Rabies Vaccines..

[pomtzu]

I guess I'm one of the fortunate folks that has never had any of my fur kids have any reaction to any vaccines - and I've been a Mom to many fur kids for 40+ years. I go to a wonderful vet and abide by what she feels is necessary for the good health of my kids.
My only problems occured when there were no vaccines. I lost my very first dog to distemper, and years later I lost two cats also. I had an indoor only cat that had no shots and then adopted a "healthy" kitten from the local SPCA. Three days later it was dead - I called the SPCA about it and was told that they just had to put down their entire cat population due to distemper - yet they never called me and alerted me to this. Of course the infected kitten passed it along to the cat I already had, and dispite efforts of a vet, I lost him also.
I will never put myself or any animal thru anything like that again - they get puppy/kitty shots, boosters every year, and rabies every 3 years.

[So-Crafty]

I had a terrible experience with the last (and first) dog I ever owned. The first time my (now ex-) Fiancé and I ever took her to the vet, the bill was well over $300 - which I thought was insane. But, that had been our choice and it was a poor one - the dog came from a really bad breeding and was very (very!) unhealthy. This is going off on a slight tangent, but just bare with me. I really feel that [some] vets are in it for the money, and not just for the animals anymore and could care less what their owners have to say in all of it. The price of just simple yearly exam has nearly tripled since I was a little girl. It costs more money to take an animal to the vet than to visit your regular human doctor with no insurance.

But back on the vaccinations - in the future, I would definitely get all the puppy shots, then the first year booster shots. I would titer test after that, but still get a yearly rabies shot. I'm not for over vaccinating but I feel that certain immunizations would help give the animal a better life.

And back onto a tangent - I really think you get what you pay for. I think that this is where it pays off to find an excellent breeder and pay a little more up front for a healthy puppy (whose parents have been health tested) rather than scrimp and scrounge and then pay more overall for the life of the animal.