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i think in terms of vaccines for pets its just like vaccines for people, each "parent" needs to do their home work, dont just assume the dr is right/working in YOUR best interests and go from there.
but i can tell you
1: the 3 yr rabies and the 1 year rabies is EXACTLY the same (there form the same mix even) the doasage for 3 yeas is no different than the dosage for 1 and the stuff in the 1 yr vial is form the ame vat as the stuff in the 3 yr vial...its all labels and marketing that make that diffeence.
2: NEVER EVER do rabies on the same day as any other vaccine, rabies reactio is very common but so are other vaccine reactions, you want to know which is whihc.
3: after any vaccine tay at or neer the vets office for at least an hour just in case...
in terms of which vaccines to give...well thats all dependant on you and your area and your living ituations.
a dog unliekly to be exposed to water tainted with mouse urine shouldnt get the lepto vac...ever not even as a puppy (many a toy breed dodg ha been lost to the lepto vaccine, the little guys are very senitive to reaction)
same goes for bordatella...its uselss with a 3 month lifespan and only protecting against a small number of the most common strains of kennel cough and a high risk of reaction...why bother.
i personally start puppy vaccines at 8 weeks, they get parvo, distemper and hep at 8, 12 and 16 weeks. rabies they get as close to 6 months as i can push it but never before 4 months...
i booste paro distemper and hep at 1yr 4months of age (exactly 1 year form the final set of puppy shots) and then rabies at 1 year...
after that i titer for everything every 3 years and give rabies every 3 years (only because its required by law) thus far titers are coming back solid for immunity and my dogs live IN the house arnt outside unspuervised and dont interact with unknown dogs ect...
if my dogs livd outdoors/kenneled/spent most of their time outoors unsupervied ect i might change my vaccination schedualling and opinions baed on exposure and local issues, but thus far my current schedual works wel for us based on my dogs and our living situation and the many many many hours of research ive done.
Great Post.
In face it has been said by many Vets that to keep on vaccinating for the same thing,only weakens the origoinal vaccination
Where did you get the hepatitis vaccine (I assume relying on CAV-2) for boosting? I have only seen it in a multi-vaccine. I know Dodd does not recommend immunizing on this one and technically I think our own last DAPP at 18 weeks *should* have conferred full immunity but I did booster distemper and parvo separated by 3 weeks each after the rabies shot 1 year after the first one.
I know my own vet had a hard enough time locating a single antigen distemper vaccines this year...maybe I need to double check to see if it was not a distemper/adenovirus combo. Double checked - records state distemper only, Galaxy D so I guess it is available again.
We have one dog with a medical exemption for the rabies vaccine after the first one put him in the ICU.
Even with only one rabies shot in his 4 years, his titer test passed the recommended CDC ULm measurement requirement by 240 times ...yes....240 X. The CDC requires .01 or greater and his titer came out to 2.4. I can only imagine what is happening to all the dogs out there getting rabies over and over and over.
We do titers for our dogs starting after their puppy shots and have yet to see a titer that showed a loss of immunity.
This is all well and good, but unless and until things change across the board, our dogs will still be subject to these immunizations because they can't be accepted into classes, therapy programs, or at boarding kennels unless all these immunizations and a few more included are up to date. So what are you to do. Both of my dogs had lyme disease...since I have them immunized for this (after considerable blood tests) and give them Nexgard, they no longer attract ticks like crazy. All of this information is thought provoking and useful, but as you all say, there is lots of money to be made and no one wants to lose it...beginning with the drug manufacturers right down to the veterinarians...and how about those firms that just give shots at Petco and Pet Smart???
Vaccines Incress Your Dog form NOT getting Sick! Why would you endanger your pets & others? Parvo Lepto Corria Distemper Rabies ARE REAL & They are out there! How Many times have people Posted that their dog is Sick & Dying from the Very thing IF the Dog Have UTD Vaccination IT Might Not get sick or even show signs! IF Sick IT Migh have a better chance to survive! TONS! Dont believe in Shots Just look up ALL the posts I just mentioned! While your at it Stop Walking your Dog & keep away from other dogs I for one Dont Need to loose another animal do to Your Neglect!
The question isn't whether or not to vaccinate- I think there is agreement that dogs need the initial and follow up booster vaccinations. The question is whether the ongoing vaccinations after the initial boosters are necessary. There is increasing consensus among the veterinary community that these vaccinations aren't medically necessary nor do they confer additional immunity.
More and more vets in my area are willing to write the exemption certificates needed to provide to city government for rabies. If it makes you feel better, do a titer to test whether there are sufficient antibodies. I no longer give the 3-5 year vaccinations.
The law mandates more frequent vaccination than current scientific knowledge tells us about the immunity conferred by the rabies vaccine, yes. There are a few reasons for that. For one, laws tend to lag quite a bit behind scientific discoveries and cultural shifts. Another is that on a one- or three-year schedule, if the dog misses a booster or the booster is in some way botched, there is still overlapping coverage from the previous jab. Given the fatality and severity of rabies, the thinking in public health terms is better too frequent than not frequent enough, especially when there is really no proof that an animal will come to harm from jabs three years apart even if not all the jabs are strictly medically required.
The purpose of the vaccination isn't really for dogs, anyway. It's for the humans they're around. We vax dogs because they're the number one vector for rabies fatalities in human beings, and rabies is a horrible disease - one that has been basically eliminated in humans in the US and most of the developed world due to the vaccination protocols currently in place. There are still tons of disease reservoirs, though, so it's not something to get lax about just because we no longer see people regularly dying of "hydrophobia."
Quote:
Originally Posted by abbara
Humans don't get vaccinated again after their initial vaccinations as a child/dogs shouldn't either!
Several human vaccinations do call for periodic boosters. The human rabies vaccination is one of them, actually! People who are at high risk for exposure are recommended to get rabies boosters every two years, I believe.
This illustrates one reason we vax dogs rather than humans for this - there are more humans than dogs, and the human vax schedule is more frequent and complex. It is simpler, cheaper, and more efficient to vax the dogs. Throw in the fact that dogs are a vector and humans generally are not, and dogs are the logical target.
Quote:
Originally Posted by abbara
Also it is sad that a 5 lb(or less) dog will get the same dose as a 100 lb + dog.
That's because a vaccine does not require an adjusted dosage like medications do. The amount required to trigger a sufficient immune response is not proportionate to size.
The law mandates more frequent vaccination than current scientific knowledge tells us about the immunity conferred by the rabies vaccine, yes. There are a few reasons for that. For one, laws tend to lag quite a bit behind scientific discoveries and cultural shifts. Another is that on a one- or three-year schedule, if the dog misses a booster or the booster is in some way botched, there is still overlapping coverage from the previous jab. Given the fatality and severity of rabies, the thinking in public health terms is better too frequent than not frequent enough, especially when there is really no proof that an animal will come to harm from jabs three years apart even if not all the jabs are strictly medically required.
The purpose of the vaccination isn't really for dogs, anyway. It's for the humans they're around. We vax dogs because they're the number one vector for rabies fatalities in human beings, and rabies is a horrible disease - one that has been basically eliminated in humans in the US and most of the developed world due to the vaccination protocols currently in place. There are still tons of disease reservoirs, though, so it's not something to get lax about just because we no longer see people regularly dying of "hydrophobia."
Several human vaccinations do call for periodic boosters. The human rabies vaccination is one of them, actually! People who are at high risk for exposure are recommended to get rabies boosters every two years, I believe.
This illustrates one reason we vax dogs rather than humans for this - there are more humans than dogs, and the human vax schedule is more frequent and complex. It is simpler, cheaper, and more efficient to vax the dogs. Throw in the fact that dogs are a vector and humans generally are not, and dogs are the logical target.
That's because a vaccine does not require an adjusted dosage like medications do. The amount required to trigger a sufficient immune response is not proportionate to size.
Sorry but I am still of the mind dogs do not need these ongoing vaccinations. Puppy vaccines YES!
The person that convinced me of this is my own Vet!
Humans don't get vaccinated again after their initial vaccinations as a child/dogs shouldn't either!
Apples and oranges. Dogs aren't humans, obviously. I have yet to see any persuasive evidence that yearly vaccinations causes some sort of harm to dogs, but plenty of evidence that failing to vaccinate makes them sick or kills them. All anti vaccination people can come up with is anectodal evidence: "My dog was vaccinated, then got sick with X." That is most likely coincidental. I gladly get my Great Danes vaccinated yearly to prevent parvo, distemper, rabies, and the other deadly diseases dogs carry. The illogic of failing to vaccinate truly escapes me.
We have senior dogs and quit everything but the rabies 3 years ago after one of them had their face and ears swell after being vaccinated. Let's face it, dogs are not as healthy as they used to be. They are pumped medications for fleas, heartworm and now for calming them down, etc. so that now, they are becoming unhealthy just like the humans who keep them. Everyone needs to make their own decision but make an informed one. I won't subject my dog to poisons as I don't subject myself to them. Easy choice.
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