Vaccination questions - Page 1

I know there are many conversations and different opinions about animal vaccinations.  I am currently weighing all the information (continuing with vaccinations in the mean time).  Here is some information that I got from my vet.  What are your thoughts, partically from thoses who do not vaccinate?

Question to vet - What about alternating years or reducing a vaccination schedule to every 2 - 3 years (rabies are a different story)?

"Wait until the animal is about 6 - 7 years before considering reducing the vaccination schedule."  She said something about having a consistent amount of the vaccination for the 1st years so that the animal can build up immunity to the disease.

IMO that's BS. Read Jean Dodds' protocol and stick with that.

http://drjeandoddspethealthresource.tumblr.com/post/66693331640/dodds-dog-vaccination-protocol-2013-2014#.U9Z3_Gd0xVc

Rabies can be done every 3 years and I'm pretty sure your vet's advice is outdated for the others.  

For rabies, I prefer every year, as we live in a high prone area, lots of skunks and bats. (county also requires yearly).

I read over the artical (thanks for it).  I did not see any supporting information on why every 3 years though.  Did I miss a link in the article?

Every 3 years seems reasonable to me.  We do go camping a lot though.  Would that warrent more frequency?

Every currently licensed vet in the US knows very well that annual vacs are not needed. They read it on the net from authorities like Dodds just as we do. Every vet school in the country has revised their recommended protocol and eliminated the annual vac recommendation. Why do they still keep insisting on annual vacs when they know it is not beneficial and, in some dogs,  can cause irreversible harm.  The boarding kennels and some dog classes are as bad requiring annual vacs and my least favorite vac of all, kennel cough. Try to get a dog into a boarding kennel in most states without a kennel cough vac, it is impossible. Lucky for me the kennel I use allows the kennel cough to be administered by the owner, around here we can buy it at Tractor Supply. So I buy it, remove the label, put it on my dog's passort and dump the vaccine in the trash. So shoot me.....

My dogs get puppy vaccines and no boosters.  This does not include rabies.  I have them titered  periodically and they all have full immunity.  My 12 year old female only had  puppy shots and nothing after that and she just titered out with full immunity.  When in doubt do a titer test. 

Judy

The rabies vaccine has been proven to be effective for a minimum of 3 years, most likely for the entire lifeteime of the animal. You have no choice if  your country requires an annual rabies vac, but that is probably way too often for most dogs. I would try to find out if they accept titers in lieu of annual rabies vacs. The last GSD I owned that had annual rabies vacs developed severe allergies, chronic bacterial infections and died from lymphosarcoma.. A coincidence maybe, but I'm not taking that chance ever again - no more annual vacs of any kind especially rabies. I don't get annual vaccinations and neither do my dogs.

I doubt that's actually a requirement of the county given the 3 year rabies vaccination has been available for well over a decade.  I'm with JudyK on the others...did titers for years on my dogs and never had to re-vaccinate.  I don't even bother with the titers any more now.

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/10/27/new-canine-vaccination-guidelines.aspx

Melissa

My first GSD developed a chronic bacterial sinusitis 10 days after his first nasal kennel cough vaccine. He had 2 surgeries by a soft tissue surgeon, multiple biopsies, cultures and sensitivities, nasal lavages, every antibiotic know to man. He sneezed mucus and blood for 4+ years until he died from lymphosarc at 7 1/2 years. The surgeon said he never saw anythng quite like it, thought it could have been caused by the nasal vaccine. At the time, the manufacturer denied any side effects, now they are admitting that there could be some "temporary" nasal discharge and sneezing following its administration. Now it goes in the trash, not my dog.