Vaccinations

[Guest JaneandSara]

Apologies if you have covered this before (we are have only just joined) .... do you vaccinate your dogs, and if so, which vaccines do you give?

[Guest june]

Yes, I vaccinate. I do all that are appropriate for our area, but I do stagger when they are given. I had one of my pups have a reaction and she was sick for several days. I still don't know if it was to a particular vaccine or just too much at once but now they get 3 year shots when possible and they get them a couple months apart. My vet keeps track of when they are due and sends out a reminder email.

[racindog]

Use the site search. Lots of info. I vaccinate VERY VERY minimally. I am convinced that they cause many chronic illnesses. I have personal experience with the rabies vaccine for sure harming Minny-possiblly even causing his death. Some studies have linked some of the vaccines with hip dyspalsia, cancer and other chronic illnesses. They all know the rabies vaccine sometimes causes cancer-its why the manufacturers recommend injection in the leg....so that if cancer results at the injection site- as it sometimes does- then the leg can be removed sparing the dogs life. Sometimes they even cause documented cases of death because of bad and sometimes horrid reactions right after they receive them. IMO it is wise to try and be open minded and read the studies and look at the evidence- pro and con- regarding disease risk vs. vaccination risk before you make a decision. The majority of the time it appears to me the risk of injury from the vaccine is much greater than the disease risk which is why I follow the protocol I do.

Edited May 16, 2013 by racindog

[a_daerr]

Yes, we vaccinate. Both of my guys get rabies, lyme, lepto, distemper, and bordatella. They also get a heartworm test once a year.

[KF_in_Georgia]

Rabies for both dogs: it's required by law. I get the 3-year.

 

No other shots for Sam: he's 13 years old, frail, and doesn't go anywhere except the vets. (Lots of sick dogs there, of course, but I'm trusting their hygiene. I do know that when I took in a dog that had a cough, they rushed us straight to the exam room and didn't let us hang out in the waiting room with other dogs.)

 

DHLPP for Silver. She's due in June, and I'm going to try to get a 3-year, except that I'm not sure the leptospirosis component lasts that long, so she may need to get that every year. I'll talk to the vet. Silver goes everywhere, is nose to nose with other dogs at meet and greets (greyhounds and other breeds), and I worry about what she could pick up that would harm her--or harm Sam, if she brought home something she could handle but he could not. She gets bordatella vaccine at least once a year, also. (Silver has a "mystery gap" of two and a half years in her life, and we don't know where she was or how well she was cared for. It's possible that the shots she's had in the last 22 months are the only vaccines she's had since she left racing more than 4 years ago.)

 

Here in the States, boarding facilities or doggie day care will require current vaccines for dogs staying there. Some places will require that dogs have had the vaccine at least 72 hours before being admitted, so if you have an emergency arise and need to board a dog, you don't have time to update vaccines then.

 

When you schedule a vet visit for vaccines, don't get the last appointment of the day. Get an appointment that will leave time for you to sit in the waiting room for a while afterwards. If your dog experiences anaphylactic shock, you don't want to be in your car, trying to tend to your sick dog while you race back to the vets.

Edited May 16, 2013 by KF_in_Georgia

[Batmom]

We get leptospirosis every year, bordetella every 6 mos. if we're going to be around lots of dogs, and others (rabies, DHLP) every 3 years. The only problem we've ever had in 40+ years of dog care was easily managed with antihistamine/anti-inflammatory premed.

[Guest JaneandSara]

Thanks - we are very cautious about vaccines as a couple of our have had bad reactions. There is nothing we legally have to vaccinate for in the UK - but we still have many vets who insist on it. Luckily our vet is open-minded - we won't vaccinate the older dogs but are thinking about Titer-Testing the younger ones. All were vaccinated at puppies.

[galgrey]

Use the site search. Lots of info. I vaccinate VERY VERY minimally. I am convinced that they cause many chronic illnesses. I have personal experience with the rabies vaccine for sure harming Minny-possiblly even causing his death. Some studies have linked some of the vaccines with hip dyspalsia, cancer and other chronic illnesses. They all know the rabies vaccine sometimes causes cancer-its why the manufacturers recommend injection in the leg....so that if cancer results at the injection site- as it sometimes does- then the leg can be removed sparing the dogs life. Sometimes they even cause documented cases of death because of bad and sometimes horrid reactions right after they receive them. IMO it is wise to try and be open minded and read the studies and look at the evidence- pro and con- regarding disease risk vs. vaccination risk before you make a decision. The majority of the time it appears to me the risk of injury from the vaccine is much greater than the disease risk which is why I follow the protocol I do.

I agree completely.

[cleptogrey]

Yes, we vaccinate. Both of my guys get rabies, lyme, lepto, distemper, and bordatella. They also get a heartworm test once a year.

ditto except the hw that i crossed out. in nys there is a rabies epidemic and the state is getting pretty strict. also my vet has treated more cases of lepto lately than ever before(40years of practice).and yes i did have a dog who went into shock w/ a rabies vaccine. he was 11 at the time, his last rabies shot. go with what you feel comfortable w/, talk to your vet. see what he recommends, what's rampid in your area and yes, batmom's antihistime suggestion is excellent and the suggeston not to have the last appointment is very very wise. i usually dilly dally in the car to make sure everything is kosher. when willie went into shock it was as i was writing out a check.

Edited May 17, 2013 by cleptogrey

[Guest JaneandSara]

This is a really interesting website - we have Catherine O'Dricoll's book, it makes interesting reading!

 

http://www.canine-health-concern.org.uk

 

 

Thankfully we don't have rabies in the UK so only have to vaccinate for travel outside the UK.

[Hawthorn]

This is a really interesting website - we have Catherine O'Dricoll's book, it makes interesting reading!

 

http://www.canine-health-concern.org.uk

 

 

Thankfully we don't have rabies in the UK so only have to vaccinate for travel outside the UK.

 

I like that website too, and also have a couple of her books, which make interesting reading even if I don't necessarily agree with everything she says.

 

I started using titre-testing and minimal vaccinations a few years ago. Our current vets still advise annual vaccinations, but I told them when I registered that I don't do annual vaccinations and they've never tried to push it (unlke previous vets).

[GeorgeofNE]

Yes!

 

Rabies is required by law here, and we have rampant Lyme disease, so he gets that. He's been getting kennel cough since I had a terminally ill parent and thought I might need to board him at some point. Don't think I'll continue with that now that Dad is gone.

[Guest twoskinnydogs]

I keep mine up on all their vaccinations. Rabies is required by law here, but the others are not. My hounds are around lots of other hounds, many of which are straight off the track and out of the kennels...... They vaccinate but I would rather be safe than sorry. There is a study out there which I read from one of the Colleges here in the US, stating that some vaccines only need to be given till the dogs third birthday.....I will see if I can locate it.

Edited May 18, 2013 by twoskinnydogs

[moofie]

I vaccinate my dogs, at the moment its feel its best and is also required as blood donors. They go annually but our vets use the nobivac 3yr one so inbetween they get lepto & I think influenza as they only last a year. We don't go abroad to need rabies and I don't bother with the kennel cough one.

[RedHead]

I asked about this last year as I have a very old school vet who likes to vaccinate for everything, all at once, every year, which I believe is totally unnecessarily other than the Lepto. I had thought that the actual recommendations had been officially changed to 3 years for most shots, but I couldn't find anything official, it seems to be up to individual vet opinion. Anyways, they thought I was nuts when I asked about the 3 year thing, but now he has at least agreed to alternate vaccines and do every 2 years. I would still prefer 3 years for things like rabies. I vaccinate for rabies, lepto (my dogs are in water all summer), and distemper (and maybe something else I can't remember?? lol). I don't do lyme or bordetalla or any of the "extras" unless there is a real concern.

[PatricksMom]

So I've always done the 3 year rabies, with my vet's recomendation. The new vet said most people vaccinate yearly for rabies because it's much more prevelant here (SC). But I thought I remembered my old vet (DE) saying the vaccine was actually the same, only labeled differently.

 

Thoughts?

[Guest JaneandSara]

I asked about this last year as I have a very old school vet who likes to vaccinate for everything, all at once, every year, which I believe is totally unnecessarily other than the Lepto. I had thought that the actual recommendations had been officially changed to 3 years for most shots, but I couldn't find anything official, it seems to be up to individual vet opinion. Anyways, they thought I was nuts when I asked about the 3 year thing, but now he has at least agreed to alternate vaccines and do every 2 years. I would still prefer 3 years for things like rabies. I vaccinate for rabies, lepto (my dogs are in water all summer), and distemper (and maybe something else I can't remember?? lol). I don't do lyme or bordetalla or any of the "extras" unless there is a real concern.

 

You may find this link helpful

 

http://www.petwelfarealliance.org/campaign-to-end-over-vaccination.html

[JJNg]

I had thought that the actual recommendations had been officially changed to 3 years for most shots, but I couldn't find anything official, it seems to be up to individual vet opinion.

The AAHA (American Animal Hospital Association) Canine Vaccination Guidelines are another resources that supports extended vaccine protocols.

 

So I've always done the 3 year rabies, with my vet's recomendation. The new vet said most people vaccinate yearly for rabies because it's much more prevelant here (SC). But I thought I remembered my old vet (DE) saying the vaccine was actually the same, only labeled differently.

 

If you're going to give a rabies vaccine every 3 years, you do have to use a product that has a 3-year label. There are some brands that are still only labeled for 1 year. When using a 3-year labeled product, the certificate can be issued for either 1 year or 3 years (if it's the first rabies vaccine the pet has gotten, it has to be 1 year). Even if rabies is more prevalent here (which I'm not sure is true), if you're using a 3-year rabies vaccine, there's nothing to indicate that giving it yearly is any more effective than giving it every 3 years. If that was true, I don't think 3-year rabies vaccines would be legally accepted. I think it's more an issue of both vets and owners having a hard time changing their mindset about the need for "yearly vaccines".

[sobesmom]

I do the vet recommended and state regulated vaccines. I decline some of the optional ones - like Lyme's disease - because it's currently not heavy in this area and my dog isn't exposed to ticks.

 

I know a lot of folks are leary of vaccinations - but we've always gone with the standard protocal and not had an issue.

[KF_in_Georgia]

Silver went in for vaccinations last week. Silver is my mystery girl. I know she had vaccinations last year and the year before, but she's got a two-and-a-half-year gap between racing and being picked up as a stray in July 2011.

 

My vet recently went to a seminar on vaccines. His office doesn't do 3-year DHPP. The current thinking is that bad reactions aren't usually caused by the vaccine itself but by the carrier they put the vaccine in--the carrier that's supposed to kick a dog's immune system into gear so it produces antibodies. Thus, it's not the vaccine that increases a dog's risk of a bad reaction; it's the actual number of times the dog gets that vaccine carrier.

 

Leptospirosis is a one-year vaccine, and these days it's safer than it used to be. If your dog is at risk for lepto--and rates of leptospirosis have been rising--then your dog will need a lepto vaccination once a year. Why not go ahead and put the DHPP in the same shot, rather than giving a separate DHPP every third year? If you give DHLPP every year, you'll give three shots in three years; otherwise, you give 3 lepto shots and 1 DHPP in three years, for a total of four shots.

 

So Silver got her DHLPP last week. I gave her two benadryl in the morning, a few hours before the vet visit. After the shot, we stayed at the vet's office for 30 minutes. She had no problems, and we stopped at Bruster's for a pup-cup on the way home. (My dad used to take me to Dairy Queen for a cone after I had shots when I was a kid. I'm just continuing the tradition...)

 

She gets her bordatella "snort" tomorrow. She does one or two meet and greets a week where she's often nose to nose with dogs we don't know well. I want the bordatella to protect her--and to protect her elderly brother from anything she might bring home.

[JJNg]

My vet recently went to a seminar on vaccines. His office doesn't do 3-year DHPP. The current thinking is that bad reactions aren't usually caused by the vaccine itself but by the carrier they put the vaccine in--the carrier that's supposed to kick a dog's immune system into gear so it produces antibodies. Thus, it's not the vaccine that increases a dog's risk of a bad reaction; it's the actual number of times the dog gets that vaccine carrier.

 

Leptospirosis is a one-year vaccine, and these days it's safer than it used to be. If your dog is at risk for lepto--and rates of leptospirosis have been rising--then your dog will need a lepto vaccination once a year. Why not go ahead and put the DHPP in the same shot, rather than giving a separate DHPP every third year? If you give DHLPP every year, you'll give three shots in three years; otherwise, you give 3 lepto shots and 1 DHPP in three years, for a total of four shots.

 

I don't quite follow that logic. Why not give DHLPP every 3 years, and give only Lepto the 2 years in between - then it's still 3 shots in 3 years, but you're not over-vaccinating for DHPP.

 

I do agree that it's usually the carrier, adjuvant, and impurities in the vaccines that cause reactions, but I haven't come across much convincing evidence that it's necessarily a cumulative effect (I'd be interested in the presenter/references for the seminar your vet went to, if you can get that info). From what I've seen it seems to be more an issue of dosage, which is why little dogs tend to be more likely to have vaccine reactions, as well as brand, which I suspect is due to differences in the carrier, adjuvant, and other impurities between vaccines manufactured by different companies.

[KF_in_Georgia]

I may do just the lepto vaccine for the next two years for Silver. And my vet wasn't saying it was a cumulative effect; but my feeling is that if, say, one in ten vaccinations goes wrong (and I know it's nowhere near that number), the fewer vaccinations my dog has, the better the chance that the bad #10 won't be hers.

 

If I see my vet tomorrow, I'll try to find out about the seminar. Our appointment is with a tech, so we may not see the vet.

[brandimom]

I have seniors so no more vaccinations. Rabies - I had a titer done instead of the vaccination. We do not board them or have them groomed so we are OK not vaccinating.

Edited May 30, 2013 by brandimom

[Sambuca]

My dogs get all that were mentioned except possibly lymes I think. They also get the flu shot since all the research my vets and have done say it started at a greyhound farm or kennel (I can't remember which at this moment) and my guys around right off the track dogs. I'm a pet sitter and my dogs often interact with clients dogs, so I'm pretty careful because I don't want them to spread anything.

[sobesmom]

I think this is overwhelming a new adopter. KISS. Keep it simple sister. For the average dog (which I believe most are) the agerage vaccinations are fine.