Lyme Vaccine

[a_daerr]

Just curious about how many of you are getting the Lyme vaccine for your greys? And to the vets on this forum, are there any major side effects or issues that we should be aware of? One of friends told me this past weekend that her border collie tested positive for a strain of Lyme. She had been using Trifexis and didn't realize it doesn't cover ticks. The dog got really ill and had to be on doxy for months. We opted for the vaccine as an added precaution because ticks are so bad in our area this year. Even though we use Frontline Plus, I sometimes forget and get a week or more behind in dosing it.

[winnie]

We've always gotten the Lyme vaccine for our dogs. Never had any problems with it. Ticks and Lyme disease are pretty prevalent in our area.

 

With that said, I have never gotten the Lyme vaccine for my horse. Some horse owners choose to use the dog vaccine in horses, but there aren't enough studies showing its effective in horses. My equine vet practice does not endorse it.

 

The best prevention against Lyme is to check for ticks regularly and remove them promptly.

[KF_in_Georgia]

My guys don't get the vaccine. If you figure that the lyme rate in dogs will parallel the lyme rate in people, Georgia's rate is 0.3 per 100,000 people. Pennsylvania's rate is 37.2 per 100,000. And folks in Delaware (84.6!) just plain need to move.

 

Given that my guys have a lower risk of aquiring the disease, I've not given the vaccine. If I planned a trip up north for my guys, I'd get them the vaccine.

[Batmom]

We get it. Lyme is an up-and-coming pathogen in our area.

 

Over many years and many dogs, I've had an adverse vaccine reaction (fortunately not life-threatening) in only one dog, and that was to rabies. We premedicated the dog for all vaccines after that and never had another problem.

[cleptogrey]

my dogs don't get it either. lyme is pretty tricky, false positives, false negatives and once they get the vaccine they will always test positive. my vet treats the symptoms. he had lyme- his test came back negative- he knew it was lyme. so he put his person experience in account when treating dogs. he does run a panel if requested if mystery symptoms arise, but he is always hestitant to test. and this is a vet who strongly believes in immunization. i generally don't argue, he's serviced me well over the years.

[Batmom]

once they get the vaccine they will always test positive.

 

Not anymore . The newer lyme test (quant C6) doesn't react with vaccine-produced antibodies.

[PrairieProf]

I asked a very greyhound-experienced vet about her thoughts on the vaccine at a session at GEM this weekend, and she said it's something you need to situationally evaluate -- but she does recommend the vaccine for those who live or vacation in Lyme-endemic areas. I get it for Beth, partly because we go to NY State every summer and also go in the woods a fair bit here.

[racindog]

I don't vacc against lyme. IMO the injury risk from the vaccine is higher than the risk from the disease. I did vacc my first hound Ivy for it years ago before I found out how devastating vaccines can be.

[vjgrey]

Gabe contracted Lyme despite the Frontline Plus, so we do vaccinate for it. We haven't had any issues with that (or any vaccinations).

[Guest AngelPup]

Brady is in the process of getting the Lyme vaccine (had his first shot last week and will get his second in a couple more weeks).

 

I live in RI, so Lyme is very prevalent here. My last dog got Lyme disease with Frontline Plus AND she spent 95% of her time indoors. And we rarely ever went hiking. After that she got the Lyme shot at her yearly appointment with no adverse reaction.

[schultzlc]

One of my earliest memories is that my grandparents' dog passed away from Lyme. Since I live in an area with a lot of ticks and take my hound up to the north woods of WI pretty regularly, I have the Vet give her the vaccine. I have never noticed any side-effects in Luna.

[MaryJane]

I've been vaccinating my dogs for a few years and my female is a seizure dog, so I don't take vaccines lightly. Lyme disease is very prevalent here in Mass and most people don't know just how insidious the disease is. If you read some books on Lyme they discuss the possibility that you may never really get of Lyme even with months of antibiotics, instead it may lie dormant in the muscles and when there is an issue with the immune system, it springs into action. There just hasn't been enough research done to get the facts.

[a_daerr]

Alright, we'll I'm reassured that I got it. PA has a lot of heavily wooded areas, hence, a lot of ticks. Plus, they go to the dog park and other outdoor places often. Hopefully Lyme isn't something we'll ever have to deal with.

[Guest DeniseL]

My two greys got it at the adoption group. They are due for it again in June. Izzy got her first shot before GIG and her booster last week. I'm not taking a chance. I found multiple ticks crawling on all of them at GIG, and I found ticks attached to Miami and Thyme last summer IN SOUTH PHILLY?! What! Crazy. I should have gotten the shot, too...I found a tick attached to my neck in Gettysburg ewwwwwwww haven't had a tick on me since I was 10 playing out in the woods....

[Guest BuckeyeAmy]

I opted out of the Lyme vaccine last summer and had no problems. I use Advantix II on my dogs and it works really well. We have a decent tick population out here in the country, especially when the township doesn't keep the roadsides mowed, but my boys do not have any ticks.

[Rickiesmom]

We premedicated the dog for all vaccines after that and never had another problem.

 

Without wanting to hijack the thread, what does "premedicating" for a vaccine mean?

 

Thank you!!

[Batmom]

Premed = antihistamine + anti-inflammatory at injection site, prior to vaccination. The dog previously had swelling and pain at the injection site, which lasted a couple days, even with meds afterward.

[Guest Addie]

I do, because I have Lymes and it was very hard to get the Doctor to treat it after I had a false negative (they act like your a drug seeker... for antibiotics? get real) I knew I had Lymes because I know a bunch of people who had it and they also had a hard time convincing the doctors to treat it and get additional testing. (I know my vet is WAY smarted then my doctor, but still...) Anyway, I was given 3 weeks of doxy last fall and now my symptoms are coming back. I don't want that to happen to my dogs, its crap! I wish they made a shot for humans too!!!

Edited May 24, 2013 by Addie