Rabies Vaccines..

[shepgirl]

I'm not Anti Rabies and I don't belong or join anti rabies groups. But we do live in the country and we have had 3 years of scares with rabid animals here but I still preferred to not vaccinate because of the side effects. We had a fox in the yard with my horses, never went near them, would sit and watch, not afraid of the dogs either, but would walk away slowly, giving us time to snap pictures. Never found out if it did have rabies, it just stopped coming around as spring wore on. Our dog yard is totally fence in, no way for anything to get in except a bat, not many asround here luckily. I don't do any shots - but I don't advise others as to what they should do - this is just my choice. Most people here still put great faith in the shots and that's fine by me, Ijust don't want them. In over 15 yrs, I haven't had one sick dog.

[K9karen]

We have groundhogs, racoons, skunks, moles, squirrels, and some neighbors saw a red fox, so I've always had my dogs vaccinated for rabies. Mz Logan is on the 3 year rabies shot.

I've had the rabies shots regimen and they're not as painful or awful as they were years ago. You get them in the arm or leg muscle. Better be safe than sorry for pets and humans. It's not worth the consequences.

[Spiritwind]

My dogs (with the exception of Skya as she's not old enough for the shot) are all current on rabies shots. What I have been doing is getting them all of the puppy shots then the booster the next year...after that mostly just rabies shots. It doesn't seem with current studies that the other vaccinations are needed yearly like most vets do. Nebo and Keva both have had 3 year rabies shots, so they are good for a while.

I agree! I've started to not do "yaerly" shots as well... just puppy shots and a boster 1 yr later and thats pretty much it... besides rabies every 3yrs. I agree with you on the rabies as well! Its basicly a legal issue for me too... because of the high number of rabies cases each year in this area, animal control is VERY strict about rabies vaccines... and if something were to happen I don't want my dogs taken away from me. Down here even if you are bitten by a dog that is current on rabies they still are required to be quarintined for 10 days -- which I found out when a friend of mine got bit by a dog at work (vet clinic) a couple years ago!...

I'm not Anti Rabies and I don't belong or join anti rabies groups. But we do live in the country and we have had 3 years of scares with rabid animals here but I still preferred to not vaccinate because of the side effects. We had a fox in the yard with my horses, never went near them, would sit and watch, not afraid of the dogs either, but would walk away slowly, giving us time to snap pictures. Never found out if it did have rabies, it just stopped coming around as spring wore on. Our dog yard is totally fence in, no way for anything to get in except a bat, not many asround here luckily. I don't do any shots - but I don't advise others as to what they should do - this is just my choice. Most people here still put great faith in the shots and that's fine by me, Ijust don't want them. In over 15 yrs, I haven't had one sick dog.

Well the list I joined is "Just Say No To Vaccines" its not really anti rabies as much agaist all vaccinations... they also talk about non-chemical dewormers (diatomaceous earth) etc... and more natural ways to treat animals for things...

As far as rabies.. the side effects worry me as well, but I would be just as worried if I didn't do rabies vaccines with my dogs because of the area I am in. THe dogs are in a fenced area MOST of the time they are outside, but not always... I have 17 acres of mostly wooded, rocky, hilly terrain for the dogs to run in... very little of it is yard and we go hiking in the woods a lot!... as far as the annual shots, I do not do yearly shots anymore either!... but do do the puppy series (but not everything - no lepto or corona)...

Earlier this spring I too saw a couple foxes.. I havent' seen them in several months. THe dogs were in teh back of their fenced yard looking into the woods barking so I went to check and there was a fox just slowly walking thru the woods.. the dogs didnt' seem to scare him and neither did I when I came to the back of the fence to see what he dogs were barking at.... the fox would walk for a while.... then just stop and look around, sniff the ground and finally he walked out of sight.... then a few weeks later we saw 2 more foxes coming out of the woods down at the bottom of my driveway....

It is hard to find a vet in the area who will treat your dog without a rabies vaccine! If you don't have proof of rabies vaccinations they won't treat the dog unless they give them a rabies vaccine first.....

[cali]

I am against overvaccinating, and I vaccinate my dogs for Parvo at 16 weeks and that it for life. no rabies. now I am not opposed to it, I will vaccite my dogs for Rabies if I feel the situation calls for it. for me it is not black and white because I have seen BOTH side of the debate first hand. I have had a dog that had a severe reaction to the rabies vaccine, but I have also had a dog who's life was saved because she had the vaccine. because of this I weigh the pros and cons on the vaccine for the indivdual dog, and not as a whole.

[Twisterdog]

Having a current rabies vaccination is the law here. If your dog, cat or ferret is picked up by animal control, and does not have a current rabies vaccination, they will, at the very least, not let you take your pet home until you get the vaccination. ANY animal that bites someone is automatically euthanized if it does not have a current rabies vaccination.

Rabies is a real presence around here. Every year there are rabid animals ... foxes, raccoons, etc. Several years ago a BULL was found to be rabid. That's a scary thought. Another thing to think about is the fact that bats carry the rabies virus frequently ... and they fly, so it doesn't matter if you have a securely fenced yard of not.

One of my employees was bitten by a feral cat. She went to the emergency room for stitches. The cat could not be found, so she had to have the series of rabies shots. Incredibly painful and expensive.

All of my dogs have current rabies vaccinations, and always will. Not worth the risk not to, IMO.

[GSDOG]

I live in Oregon and i work in a veterinary clinic and the law here is if your animal..cat or dog, bites someone it will either be euthanized or quarrantined. our main vector for rabies is bats, and we have a number of cases in oregon this year of rabies in bats . an indoor only cat had to be euthanized. the bat got in the house and the cat killed it. no rabies vac because the owner didnt think it was needed. and the whole family had to have shots. we always let people know about the bats if they say they dont want to get the vaccine and everyone i have given the info to has said ok to the vaccine. I also worked with a vet a few years ago who used to live in Alaska, he said there was an island that some people were using to raise Malamutes and they figured it was an island and there was no way any of the dogs would be exposed to distemper on the island because there wasnt anything there. well a fox decided to hitch a ride..probably on a piece of ice to the island and all the dogs died of distemper!!!

[pomtzu]

I was under the impression that it was the law in every U.S. state, that dogs and cats had to be vaccinated against rabies. It is here in Delaware, and if you live in an area that requires a dog license, you can't get one without proof of vaccination. The same holds true for boarding and grooming facilities - they won't take an animal that is not up to date on all vaccines. I recently had an issue with a cat that didn't have a record of rabies vaccine. He was a resident stray that I had been feeding on and off for about 5 years and he sustained an injury (looked like a bite on his leg) and I took him to the vet for treatment. No proof of rabies shot - he would have had to be cage quarrantined for 6 months and I was left with only that option and that of euthanasia. There was no way I could cage him for 6 months so he had to be PTS without knowing if it was a bite from a rabid animal or not - but I doubt it was. Then law required that the vet report it and subsequently I was served with a summons by Animal Control for failure to vaccinate MY cat - which he wasn't really MINE to start with. I took it to court - pleaded not guilty - and fortunately the animal control officer was a rookie and didn't properly present the case - (he neglected to specify the county the "offense" occured in) - and it was dismissed on a technicality.
Both my dogs and 2 indoor only cats have up to date shots.

[boomersooner]

I've always kept my dogs up to date on their shots.....especially rabies...Boomer is still on puppy shots but Cassie is on the 3 year. To my knowledge, they've never had any sort of reaction. We live pretty close to a creek, and I've seen raccoons, skunks, opossums, and, of course, squirrels....I would rather have the peace of mind...I am not really sure if it is the "law" around here or not, but I'm sure animal control would be more apt to put the dog down or something if they didn't have the shot.

[Spiritwind]

I was under the impression that it was the law in every U.S. state, that dogs and cats had to be vaccinated against rabies. It is here in Delaware, and if you live in an area that requires a dog license, you can't get one without proof of vaccination. The same holds true for boarding and grooming facilities - they won't take an animal that is not up to date on all vaccines.

To my knowledge it is law in every state (except Hawaii - as they don't have rabies on the island) that all dogs and cats had to be up to date on rabies as well.... but apparently the people on this e-mail list I joined don't care about the law.... I'd have to go back and read the e-mails again but basicly several people on the list said they some how are able to make fake certificates copied and editted from old rab. vac. certs. to use in case they would need to show proof... because they say there is enough scientific proof that a rabies vaccine can give immunity for up to 9yrs... but this isn't what the law says right now so I'd rather not take the chance something would happen and have animal control come and take my dog away because it wasn't up to date... especially when you live in an area like I do where there are a large number of confirmed rabies cases each year in wildlife... and on occasion in pets....

Now I do believe in some states rabies vaccines are only good for 1 yr.. and others 3yrs....