I am not anti-vaxxer by any means, my 3 huskies are all up to date on their vaccines and get yearly blood testing done. Thankfully, my dogs are all incredibly healthy, flea-free, active and have rarely ever had diarrheas (when they stole my baked pies off the counter  :no:  ). I feel silly contemplating my vets schedule for vaccination on the core vaccines annual boosters but...


I feel like cancer, seizures and arthritis is becoming way too common these days in our pets. It was unheard of, for a dog to have cancer, kidney dysfunction, liver failure, diabetes, or allergies and now I feel like every other dog I hear about has some chronic issue sadly. I grew up with many healthy long living dogs that didn't have nearly half as many interventions as my vet expects me to have. It didn't sit right with me and I did some research and here is what I found, I might have a bias though...

https://www.avma.org/news/javmanews/pages/160701a.aspx
http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2014/08/routine-vaccinations-for-dogs-cats-trying-to-make-evidence-based-decisions/

Apparently most studies show that dogs have immunity for rabies for 3 years minimum. "For distemper and parvovirus, the other core vaccines, there is strong evidence that protection for most dogs lasts at least 5 years, and pretty good evidence for longer duration of immunity. The guidelines recommend repeating vaccination no more than every 3 years, and 3 years is the interval most commonly used today. However, longer intervals are probably justified. There is certainly no need for annual boosters, and this is a practice that really isn’t defensible scientifically."

So my dogs have their annual vet appointment coming up and my vet office is extremely pushy about starting preventative flea tabs, heart worms meds and annual core vaccines boosters + dog flu shots. I feel a little disheartened that my vet pushes for yearly boosters when its apparently not necessary or safe?. I am considering opting for the titre if they offer it but wanted more input.

I have read too many stories about seizures correlation with flea preventative so I do not have them on any atm they used to have the sorestro collars but they get really irritated by having those collars (are completely ok with their normal collars)and chew them off (went through 9 collars in less than two months). We tried the heartgard per the vet recommendations for a couple of months and my litter mates both had a weird eye reaction to it and one aggressively itched at its eye overnight and so we stopped that as well.  :|
https://i.imgur.com/ZKDGErr.jpg

So how often do you guys vaccinate your adult dogs? Am I being a worrywart here?

So im kinda an anti vaxxer even tho i have 2 relatives that are vets. We do rabies every 3 years and the only vaccines we do yearly are things that my dogs could get from the fox that lives in the yard because when coyotes or other dogs chase her she has been known to come into the fenced area. On a side note because of spider being wolf/husky my vet wanted to hold puppy vaccines until she was 6 months and at 5 months she got parvo. The vet i saw at the afb i used to live at recommended all vaccines every 3 years. I do heartworm even tho where i live its almost unheard of because if i go any direction over a mountain pass or into new Mexico then im out of the heart worm free zone amd according to my vet here in Colorado heartworm medication if they get heartworm is very hard to get. But i do have other vet paranoia squirt my old lady had a drastic change in temperment when she was spayed. I looked it up and it happens almost 10% of the time due to it causing a hormonal imbalance and im really mad the vet at the afb convinced me to spay her. Unfortunately unlike with human women they dont make hormone pills for dogs. And your comment about the medical issues i dont think have as much to do with the vaccines as much as bad breeding and bad genetics German shepherd dogs are the prime example of breeding for looks as apposed to responsible animal husbandry leading to a multitude of health issues.

Here is my .02. We got the first set of vaccinations (don't actually have a reason I suppose). But we don't plan on getting any more. We don't let our dogs around other dogs, and our yard (knocking on wood) is pretty escape proof so there would be no reason they would realistically come in contact with infected dogs.

Going to start an obedience class today and they require vaccinations so in hindsight, I'm glad we got the first set done.

Rabies is a state mandated thing - our state allows a 3 year vaccine after the first shot and booster.

As for core vaccines, my vet gives an initial puppy series then a booster at 1 year.  After that, it is every 3 years until they are 7, then she stops.  We do get the lepto vaccine because our guys have the run of 4 acres and we take them in the woods all the time - they drink scuzzy water while out and about (even though we carry water bottles for them and give them as much as they will take )  My decision on the lepto vaccine is that lepto can be a killer even if aggressively treated and treatment costs a fortune, frequently requiring kidney dialysis.  Unfortunately, lepto immunity is, at best, a year so yearly booster is indicated.  We don't do lyme vaccine - I have a good preventive protocol that works for us and most of the time, lyme disease is not a serious disease in dogs, is self limiting and, if necessary, rapidly responds to antibiotic treatment.

They only get the bordetella vaccine if we are planning to travel and use doggy daycare.  I ONLY do this because many doggy daycare places require the bordetella. I do not vaccinate for canine flu as we don't interact with that many dogs, don't do dog parks or dog shows.

Vaccination adverse events are much more common in cats, particularly soft tissue sarcoma at the vaccination site.

Here is the current AAHA quidelines for canine vaccines.  Of note, they also recommend the 3 year interval on core vaccines once the initial series and first booster are completed.  You might want to print that and bring it with you.

I do not regularly vaccinate my dogs, I lean more toward the titer testing form of evaluation. I also put my focus on making sure that my dogs are healthy through good diet, exercise, and preventing pests in general. I do not view vaccinations the same as preventatives for ticks and fleas. Ticks and fleas are a known pest that cannot be avoided. While good health will help a dog fend off what fleas and ticks may carry the instances of exposure to those pests are far higher than your chances of your dog walking up and licking faces with a dog that has rabies. Where issues with flea meds and heartworm meds often come in are with people who mix them, people who don't check their dogs for the MDR1 gene mutation, and those who put topicals weight rated for dogs that are over 100 pounds on a dog that weighs 20 pounds. There are always exceptions though.

The thing with titers is knowing how you want to read the results and how your vet is going to read the results as to what level they will consider your pet still "protected". More than likely your vet won't randomly offer it and if you ask casually about it they may shrug and say, "we could, but it will cost more and take time", because for them it's easier to just stick the dog and move on.

I should also note, on the canine influenza vaccine - if we are traveling and I know far enough ahead of time, I check to see if there are any outbreaks. If disease activity is widespread in the are we are traveling to AND we will be using daycare, I would vaccinate against canine flu. But - that hasn't been necessary. Yet. You would need at least 4-6 weeks for the vaccine to be fully protective.

Jenn - on the rabies vaccine, we live in an endemic area. Remember when Ami had to be on house quarantine because, even on his line, he killed a rabid raccoon? If he had not been current on his vaccines, the state could have required he be put down instead of just get a booster shot. But - then again, it is a matter of lifestyle and exposure. My guys have free run of 4 acres that includes woods, lots of wildlife. If dogs are ONLY outside on leash, issues are different.

Laws of local area will have to assessed individually. People who are rural where there are not laws stating you have to have them or do not have licensing for their dogs it is easier to get by legally. Legality and actual medical necessity often do not line up though. Many cities require them to renew dog licenses and many cities are not setup to accept titers in place of vaccination papers. As with anything, do research on your particular area and what will fly legally and in general with what your areas rate of occurrence is per disease.

Where i live we have 0 regulations regarding dogs other then you have to give them at least 3 ft of rope while tied up. They are talking about making a county ordinance that would require they have access to shelter in winter so the current trend of dogs freezing to death will stop. But other then that there are no leash laws or vaccine requirements or containment laws. Sometimes where i live resembles a dog park with the group of dogs that run the area. Which is 1 reason i vaccinate the other being when i have to go to the denver area usually we stay on one of the military bases and they are extremely picky about vaccines and the schedule and having the reccords with you and id rather stay on a nice safe military base then anywhere in the denver/Aurora area but that makes vaccines necessary