Moral dilemma: Bordatella vaccine

[JacksonsMom]

Originally Posted by SpringerLover

Honestly, I consider it one of the "safer" vaccines, imo, and I give it to let Bailey go to daycare. She's a healthy animal, I'm far less concerned about the intranasal bordetella vaccine than I am about a lepto vaccine.

So, if it were me, I'd give it so I could take my dogs swimming.

Jackson had a BAD terrible reaction to lepto as a 12 week old pup. I seriously thought I was losing him. That's what made me research more into vaccines, etc.

Acckkkk, I just can't decide. And I only have about an hour until vet appointment. lol.

I'm just not sure swimming is worth it -- it's really expensive at that place so really was only going to probably be able to take him a total of 3 times anyway, so it's like ... I'm just not sure if the 30 minutes of swimming is worth a vaccine that I really could care less about. And literally, nothing else he does requires it ... I think I'm leaning towards just canceling his swimming appt. and not doing it.

Especially after reading this: http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com...cination-dogs/

[Beanie]

Lepto is the most common to have a reaction too IIRC. We don't give it to the shelties as a rule but I know a lot of people with different breeds that have also had problems with it. The funny thing is that I have NEVER given it to my dogs and we don't give it, period, but I know people with other breeds who instead load their dogs up with steroids and antihistamines just so they can give it and try to manage the reaction they know is coming. WHY?? WHY??

Honestly I wouldn't give it unless you knew you would be going there regularly enough to make it worth it. Just a few times over the winter wouldn't be worth it to me. If I were planning to go every other weekend for a while, yes, but not just a couple times.

[JessLough]

I wouldn't, but I also don't vaccine Rosey.

[sassafras]

I don't give it regularly to my dogs, but I also wouldn't have a problem with giving it one time, one year if it was required for something I really wanted to do.

ETA: But I wouldn't say I have a strong ethical stance against the vaccine, I just don't think it's necessary for my dogs' risks so I don't give it. So it wouldn't really be a moral/ethical decision for me, just a risk/benefit decision.

[JacksonsMom]

We skipped it, LOL ...

Thanks for all the opinions guys.

All else checked out very well at the vet! He's healthy as can be.

[Fran101]

Originally Posted by sassafras

I don't give it regularly to my dogs, but I also wouldn't have a problem with giving it one time, one year if it was required for something I really wanted to do.

ETA: But I wouldn't say I have a strong ethical stance against the vaccine, I just don't think it's necessary for my dogs' risks so I don't give it. So it wouldn't really be a moral/ethical decision for me, just a risk/benefit decision.

This. I am not "against vaccination" at all. If the vax is to protect against something that could actually kill my dog (like parvo for example) and is proven to protect.. I am 100% for it.

For me, my whole beef with bordatella is that 1. Kennel cough doesn't kill or even really cause healthy dogs to get THAT SICK and 2. MOST dogs that have this shot get kennel cough regardless. So for me, it's not worth the money spent to get it at all.
BUT if my dog needed it to do something I really wanted to do, doggy day care, some training classes etc.. he/she would probably get it. The side-effects are minimal so even if I don't believe that it's protecting against much, the gain from all the fun stuff makes it worth it.

[BlackPuppy]

Somebody said to me once, "This is the computer age. It's easy enough to produce and print off your own vaccination report."

[SpringerLover]

Originally Posted by BlackPuppy

Somebody said to me once, "This is the computer age. It's easy enough to produce and print off your own vaccination report."

I could never condone that...

Seriously?

[JacksonsMom]

Originally Posted by BlackPuppy

Somebody said to me once, "This is the computer age. It's easy enough to produce and print off your own vaccination report."

I actually thought about it, not gonna lie ... lol. I mean, it's just bordatella, but I don't think my conscious would let me. And I've already called the place and told them the date (I thought maybe they'd excuse it, since it's only like a week 'overdue' but they wouldn't). So ah well.

[BostonBanker]

I'm with Fran. I do really minimal vaccinations, and titer before I give anything past puppy shots (other than rabies), but if I really wanted to do something and it required bordatella - I'd do it. I think it is a pretty useless vaccine, but I also wouldn't expect either of my healthy adult dogs to have an issue receiving it.