Are annual shots overkill!!!

[shihtzulover850]

I thought it was the law here to get them vaccinated. I am pretty sure it is. I think they should get vaccinated. Rabies and distemper and parvo and everything else is scary.

[Jessika]

I thought it was the law here to get them vaccinated. I am pretty sure it is. I think they should get vaccinated. Rabies and distemper and parvo and everything else is scary.

Its required to get vaccinated against certain things. I think the only thing REQUIRED by law, here, is rabies, and I'm sure that is the same everywhere (in the US at least). But as far as vaccinating against other diseases like parvo, distemper, etc, those aren't required by law. Not here, anyway.

[shihtzulover850]

In the state I live in it is required by law for rabies. I don't know about other vaccinations but I get them done anyway. This is something that happens rarely. If Snuggles wasn't vaccinated I couldn't take her to the kennel/doggy daycare or the groomers. There are some human vaccines that I think are unnecessary. Others I think we should get. Just my opinion

[Jessika]

In the state I live in it is required by law for rabies. I don't know about other vaccinations but I get them done anyway. This is something that happens rarely. If Snuggles wasn't vaccinated I couldn't take her to the kennel/doggy daycare or the groomers. There are some human vaccines that I think are unnecessary. Others I think we should get. Just my opinion

Well as Sarah mentioned previously in this thread, you can get a titer and go to public places without having vaccinations. I know what a titer is now, hehe, didn't at first.

[carole]

Wolfsoul I really cannot say vaccines for dogs are good or bad, i don't even have a dog, so i am not saying you are wrong by any means, my whole overall opinion is I would rather vaccinate than not, that is purely my opinion, and yes i have had both my children vaccinated, i am with Lady's Human on this ,i strongly believe in Humans that the risks of the disease,outweigh the risks of the vaccine,as for animals well i am not knowledgeable on that i confess, but i still prefer to vaccinate my cats, so far so good.

There will always be cases where things go wrong, and if that happened to me i am sure i would re-think my position on this subject.

I recently had Melissa vaccinated for meningicoccal (sp)again this is controversial, and there is always a risk,and of course everytime you vaccinate your child you worry and wonder are you doing the right thing,but i sure could not live with myself knowing there was a vaccine available and my child got this illness because i decided against it, and since we went through a very scarey situation when she was four and suspected of having this, i am not prepared to take the risk now knowing there is a vaccine available.,this disease is horrific and for those who do not know is very prevalent in NZ for what reason I am unsure of,and can also result in loss of limbs, I am not prepared to take the risk.

So for me i would vaccinate my animals just the same,but whenever i make a decision i always look at all the pros and cons and do not simply rush into it, vaccination whether it be for humans or animals is a personal thing, and only we can decide what we think is best for our family be it human or furkids.

I have an online friend who contracted polio, for some reason his parents decided against vaccination ,he now has to live with the consquences the rest of his life and they are not nice.

[shihtzulover850]

Well as Sarah mentioned previously in this thread, you can get a titer and go to public places without having vaccinations. I know what a titer is now, hehe, didn't at first.

What is a Titer?

[wolfsoul]

What is a Titer?

A titer is a simple blood test that checks the levels of immunity the dog has to certain diseases. Unfortunatly unless the dog has either had the shot or had the disease, the titer will just tell you that the dog is unprotected for the disease -- it won't tell you if the dog can get it or not. For instance, when I titre Visa, the results come back that Visa can not have parvo (as she's already had it) and is unprotected for distemper. Titers have helped to prove that one shot can last a dog it's entire life.

[My Peanuts]

Here's my two cents.
Harley hunts EVERYTHING. Possums, squirrels, skunks. He NEEDS his rabies shot. He and my whole pack get rabies and distemper shots only. Plus there are bats flying around at night here and bats are big carriers of rabies. I might have a different opinion if one of my dogs was directly affected, but in all the years I’ve had dogs (my whole life) nothing bad has happened from shots.
Sylvia, the only one we had as a puppy, got more for her puppy shots and the foster mom gave Morty all his puppy shots too.
RB Angie developed IMHA blood disease and died within 3 days. I don't think it had anything to do with her shots because we were late that year and she didn't get them yet. At the time we thought she got IMHA because we didn't vaccinate her, but now I'm glad we were late because now I would think the shots did it.

[shihtzulover850]

A titer is a simple blood test that checks the levels of immunity the dog has to certain diseases. Unfortunatly unless the dog has either had the shot or had the disease, the titer will just tell you that the dog is unprotected for the disease -- it won't tell you if the dog can get it or not. For instance, when I titre Visa, the results come back that Visa can not have parvo (as she's already had it) and is unprotected for distemper. Titers have helped to prove that one shot can last a dog it's entire life.

Are they expensive?

[dragondawg]

There is always a chance that a vaccine may cause a severe allergic reaction such as anaphylactic shock, or as this thread started out with hemolytic anemia. There could also be localized skin reactions. Some dogs react to any vaccine as their immune systems are hyper active, while most dogs will never have a reaction.

Rabies vaccinations are required in most of the states in the U.S. If you wish to disobey the law, endanger your dog's health, and open yourself up to lawsuits if your dog becomes infected and bites someone, then that is your choice. But it is an irresponsible choice.

A rabies vaccine is a killed virus preparation and as such has absolutely no ability to infect the dog's brain or cause neurological side effects.

Parvo due to its lethality in puppies presents a confused picture. If you do not vaccinate your puppy, then you are trusting that it will never encounter an adult dog which is shedding the virus during that first critical first year. Even a puppy just over a year can get a severe and possible fatal infection from Parvo. On the other hand if you vaccinate too early then maternal antibodies received through the milk will neutralize the virus before an immune response can be mounted. That is why there are usually multiple vaccinations for Parvo to make sure the immune response occured. What happens if you vaccinate a puppy just after it has been exposed to Parvo, or just before it is exposed to Parvo? It will get Parvo as it takes at least a week to 10 days for immunity to build up from the vaccination. There are many occurances where the owner vaccinated and a few days later the puppy got sick. The puppy did not get sick from the vaccine. It got sick because it had been exposed to Parvo before being vaccinated or just after.


(due to thread length end of Part 1)

[dragondawg]

Distemper. If you want neurological problems and/or organ failure problems in later life then skip the distemper shot for your puppy. Why would you want to?

The vaccine schedule I'm following on my current two dogs (now age 3) are:

1. They recieved their "puppy shots" for parvo-distemper, bordetella, and of course rabies.

2. At year 1 and 2 they recieved booster shots for the parvo-distemper.

3. From here on out they will receive a booster once every 2-3 years. The rabies re-vaccination once every 3 yrs.

In addition since my female enjoys wallowing in one particular mud hole in the woods, I'm researching the prevalence of Leptospirosis in my area. Doubtful they will ever get lyme vaccinations, as the disease is easy enough to treat, and has not been a problem here for dogs. In another words some vaccination decisions are a matter of common sense.

The choice for puppies is clear. Vaccinate or take the risk of death or life long serious complications. Once the dog is an adult, give the one booster shot to ensure Parvo-distemper immunity. Then you can decide whether to vaccinate once every 2-3 years, or possibly longer. There are some studies suggesting life long immunity.

Per rabies - vaccinate. Note there are studies to indicate that even dogs undergoing Chemotherapy for cancer, can mount an immune response that is protective to a rabies vaccination. If your dog had an allergic reaction to a rabies vaccine (e.g. hives, breathing problems), then pre-loading with Benedryl is a way around the problem.