Vaccines

[Guest ss556]

I got a reminder for vaccines that Alan is due for next week: Canine Bordetella IN Booster, Canine HW Antigen; DA2P/CPV Booster, Rabies 1 year. He is 11 yrs old. Is there anything I should be concerned about with regard to these vaccines?

[Guest BlackandBrindle]

Is there any way to put him on a three year rabies?

[RobinM]

My pack is on the 3 year but I did not do the bordella yet.

[ahicks51]

Check and see if a rabies antibody titer will suffice in lieu of rabies. If you can do that, that'll strike the rabies requirement.

 

If you have no dogs coming and going from your home, don't take Alan to meet-and-greets or bump into other dogs (or need to board him), you can skip the bordetella. Not generally recommended, but it's not required unless the risk of exposure is there. Bordetella is a good idea if your dogs meet lots of other dogs, but it's not effective against all strains of kennel cough anyway.

 

Heartworm antigen is a *test*, IIRC, not a vaccination. So- getting that done is a good idea if you're going to continue with HW prophylaxis.

 

The DA2P/CPV booster is voluntary, not mandatory (best as I know- usually it's just rabies in order to get your dog a set of legal tags), and at the age of 11 years, the odds of catching distemper, parvo, adenovirus, hepatitis, parainfluenza, coronavirus, etc. is pretty low and must be weighed against the low risk of the vaccine.

[Hubcitypam]

I got a reminder for vaccines that Alan is due for next week: Canine Bordetella IN Booster, Canine HW Antigen; DA2P/CPV Booster, Rabies 1 year. He is 11 yrs old. Is there anything I should be concerned about with regard to these vaccines?

I have no idea if NY is a one year, two year or three year rabies state. You gotta go by the law. If THE LAW is anything more than 1 year and your vet insists on annual vaccinations for rabies s/he is ripping you off. A few vets here do it to get more $$$ every year. If Alen is not going to be boarded and is not around a lot of other random dogs in close contact I'd skip that too.

I'm thinking the HW antigen is the HW test, which you need, but could be mistaken.

 

It's all up to you. There have been a lot of studies on overvaccination and maybe you could look into some of those as well as the AVHA vaccination recommendations. At 11 I'd just being doing HW test and rabies and adding lepto only if you are in an a high risk area (like here), but that is just me.

 

ETA -- Just realized I meant to I left out bordatella when I said skip it if he is not boarded or in close contact with other dogs. OOPS. I hadn't reread it until now and it looked like I neant skip rabies, and you can't dop that....

 

Edited October 14, 2008 by Hubcitypam

[Guest meakah]

Personally, I wouldn't vaccinate an 11 yr old dog. But that is JMO. I am not a fan of vaccinated annually and believe animals are waaaay over-vaccinated. But again....that is just my humble opinion.

[Guest MZH]

Yikes, Alan has too many issues to risk over-vaccinating. I'd go with rabies if required by law and nothing else. (One year shots are different; is there something special about them?) Aaron is right about rabies titers. If that will suffice in NY do that instead of getting the shot. We can't do that in SC, unfortunately. Bummer.

 

Do you kennel him? If not, he wouldn't need bortadella either.

 

Some people titer for distemper and such, too, if worried about catching something covered by boosters. You could do that instead of shots.

 

Marcia

 

[gazehund]

NY is three years.

 

Edit to add titer will not suffice in NY. I wish it would. My guys get rabies and rabies only.

Edited October 10, 2008 by gazehund

[Guest ss556]

I may have made a mistake regarding the 1 yr. I believe it is 3 yrs. so I will have to look into that. I know I've read here before about over-vaccinating and since he goes to the Vet next Wednesday, I thought I would put this post out there.

 

Yes, with all his issues, I don't want to give him any more than is really necessary.

[Guest MZH]

Here's something rather scary about vaccines that happened to our little 17 year old indoor cat, Dinka.

 

We took her to the vet here in SC for a rabies shot and some standard blood work. The tech took her in back. The vet looked at the records from when we lived in CT and gave her *everything* she would have gotten as an outdoor cat -- even after the vet and I had had a long discussion a few days earlier about getting rabies only during the remainder of her life. So, why did he do that? It was hectic that morning and he forgot our recent talk! He apologized but it was too late. Boy, was she out of it for 2 days. She's OK now, thank heavens.

 

I learned from that experience to never let anyone take my pets "in back" for shots; you can't monitor what they're giving or know what they remember -- or not. Mistakes do happen, so if Alan goes "in back" please be very specific about what shot he's getting!

 

Marcia

[GeorgeofNE]

I never get Bordatella. It's simple enough to cure kennel cough if he should contract it.

 

 

[BertnLil]

Clarice, my bridge baby, had a reaction to vaccines (she got a whole host of them) when she was 10. She was a mutt, and a very healthy dog. I brought her back to the vet the next morning, I can't remember what they did, but she ended up being fine.

Fast forward to when she was 15. She was old, she had vestibular disease, and the notice came for her shots. DH and I brought her to the vet with many concerns about the vaccinations. They assured us she'd be fine. She got her vaccines.

The next night she collapsed on the floor with what was obviously a neurological problem, we mistakenly thought it was the vestibular monster rearing its ugly head again. When she didn't improve after a day, we took her back to the vet, expecting her to return the next day after they had given her fluids. We got the call the next morning that it wasn't vestibular, they didn't know what it was, they could do tests and figure it out, given the nature of her symptoms she probably would only live for 6 more months, blah blah blah. We opted to put her to sleep.

We were so distraught that it was a few days before we realized that it could have been a severe reaction to the vaccines. She was DH's first dog, she was 10 when we got married, and her death affected him like nothing I've seen before or since. He still blames himself for allowing her to get the vaccines.

My point? If you question yourself about it, don't do it. She only had reactions when getting more than one vaccine at a time, so of course get the rabies, but when they get to a certain age, or start getting "old" I'm forgoing all the extras. I don't want to scare you, this is only my personal account, but like I said, if you have doubts, don't do it.

[feemandvm]

Here's something rather scary about vaccines that happened to our little 17 year old indoor cat, Dinka.

 

We took her to the vet here in SC for a rabies shot and some standard blood work. The tech took her in back. The vet looked at the records from when we lived in CT and gave her *everything* she would have gotten as an outdoor cat -- even after the vet and I had had a long discussion a few days earlier about getting rabies only during the remainder of her life. So, why did he do that? It was hectic that morning and he forgot our recent talk! He apologized but it was too late. Boy, was she out of it for 2 days. She's OK now, thank heavens.

 

I learned from that experience to never let anyone take my pets "in back" for shots; you can't monitor what they're giving or know what they remember -- or not. Mistakes do happen, so if Alan goes "in back" please be very specific about what shot he's getting!

 

Marcia

Was it a Banfield practice?

 

 

 

Rabies should be given every 3 years. I would be surprised if NY requires annual. There is no good reason to give an annual rabies if your state allows 3 year rabies.

 

The other vaccines do depend on exposure. I would still do the DHPP every 3 years and the Lepto annually if at risk in your area.

 

A lot of people decide not to vaccinate at a certain age... keep in mind that there is no evidence anywhere to support the idea that an X year old dog is "immune" to distemper, parvovirus, etc. Could the dog be OK? Sure... but you are "flying blind" as there is no evidence to support that and some immunologists believe (like in people) vaccines are more important in very young and very old patients.

 

In my own pets... I don't have any "cut off dates" for vaccines age wise. I simply practice the extended vaccine protocols recommended by pretty much every veterinary university and most veterinary organizations.

[Guest HeatherDemps]

Once I learned about the 3-year rabies vacination I switched both dogs over to that. As Dempsey got older, I quit all other ones because he was never boarded.

[Guest Pipi5]

I get everyone their shots, including bordetella due to the fact that mine go in & out...meet/greets. About once a year it seems the dogtrack has to be quarantined & so anyone bringing their dogs even over for a visit are "banned" because of the airborne diseases. It was recommended that I not get Banker & Gabby all their shots due to their age & their immune systems being over vac'd.

Our rabies down here is yearly...Tennessee & Mississippi.

 

Also, due to her epilepsy, Gabby gets her shots 2 weeks apart. Getting them all at one time causes her to go into a seizure.

Edited October 14, 2008 by Pipi5

[Guest MZH]

Here's something rather scary about vaccines that happened to our little 17 year old indoor cat, Dinka.

 

We took her to the vet here in SC for a rabies shot and some standard blood work. The tech took her in back. The vet looked at the records from when we lived in CT and gave her *everything* she would have gotten as an outdoor cat -- even after the vet and I had had a long discussion a few days earlier about getting rabies only during the remainder of her life. So, why did he do that? It was hectic that morning and he forgot our recent talk! He apologized but it was too late. Boy, was she out of it for 2 days. She's OK now, thank heavens.

 

I learned from that experience to never let anyone take my pets "in back" for shots; you can't monitor what they're giving or know what they remember -- or not. Mistakes do happen, so if Alan goes "in back" please be very specific about what shot he's getting!

 

Marcia

Was it a Banfield practice?

 

 

Nope; just a regular vet office. It was extremely hectic that morning. Normally, they do things in the exam room if you ask (and I sure do after that experience).

 

Our local Banfield office is manned by a former track vet. I know a couple with 2 Greyhounds and who foster who adore this vet. I was quite surprised when I learned this. I guess it just depends on the office.

 

Marcia