gryhnd_adoptee Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 (edited) I do the mandatory rabies here in NY every three years, and titer yearly for parvo/distemper. It doesn't save me money to not vaccinate being as titering yearly costs more. I'm not looking at cost reduction as much as I'm concerned that we over vaccinate our dogs. We also do yearly stool/urine/blood work, and give Interceptor as a preventative. I only gave the lepto vaccine to one of our greys and she had a mild reaction to both shots as they need two a couple of weeks apart. Come to find out, the vaccine covers only a few of the strains which are out there, and so far none of the covered strains have been a problem in our area. This led us to the decision not to vaccinate for lepto any more. I am very careful about not letting our girls drink any water from any source other than what we bring along for them. Edited October 3, 2009 by gryhnd_adoptee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerlinsMum Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 Lepto doesn't survive in dry conditions or in freezing temperatures so our vet suggest vaccinating in the spring which will cover them until the end of the fall (6 months). With the freezing winters in our area the risk of infection is low during those months so vaccination is not necessary. Hobbes had the Pomona strain which at the time was one of the strains covered by the vaccine they use. There are literally hundreds of different strains of lepto but the 5 most commonly seen ones are in the vaccines they use today. greytluck, thank you so much for clarifying. That helps a LOT. I have decided to discuss this option (vaccinating in the spring) with my vet and see what she thinks. And please don't apologize for "going on about it"... what you went through was ghastly and, it turns out, preventable (although you had no way of knowing at the time) and so it's natural that you should seek to help others avoid what happened to Hobbes... :grouphug Kerry, do you want me to call Dr S and ask him about the lepto vacc for you? I'd be happy to do that because you are my good, good friend How incredibly generous and selfless of you, Amber! I am CERTAIN there is no ulterior motive in your offer at all!! Quote Kerry with Lupin in beautiful coastal Maine. Missing Pippin, my best friend and sweet little heart-healer 2013-2023 Also missing the best wizard in the world, Merlin, and my sweet 80lb limpet, Sagan, every single day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grey8greys Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 I do Rabie shots every 3 years and Lepto every year. We do walk in the woods a lot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest VanillaBean Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 Lepto every year for my dogs here in Ohio. I have Racoons, Posum and Rabbits in my yard. None of them have ever had a bad reaction to it. As for vaccinations, they get their boosters every year, but that will stop for Peppy who will be turning 10 in February! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marion Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 After my Soldi was diagnosed with IBD at the age of 18 months I stopped vaccinating her and Ivy (who left us in July this year). Ivy died at nearly 13 years of a kind of LS and Soldi is 10 years old and in perfect condition. Her colitis issues resolved totally after stopping the vaccines. I'm sure that yearly vaccines (which are totally unnecessary) cause more damage than benefits as they weaken the immune system due to the permanent effort of the organism to get rid of the vaccination toxins. I'm sure that lots of allergies, digstive issues, ear inflammations etc. are due to overvaccination. Quote -------------------------------------------- Marion, Ivy & Soldi Perseverance is not a long race... it is many short races one after another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest KennelMom Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 Vaccinating yearly, vaccinating every three years or not vaccinating at all....it's a risk no matter which way you go. And I've not really been convinced that one way is necessarily better than the other. This is really a discussion I'd have with my vet and make the best decision based on my area of the country and my individual dog's health and potential exposure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Harry702 Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 I'm not a vacinophobe, and Harry gets vaccinated to the extent required by law and recommended by his vet. I figure she has a much better grasp on the illnesses and diseases running around in the local dog population than I do. We live in an urban neighborhood with TONS of dogs... many of whom, I'd hazard to guess, aren't vaccinated at all. I'd say the risk of him getting something he shouldn't far outweighs any possible side effects from the vaccine. To the OP, as an adopter, I'd expect a healthy, fully-vaccinated dog (unless explicitly specified otherwise). There has to be a way to lower the cost of vaccination for adoptable dogs. Just my two cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubcitypam Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 Check locally for vaccine clinics or "doc in a box" operations that will do it for cheap- including the county pound, humane society, etc.- anywhere that you can avoid the vet visit fee. Keep the paperwork, and have it added to your folder at the vet's. For years we've been going to a vet that runs a shot clinic 3 times a week. DHLPP, rabies and HW test would be around $150 at my regular vet (including the office call) and costs $38 at the shot clinic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgeofNE Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 Rabies, yes; the other ones depend upon several factors including the age of the animal, and to what threats they are exposed. Check locally for vaccine clinics or "doc in a box" operations that will do it for cheap- including the county pound, humane society, etc.- anywhere that you can avoid the vet visit fee. Keep the paperwork, and have it added to your folder at the vet's. Really, there's no reason they need a $45 vet visit fee on top of a $9 shot. $9???? I just took my 8 pound cat to the vet. She charged $32 for an antibiotic shot. I have never paid less than $25 for ANY shot. I'd be rolling on the floor with joy at a $9 shot! As to the OP's question--why not buy your own vaccines? Give the dogs the shots yourselves. That's what many breeders do, and aside from rabies, which you're required by law to get, there is nothing illegal about buying your own vaccines. Omaha Vaccine sells them, and they also can provide a list of recommended vacinations and a schedule. Quote Susan, Hamish, Mister Bigglesworth and Nikita Stanislav. Missing Ming, George, and Buck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubcitypam Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 Rabies at the shot clinic I go to is $8 -- was $7 for years but had a cost of living increase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahicks51 Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 Really, there's no reason they need a $45 vet visit fee on top of a $9 shot. $9???? I just took my 8 pound cat to the vet. She charged $32 for an antibiotic shot. I have never paid less than $25 for ANY shot. I'd be rolling on the floor with joy at a $9 shot! Sorry. For Massachusetts, you need to multiply all my numbers by three. My apologies. With respect to vaccinations and allergies, autoimmune disease, etc., it's probably not the vaccine itself quite so much as the adjuvants- compounds that are added to intensify the body's response to the vaccine. From this, we have the potential to sensitize the body to its own proteins, presumably from those that are present in their own flora- and humans, too. This is known as "molecular mimicry," and it causes such diseases as rheumatic fever, Reiter's disease (reactive arthritis), probably ankylosing spondylitis, maybe some times of IBD, and possibly certain forms of multiple sclerosis- among a slew of other diseases. Some of the diseases caused by molecular mimicry seem to be closely tied to gut bacteria. From this, it is conceivable that diet is linked to autoimmunity through a rather complex series of events that keeps coming back to wheat and allied triticale species. Fascinating tidbit: autoimmune disease was almost unknown in Africa and parts of the Middle East prior to the arrival of wheat, starch, sugar, etc. Interestingly, the physicians manning these hospitals were often British-educated, and very good at what they did. They would have recognized these diseases immediately. They went through records, looking for autoimmune disease; one set of records that stands out in my mind: 104 cases of autoimmune disease out of 98,454 patients. Moreover, the disease course of these people was much milder than it was back in the UK, or in the US. Diet first, vaccines a distant second. The combination- I'm not sure. Quote Coco (Maze Cocodrillo) Minerva (Kid's Snipper) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerlinsMum Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Really, there's no reason they need a $45 vet visit fee on top of a $9 shot. $9???? I just took my 8 pound cat to the vet. She charged $32 for an antibiotic shot. I have never paid less than $25 for ANY shot. I'd be rolling on the floor with joy at a $9 shot! Sorry. For Massachusetts, you need to multiply all my numbers by three. My apologies. Add Maine to that list This is all rather enlightening. I think I'm going to start investigating the possibility of taking the dogs to a clinic from now on. I am way too chicken to inject them myself Quote Kerry with Lupin in beautiful coastal Maine. Missing Pippin, my best friend and sweet little heart-healer 2013-2023 Also missing the best wizard in the world, Merlin, and my sweet 80lb limpet, Sagan, every single day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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