I'm going to be leaving my job next week. As such, my dogs have no real "need" to have vaccines anymore... I've been toying with the idea for some time but I can say i'm a bit nervous about stopping the vaccinations... Since they are at the dog park pretty much daily.

Currently... My dogs are being vaccinated yearly with: Rabies, Distemper, Parvo, and Bordettella.

Do you guys vaccinate every year? Val, I know you don't... were you comfortable stopping vaccinating?

Help?!

I'm kind of in the same boat, I've considered it, but am not comfortable with the idea really.

we vaccinate for Rabies, Distemper, Lymes Disease, and Bordettella.

When we need to take Ginger to doggie daycare, she needs to be up to date on vaccinations. We do take her to the dog park and such, so I kind of am thinking we *should have her up to date on vaccinations. Her rabies shot is every 3 years.

I'd be curious to know what others say because I have heard that after a certain age, they really do not need to be vaccinated...?

I only do titer tests- even with work, I have always done titer tests. DHPP usually is good for upwards of 7 years+, and Koda has not received a bordetella for 1 year and 7 months and still has high immunity. We had a kennel cough outbreak at work a few weeks back- I mean 20+ dogs, he never got it and went 3-4 times a week. Obviously I do rabies for licensing though but would never not do the 3 year


And Claudia I'm not sure what age it is, but that is true, a lot of vets don't suggest doing DHPP or bord on older dogs, especially since if they got it since they were 5 or so it will probably be up to par past their life expectancy.

When was the last time you vaccinated Koda, Heather?

Siku is done with all her puppy shots and her booster shots at 1yr old, so now I'm just going to get her 3yr rabies and after a while titer test her to see if she needs more shots in a few years. I've read bordettella is not very useful. There are so many strains of it and the vaccine only protects against like 2 of them I think. Plus the damn vaccine made Elara cough and cough for weeks. My mom does rescue and doesn't get her dogs bordettella. If she brings home a dog with kennel cough they usually don't catch it, but rarely they will and it's not that big of a deal. As long as your dog is healthy it should really hurt it.

arooroomom wrote:

Do you guys vaccinate every year? Val, I know you don't... were you comfortable stopping vaccinating?

Help?!

I don't vaccinate every year. In fact I only get the 3 yr rabies every 3 years and that's it. The duration of immunity for most vaccines has been tested and proven to last at least 7 or more years. Most will last the lifetime of the dog, there are some that have been tested and proved duration of immunity for at least 15 years.

Over-vaccination can be quite harmful and actually counter the effects of previous vaccines making your dog more vulnerable than if you were to do annual boosters.

This is a sensitive subject, one that requires research and each owner make an informed decision as to what they want to do. I would never tell anyone what to do for their dog but will point out that there are risks and alternatives. If someone wants to vaccinate every year that's fine, it's their choice. if someone doesn't want to vaccinate every year then more power to them. It's a personal decision and one that should not be taken lightly.

In the US, the rabies vaccine is the only one required by law. All other vaccines are optional and will be the decision of the dog owner. I only get the 3 yr rabies as required by law.

I don't titer test for antibodies simply because it costs a small fortune and would send our annual vet visit bill skyrocketing if I tested all 3 of my dogs. Plus, I am confident that my dogs are set for life on vaccines since they have all had boosters as adults.

The schedule I recommend to most people is they get the puppy series, the 12 month booster, and then another booster at 7 yrs of age. That should be more than sufficient to protect them for life. And then of course rabies is required by law so unless you can get an exemption from your vet you'd be legally obligated to at least get the 3 yr rabies.

In all honesty though, the vaccination schedule that I would suggest following is that of Dr. Jean Dodds. This is the vaccination protocol that most of my holistic dog mom friends AND my holistic vet follow.

Dr Jean. Dodds' Recommended Vaccination Schedule

Most of us are adults, so when was the last time you got vaccinated? Not counting the flu vaccine, you certainly haven't been getting vaccines every year, have you? Except for the Hepatitis vaccine which I got at around age 12 and a tetanus vaccine I got a age 24, I haven't been vaccinated since I was a baby. Yet wonder of wonders I am still protected.

The only other vaccine that I could see being of benefit to get more frequently would be bordetalla. And even then I wouldn't get it unless I felt absolutely necessary. My holisitc vet doesn't even recommend getting bordetella unless we know that we are going to be exposed to kennel cough or it is required for boarding/flying, etc. I have not had my dogs vaccinated for anything but rabies, the last time I got a bordetalla vaccine was in 2008. Since then my dogs have gone traveling all over the place with us, they've been to dog parks on a regular basis, stayed in close proximity with lots of other dogs, they were even exposed to kennel cough for several days on one occasion and have never gotten sick.

With that in mind, here are some links with some good reading material to start out with:

Vaccinations: A Word of Caution - Part I

Vaccinations: A Word of Caution - Part II

Science of Vaccine Damage

Are We Over Vaccinating Our Pets?

Shots in the Dark

Vaccination Protocols

Thanks Val... I think i'm done with vaccinating then. We'll get the 3 year rabies when it comes time for each of them, but besides that i'm not going to continue to spend money on something that can cause harm. I mean if i'm spending all this time feeding raw and keeping them as healthy as possible... I should stop polluting their bodies with more and more vaccines.

arooroomom wrote:

When was the last time you vaccinated Koda, Heather?

When he was maybe 14 months old.

Kale got all his puppy shots which included 4 DHLPPs, 2 Bordettellas and a one year rabies. His annual exam is next Thurs and he'll get his booster of Dist/parvo, Bord, and 3 yr rabies. After that I will only vaccinate when his rabies is due every 3 yrs.

Funny this got bumped, because I was actually reading something about vaccinating today. Just as an update we haven't re-vaccinated and will not be at all. Going to do the 3-year Rabies for everyone and hopefully in 3 years time i'll just be tittering them so that way they won't even have to have the rabies vaccination any more.

I would go every 6 yrs with rabies but he has to every 3 to be able to license him. Police where I live are stopping pedestrians walking their dogs and asking to see their license, if they don't have one they get slapped with a $751 fine. LAME!! California government pisses me of...

Can you just get a titer test instead of a rabies shot? Does the state recognize titer tests?

nope they do not. And that blood titer test we send to an outside lab, costs between $200-$275. rabies vx cost $17. If it was every yr I'd take my chances lol but I don't mind every 3 yrs.

I thought they did? I heard that somewhere... thought I had read it...

hypers987 wrote:

I would go every 6 yrs with rabies but he has to every 3 to be able to license him. Police where I live are stopping pedestrians walking their dogs and asking to see their license, if they don't have one they get slapped with a $751 fine. LAME!! California government pisses me of...

Just for not having it on them?

This is why all my pets wear their rabies tags on their collars. Even the cats, who never leave the house. I will have to do some more reading about the other vaccinations to figure out how we want to do them with Faolan...

Licensing tags are different than rabies tags here. Kale has three on his collar lol Rabies, Identification, and his license lol he jingles everywhere he goes haha

hypers987 wrote:

Licensing tags are different than rabies tags here. Kale has three on his collar lol Rabies, Identification, and his license lol he jingles everywhere he goes haha

Oh....what are licenses? I don't know if we have them here. At least I hope not because I haven't heard of it.

You can go on your county's website and see. Everyone in California has to have their dogs licensed. Just another thing the state gets money for...

Statewide law.
http://forum.dog.com/forums/t/106395.aspx

Most states don't recognize rabies titers. However, they are in the middle of performing a challenge study for the rabies vaccine. They are trying to prove that the vaccine lasts at least seven years. They already did a similar study in France, but the united states refused to recognize their study. The only vaccine we do is rabies every three years, and that is still too often in my opinion.

If you want to know more about the study, just look up rabies challenge fund and you should be able to find their website.

hypers987 wrote:

You can go on your county's website and see. Everyone in California has to have their dogs licensed. Just another thing the state gets money for...

Well apparently the city of Raleigh does have licensing. I've still never heard of it, but perhaps that is because I am only here for college and not a permanent resident. Hm. We're also like right on the edge, Faolan doesn't even go to a vet in city limits and my fiance doesn't work in the city limits either. I do, and at a kennel. Perhaps I should ask my coworkers about it.

Yea I'd check into it. Here we have a 1,2, and 3 year license. Since I'm permanent I get the 3 yr which is only $30. Better safe than sry, At least where I live, always trying to squeeze as much from you as they possibly can. drives me up the freakin walls.

We vaccinate for rabies every 3 years and Distemper annually here.
I don't know if I would be entirely comfortable with stopping vaccines (at least the Distemper) as we run on many different trails in the fall and winter. Not to mention being at races with hundreds of dogs in one area and running on the same trails. Plus I sometimes train with other mushers at their kennels so my dogs are exposed to a lot.
But, I would like to learn more about it.

Maybe this is a silly question but what is a titer test?

It's a blood test to check the "immunity level" of the dog against a specified disease. I think that's it anyway, i'm paraphrasing.

I've been researching this for a few months now because I too was really worried. We go to dog parks a lot and do a lot of other things with high dog/dog contact. But the more I read the more comfortable I am actually. Especially about vaccine reactions.

Mickey, Odin, and Seamus are all "expired" on vaccines and the girls expire in a few months.