To Vaccinate Or Not To Vaccinate

Some say dogs should have vaccines yearly, some say they should never be vaccinated and some vaccinate to a certain age.

Personally I vaccinate until the age of 5. For me, I see no reason to vaccinate after that.

I have been hearing so much about vaccines lately and I am wondering what your take is on this.

OOOPS why did I post this here. Thought I was in the health section. Can someone please move this. Thanks. Sorry about that.

Vaccinate your puppy through the whole series. Do a follow up in one year. Then vaccinate every 3 years. Vaccine immunity does NOT last forever although many people like to wish it did.

Of course, when my dogs reach an old age, I no longer vaccinate except for rabies which is required by law.

my 7 year old had ONE puppy shot, a half dose of Parvo vacc. nothing else and Rabies as required by law. Still shows strong immunity for titers. Some vet's in the past couldnt' understand it, i'm glad I found one now that can. A strong dog has a strong immune system and is much better than any shot can do.

Due to allergies I titer test now and have opted to not risk Whiskeys life for
Corona Bordetella or Gehardia. They are all treatable. as is lyme so don't take the risk. The other vacs will be given when needed. Exception is rabies which is mandatory.

I will not be giving any more vaccines to Kai or Zoey unless a titer test indicates it's necessary. I believe that vaccinations may have caused Kai's IBD. I won't be taking the risk again.

It is law here to have at LEAST the rabies vaccine.

Riot gets Rabies, DHPP, Lepto as well as Bordatella.. he will have to end up getting the Giardia vaccine as well because its a problem around here. (Every three years)

He gets his vaccines split though so its not too much at once.

He will always be vaccined for as long as hes classed as a "working dog".

He travels WAY too much to not be vaccinated.

When we lived in Kingston, his SAR partner had to be Titre tested though because of the reaction to the vaccines.

Once I get my discount at work I will look into titre testing as I do agree with this method much more.

I phoned our vet just now about the titer test and she said that a lady called about it the other day. They have to have the blood sent away and she said the people that do the testing didn't even really know about it. I take it this is something fairly new?

Regardless, Magnus is now 3 and he is done for vaccines. I am going to do Maisey's second set and then again at a year but then she is done.

You can also request a mercury free vac. as I have done. These are a bit more costly because they have no preservatives but some vets will get them in for you. I believe they are safer then the others and I pay for them before the vet gets them. It was the only way he would do that. Given the reactions of dogs it is what I have chosen because I strongly feel that mercury is was is causing the problems. It is poisonous. I did note Whiskey did not have as bad a reaction to the non preserved ones.

I did ALL of Caiza's puppy vaccines and now he doesn't need any shots for 3 years or unless the titer says otherwise Rabies is mandatory every 3 years.

Who wouldn't want a mercury free vaccine? That's ridiculous. They should ALL be mercury free.

Past the age of 2 I do yearly titers. So far none of my dogs have needed additional vaccines.

I do the full puppy series, and then a booster 6-12 months later, and the required rabies vaccines.

Past the age of 16 months we do yearly titers... rabies is required here every 3 years, though.

I trust my vets and leave it up to them .

AAHA vacc protocol is every three years after puppy shots and one year boosters for DHPP and rabies. I may titer at three years, Or I may give all the vaccs. Less worried about it now that a lot of clinics are following that. Don't feel it's as bad for over vaccinating.

i titer for everything butt rabies, since its mandetory we do rabies every 3 yrs. everything else though i prefer not to give it unless we have to. chis are highly prone to bad vaccine reactions.

My dogs have all had their series of puppy vaccines, a couple of Rabies vaccines and we've done boosters every 3 years. However, I'm not going to be doing this any longer now that I am more informed about vaccine reactions and such, especially being that my breed is extremely prone to them. On the advice of my breeder and friends who are very knowledgeable about vaccines, I'll only be giving a Parvo vaccine (not a mixed vaccine) and possibly Distemper (but there is a lot of concern about giving this to Tollers) to any future pups and then I'll do Titers. I have to check if the rabies one is mandatory here or not, and if it isn't, no rabies vaccine will ever be given to any of my dogs again.

It's been a great thing for dogs that the veterinary teaching colleges have finally backed the concept of fewer vaccines. It used to be that the same vaccines were given year after year but with the current knowledge only an unscrupulous vet would recommend yearly vaccinations.

I still go through a full regime of puppy vaccinations with mine, although I do separate some of the vaccines. I will usually have a booster given 16-18 months after the last puppy vaccine and then - other than the rabies every three years as required - I rarely vaccinate for anything. Between the early vaccinations and the exposure to other dogs that my dogs get (meaning that they continue to build immunity with small exposures to various diseases) I have never had a problem. Unless I absolutely had to put them in a kennel situation where kennel cough vaccinations are required, I never even use bordetella vaccines. And for here we don't typically give lyme, giardia, corona, etc.

And even better? Alaska doesn't have a problem with heartworm, fleas or ticks - so no Frontline or any of those types of things is needed either! Our dogs can live pretty chemical/vaccination/medicine free.

Melanie and the gang in Alaska

Dante got his 1-year boosters and from here on out it's Rabies as required and titer for the rest.
Well 'cept Boretella only because the kennel requires it.

See Jean Dodds' reccomendations, interesting for Giardia, Corona, Lept and Lyme
http://www.weim.net/emberweims/Vaccine.html

I adhere to Dr. Dodd's puppy protocal, titers yearly after that, and rabies as per my state law. I've seen firsthand what over vaccinating (and under vaccinating) can do, and I've become a very cautious person on that matter. One persons regime does not necessarily work for the next person, so I encourage everyone to speak in depth with their veterinarian, and if you are not satisfied, consult with another.

I titer my dogs, and give rabies every 3 years as law mandates.

The mercury free vacs are actually "thimerisol free" vacs, which I just did this year when I did rabies.

T Free vac's are single dose vacs that have a shorter shelf live than multi dose vacs. Some vets don't carry them because of the shorter shelf life, and it's more cost effective to get multi doses. They did NOT cost any more than normal thru my vet.

My youngest dog at the moment is 6, my next dog will only receive puppy shots, (and those will be single doses spaced out) and then titer .

Vets don't seem to tell you or suggest Thimerisol free vac's, I guess they figure it's easier to keep multi doses on hand. Luckily I do have a vet who keeps TFree vac's available or gets them if you want them

diane