommended Protocol

Rabies virus

Rabies

Killed

Recombinant canarypox

Licensed in cats, dogs, sheep, cattle, horses, and ferrets

Core vaccine in areas where endemic in all exotic carnivores, Old World bats, primates (including prosimians, great apes), macropods, elephants, artiodactylids and perissodactylids

Varies based on taxon; licensed to start vaccination at 12 weeks of age with booster at 1 year then every 3 years or based on titer response 

Canine distemper virus

Canine distemper

Recombinant c

MLVa

Core vaccine in multiple families in order Carnivora

Canarypox recommended for the following:  Panthera spp of Felidae, Procyonidae, Hyaenidae, Mustelidae (licensed canarypox vaccine in ferrets), and most Canidae (MLV used in Mexican grey wolves Canis lupis baileyi and red wolves C rufus)

Begin at 6–9 weeks, booster every 3 weeks for 3 doses then annually or based on titer response 

Canine parvovirus

Canine parvovirus

Killed

MLV

Core vaccine in Canidae: killed safest;

MLV used in red wolves, grey wolves, and adult maned wolves (Chrysocyon brachyurus). Killed vaccine recommended if indicated through risk-based assessment in giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) of Ursidae and Procyonidae, although MLV has been used in raccoons (Procyon lotor)

Begin at 6–9 weeks, booster every 3 weeks for 3 doses then annually or based on titer response 

Feline parvovirus

Panleukopenia

Killed

MLV

Core vaccine in all Felidae: recommend killed.

Killed also recommended if indicated through risk-based assessment in Hyaenidae, Viverridae, Mustelidae, Procyonidae, giant pandas of Ursidae.

Begin at 6–9 weeks, booster every 3 weeks for 3 doses then annually or based on titer response 

Clostridium tetani

Tetanus

Tetanus toxoid (included as part of multivalent clostridial vaccines)

Core vaccine in New and Old World monkeys, great apes, Equidae and Tapiridae, elephants

Recommended vaccine in prosimians, macropods, artiodactylids, and rhinoceroses (often as part of multivalent clostridial vaccine)

Varies by taxa in foals, begin at 4–8 months, booster after 4–6 weeks and then annually (similar to recommendation for tapirs, rhinoceroses, and elephants). Macropod young are often not vaccinated until they are out of the pouch, with booster at 4 weeks then annual booster recommended.

In artiodactylids as part of a multivalent clostridial vaccine, begin at 4–8 weeks, booster after 3–4 weeks and then annually as able.

For primates with DTP/TDAP, recommend first dose at 2 months, with boosters every 2 months for 2 additional doses and then booster at 15 months.

Measles virus, mumps virus, rubella virus

Viral respiratory diseases of primates (measles, mumps, rubella/German measles)

MLVd

Core vaccine in great apes; recommended in New and Old World monkeys

2-dose series starting at 12–15 months; second dose can be at 4 weeks after the first

Polio

Poliovirus

Killed (inactivated polio vaccine or IPV)

MLV (oral polio vaccine or OPV) historically used in the face of epidemics and outside the US

Core vaccine in great apes

2-dose series starting at 12–15 months; second dose can be at 4 weeks after the first

Corynebacterium diphtheriae, Bordetella pertussis

Bacterial respiratory diseases of primates (diphtheria, pertussis)

Inactivated (part of TDAP, DPT; combined with tetanus toxoid)

Core vaccine in great apes

4-dose series starting at 2 months with boosters at 4 months and 6–18 months with final booster at 4–6 years

Feline herpesvirus 1, feline calicivirus

Feline upper respiratory viral diseases (rhinotracheitis, calicivirus)

Killed

MLV

Core vaccine in all Felidae; killed safest; some suggest MLV booster in cheetahse

Begin at 6–9 weeks, booster every 3 weeks for 3 doses, then annually or based on titer response 

Eastern equine encephalitis, western equine encephalitis, West Nile virus

Equine encephalitides

Killed (often combined in multivalent vaccines; often in combination with tetanus toxoid; some combination products also contain equine influenza virus)

Core vaccine in equids

Begin at 4–6 months of age with 4- to 6-week intervals between first and second dose, with third dose at 10–12 months of age; then booster annually 

Canine adenovirus 1

Infectious canine hepatitis

MLV

Risk-based use in Canidae (use caution due to MLV components) and Ursidae

Begin at 6–9 weeks, booster every 3 weeks for 3 doses, then annually or based on titer response 

Leptospira sp.

Leptospirosis

Inactivated

Risk-based depending on geography in black rhinoceroses (Diceros bicornis) and greater one-horned rhinoceroses (Rhinoceros unicornis), Camelidae, Suidae, and Tayassuidae; Canidae, primates

Generally recommend 2-dose primary schedule 4 weeks apart with annual boosters

Rotavirus, coronavirus

Bovine viral diarrhea (calf scours)

MLV

Risk-based for third trimester dams in artiodactylids (including Giraffidae) and/or in neonates

Dams: vaccinate in final trimester of pregnancy (parenterally) with 2 doses 3–6 weeks apart

Neonates: oral vaccination at birth

aMLV, modified live vaccine

bSafety and titer-based efficacy studies on MLV use in tigers after initial dose or series of canarypox vaccine

cManed wolves (C brachyurus) should be vaccinated with a killed vaccine product until protective titers (>80) are present, then boostered with an MLV vaccine to avoid vaccine-associated disease

dCare must be used when using MLV measles in nonhuman primates because vaccine-induced disease has been reported; CDV vaccination has also been used in some species with evidence of cross-protection against measles.

eSome institutions use MLV in cheetahs after an initial course with a killed product.