Do you vaccinate your dog?

We have a nearly 7 year old dog and we've always had her vaccinated and up to date. I've never given it any thought.

Our baby girls on the other hand, (3yrs and 10mths) aren't to the vaccination schedule and one has only ever had 1 lot of needles. Our own 'informed choices' made there. (not open to discussion in this thread btw!).

So lately we've been thinking, if we don't vaccinate our kids because we don't agree with what goes in them, then why are we vaccinating your own dogs?

We just got a new puppy and she's only 8 weeks. The guy we bought her off was telling us about how he recommends not vaccinating but that it's our choice but he doesn't ever as he's seen way too many dogs coming in with problems from vaccines. One dog was on a drip at 8wks old after having a needle, and was really sick for 2 weeks.

So just interested, who else here doesn't vaccinate dogs? I'm yet to read about it all.....


TIA :)

Our dogs are from shelters so had their vaccinations up to that point done but we've had them for about two years now and they haven't had any others. They don't interact with other dogs though..

DS didn't follow the schedule (I delayed them to what I thought was reasonable). So it's not that I don't care about them, I just don't consider it necessary as they're highly unlikely to come in contact with anything unless it's from one of us.

We do but I also witnessed my sister's dog catch Parvo (some 15 years ago now) at around 10 weeks old and it was horrendous. We were all amazed he survived, even the vet. He was lucky it was caught it in the nick of time.

I definitely vaccinate puppies but tend to relax a bit more as the dog gets older - mainly cause I tend to forget even with the reminders from the vet :redface: I recently had our dog vaccinated for kennel cough as we were going away and he was boarding for the first time ever and he still caught it. The vet did say its a bit like the human flu shot, it can't protect from every strain but it did leave me wondering 'why bother'?

I vacinate my dog as we regularly kennel her when we go away. We also go to dog parks etc so she is fairly social.

However, I also vacinate my child and he has never been left in a kennel;)

I have a friend whose dog developed an autoimmune condition which she feels is from vaccinating and she doesn't vax anymore.

We still get our cat vaccinated because we send her to kennels. Last time we took her for her annual booster though the vet (new vet in the US) said she didn't need to be vaxxed every year anymore as she's old enough and every 5 years or so would be enough to cover her now. I'm a bit annoyed that the vets and kennels push annual vaccination when it's over kill for the poor little cat!

Mine have their puppy jabs then the first of the annual ones after that I vaccinate every 2 years.

We've got parvo in the area at the moment so we're bleaching regularly and keeping fingers crossed that both the boys are sufficiently covered.

We vax our boofhead, we are fairly lax about it though, but having said that, he came down with kennel cough a couple months ago, and extremely rarely comes into contact with other dogs! (has fear aggression) so I was kinda like WTF? And he's a big boy do expensive to treat :/ lol

We are also very lax with flea meds, for the main reason that it's so expensive for us (dog is around 55-60kg of muscle!) and he's only had fleas maybe... 2-3times in his life, and he's nearly 6! And most of those times we knew it would happen because he came in contact with a dog who had fleas *rolls eyes* the other time he got it from DH's parents place as she lives pretty well in the bush.

But yeah, sorry for the ramble, long story short, we vax, but are lax about it


Sent from the land of "iSomethings" so forgive me for any spelking misstaks ;)

There is no reason why you can not delay vax your puppy too if that is what you would like to do.

Dogs interact with other dogs and what other dogs leave dehind (#2's) a lot closer then humans and so they can pass on disease so much easier. If your dog is not going to be a social dog then you might be fine not vaxing. I would definately wait till your puppy is a lot older to take anywhere if you don't vax though.

I have worked in a vet clinic and only ever seen one severe reaction to a vax and that puppy was fine after a couple of days. They don't vax anymore, but their dog does not leave home anymore.

If you are never going to take your puppy out, never let it have contact with other dogs, or even areas where other dogs have been, then it's fine not to vax. But parvo is a very contageous dog illness and I think no vaxing pets is a whole different thing to humans. Believe me, you don't want to see you dog get parvo.

We vax because our dog is out a lot around other dogs and the risk is just too high. Parvo spread through our area like wildfire last year and a lot of poor doggies died or had to fight off a really horrible disease.

As others have said, we also board our dog whenever we go away - only once so far but kennels have very stringent rules when it comes to the vaccinations they require.

We don't vax our puddy anymore. She's an old girl now and on the rare times we have gone away she stays home and my parents come around to look after her daily. She's a very anxious girl and would stress completely in a kennel situation.

We vax ours once every three years on recommendation from our vet and don't vax the dog for kennelcough, it is because they make her sick for about a week afterwards, lethargic, off her food, dihorea etc. The flea and tick stuff makes her sick too, not the worming stuff tho strangely. I volunteer for an animal shelter so they do need some protection.
If you've got parvo in your area its really important to be vigilant. It can live in the soil for up to 8 years and humans can get sick from it too.

Sent from my HTC Incredible S using Tapatalk 2

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If you are never going to take your puppy out, never let it have contact with other dogs, or even areas where other dogs have been, then it's fine not to vax. But parvo is a very contageous dog illness

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Agree :)

In all the time I worked in a vet clinic, we never once saw vaccine reaction worse than some swelling and pain/itchiness at the injection site. But I've seen way too many puppies suffer (and often die) from parvo :( It's a horrendous illness and so easy for them to catch. Like AngelPants said, it can live in the soil for years and years, so if you take you pup anywhere another dog has been in the last few years there is a risk. One of our clients moved into a house where someone had had a dog 2 years earlier (it had since passed away) and the dog once had parvo. Our clients two doberman puppies both caught parvo and the owners had to use a powerful disinfectant on the entire backyard while the pups were hospitalised with us.

I always recommend taking puppies to puppy classes to help socialise them, so with the exposure to other pups I'd definitely vaccinate first.

Like mentioned earlier, the whooping cough vaccine is similar to the human flu vaccine. You have to actually catch it before your body can recognise it and build up it's defence. While the body is doing that you/the dog still starts getting sick, but hopefully only mildly as the body's immune system kicks in.

There are also some vaccines now available that last at least three years. It doesn't include the whooping cough component though so it's still recommended to get that one yearly (and also get a health check for your dog at the same time. A once a year health check is like a human only ever going to the doctors once every 6-10 years or so...). If you want a three year vaccine you'd have to ask the vet about it because many vets don't stock them as they cost more and also because they try to encourage yearly health checks anyway.

Having said all that, my fluffy boy isn't currently up to date with his vaccines. None of our neighbours have dogs though (whooping cough can be caught from neighbour dogs through the fence), and he doesn't leave the yard or come into contact with other dogs. The biggest risk for him would be someone bringing in bugs on their shoes (which is possible).

Enjoy your new little fluffy friend!!!

We vaccinate when we first get them, and really only if required by the boarding kennels, or if they happen to be at the vet for something else.

We were ontop of it with our current dog, as she was underfed and abused when we first got her, so we wanted to make sure she was fully covered till she was 100%.

Yeah, we vaccinate our dog. Mainly because I don't know much about it with dogs and just do what the vet tells me, lol. Don't worry, I'm the opposite with my kids though, haha.

Thanks for all of your replies :)

Yeah I know how serious the Parvo virus can be, it's pretty scary.

Our dog we've had for nearly 7yrs now, she's always had her vaxx to schedule EVEN though she never leaves the house the last 3yrs due to her bad legs (arthritis :( ) and she did her crucial ligament in a while back so she isn't supposed to run around hard or anything. We just let her use the yard space we have which is plenty for her. If we take her out she runs crazy and her leg goes bad again :( so I suppose we could cut her vaccinations from yearly down to once every 3yrs perhaps...... something to think about.

As for our new little pup, I'm thinking because we want to take her out to the beach etc soon, we'll probably get her vaccinated but just every 3yrs......

Apparently the vaccinations (not sure which one's particularly?) DO last for more than 1yr but vets just advice getting it yearly to get people in the door more often for their annual checkups. I find that sad, that if that is the truth, these dogs are getting injections for something they are already immunised against for the next few years, instead they could be getting far less injections..... and dog owners would save $$$.

Someone told me the vaccinations only cost them like $2 and yet they charge us what $60 or so???? (can't' remember exactly but its expensive). It's wrong IMO.

We definitely do. Yearly when she was due. (in the case of our old dog, our new pup is only 7mths old but has had all her current vaccinations)

I read that Parvo can even be brought into the home on the soles of your shoes.

How much of a price do you put on your dog's life? Parvo is an awful disease, extremely life threatening, and kennel cough knocks them around a fair bit too. Dogs are fairly social animals so IMO it is a bit inhumane to not allow them any contact with other dogs or the outside world for the rest of their lives.
Heart worm is something else to consider too, there's either a vaccine or certain worming tablets contain a preventative too. Having seen one of Mum & dad's working dogs die from heart worm, it's not a nice way to go either. I figure a $60 (or whatever it costs..are you sure that doesn't include a consult/health check fee as well?) vaccine is much better than a couple of hundred dollar (or much more) vet bill in the future, and potentially a dead dog. Parvo is very able to survive in the environment for many years, which is why I think it's so important to vaccinate for it (it's not like any of the diseases we humans can be vaccinated for are able to survive for that length of time outside a host, so we have a better chance of avoiding them ITMS).

Our dogs are vaccinated tri-annually to avoid the possible issues of cancer risk at the injection site. We made this decision in consultation with our vet. We still take him to the vet every year for a check up and heart worm injection.

Yes. The pet hotel won't take them if they aren't vaccinated and I wouldn't leave my dogs at a place that would accept unvaccinated dogs.

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Yes. The pet hotel won't take them if they aren't vaccinated and I wouldn't leave my dogs at a place that would accept unvaccinated dogs.

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That's the only hitch if you don't vaccinate annually. We use housesitters to babysit our pets when we go away instead. If we needed to, we would get a vaccination done before putting him in a pet hotel.

Yes that's true, it's another thing DH and I have discussed. We rely on a local dog kennel to mind our dog whenever we go away (twice a year) & they require up to date vaccination records. Sometimes we can leave our dog with our MIL if they aren't away travelling at the time but we can't rely on them.

It's looking more towards vaccinating her at this stage!! Particularly if we want her to socialise with the dogs down at the local dog park eventually.

It just sucks that the injections aren't given based on 'weight' of the dog.... so our 30kg dog receives the same dosage as our tiny 1.4kg pup will :( :( how is that right???

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It just sucks that the injections aren't given based on 'weight' of the dog.... so our 30kg dog receives the same dosage as our tiny 1.4kg pup will :( :( how is that right???

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I asked one of our drug reps about that once. She told me that medications are a bit different to vaccines. Medicines need to reach what they call the "effective level" to work which is dependent on weight, whereas vaccines need to stimulate an immune response which apparently does not depend so much on weight.

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Apparently the vaccinations (not sure which one's particularly?) DO last for more than 1yr but vets just advice getting it yearly to get people in the door more often for their annual checkups. I find that sad, that if that is the truth, these dogs are getting injections for something they are already immunised against for the next few years, instead they could be getting far less injections..... and dog owners would save $$$.

Someone told me the vaccinations only cost them like $2 and yet they charge us what $60 or so???? (can't' remember exactly but its expensive). It's wrong IMO.

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The tri-annual vaccines that are available are the only ones that have been studied and proven to be effective for at least three years. The annual vaccine has only been studied and proven to be effective for at least a year. In both cases the vaccines may actually last significantly longer than that but the drug companies can't make that claim because it hasn't been studied and proven. It also depends on the individual immune system as to how long it "remembers" how to fight each particular disease. It's similar to some human vaccines (like tetanus and chickenpox) where at some point the immune system "forgets" and you lose immunity.

In regards to the cost, no vet should ever vaccinate a pet without a health check first, and that is probably the majority of the fee you are paying. I know it seems like Vets make a lot of money because their fees seem so expensive, but healthcare in general is expensive and we are just lucky that for us humans we have medicare to take care of some of the costs. Vets actually make less money on average than a first year people nurse. Two of my bosses (of which there are three) that own the clinic have second jobs just to make ends meet. You don't even want to know what the pay rate for a nurse is, lol. I was a Senior Surgical Vet Nurse and I made less an hour than I could have at Coles.

I used to work in an animal shelter and one month we euthanised at least 20 dogs with parvo. It is very infectious and an extremely painful way to die. Plus kennel cough is still always around and just goes on and on. I vaccinate my dog up to a C5, but there is some overlap of time so I don't do it strictly each year. I would vaccinate according to the schedule for puppies though.

We vaccinate. My sister and mum are vet nurses at have seen enough to show that there is a very real risk for animals who are not vaccinated. The vaccinations themselves cost around $10-25 depending on the vaccine, supplier etc, so vets do make a mark-up, but ours also does a vet check-up when our dog gets her vaccinations, so it's sort of like paying parts and labour at the mechanic. You pay for the vaccination, the vet taking the time to do the vaccination, and the check-up that I imagine most vets would do, so you look at around $60+, it's once a year though so not a massive expensive really. I pay that much for every 4 months flea+worming treatment, the vaccinations are probably the cheapest part about having a dog!

I'd be interested to know if those are the breeders true intentions (not vaccinating for health reasons) because it's actually very unusual. Is the puppy micrchipped? Did the breeder worm the puppise? In Qld, it's against the law to sell a dog or cat without microchipping it, and no good vet will microchip before 8 weeks without a very good reason, and it's quite frowned upon among reputable breeders to sell without vaccinations (and worming, and before 8 weeks). Not sure where you are but is it possible this was a money issue on his part? Some see visiting the vet for vaccinating and microchipping a litter as too 'expensive'.

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Some see visiting the vet for vaccinating and microchipping a litter as too 'expensive'.

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In which case it's a very good possibility they are puppy farmers/backyard breeders, only interested/concerned about the profit margin. Any legitimate registered breeder should sell pups vaccinated and most definitely microchipped, health checked etc. breeders that breed because they love their chosen breed and have a desire to improve the genetics of the breed/breed to breed standard would not hesitate at providing an exceptional level of veterinary care, and sell their puppies vaccinated to help give them the best start to a happy & healthy and life :)

im a irresponsible pet owner. I am also a vet nurse (been out of the game for 5 years since kids though).. I don't vaccinate my dog & cat. If I got a puppies or kitten I would for the first year but doubt I would keep it up after that. I don't give heart worm medication either.

Part of my reasoning is that they don't socialise & part is I think vets DO rip you off (15 years of vet nursing behind me) & part is because Im lazy.

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In which case it's a very good possibility they are puppy farmers/backyard breeders, only interested/concerned about the profit margin. Any legitimate registered breeder should sell pups vaccinated and most definitely microchipped, health checked etc. breeders that breed because they love their chosen breed and have a desire to improve the genetics of the breed/breed to breed standard would not hesitate at providing an exceptional level of veterinary care, and sell their puppies vaccinated to help give them the best start to a happy & healthy and life :)

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Yeah that ^^^^ is what I was getting at :)

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We vaccinate. My sister and mum are vet nurses at have seen enough to show that there is a very real risk for animals who are not vaccinated. The vaccinations themselves cost around $10-25 depending on the vaccine, supplier etc, so vets do make a mark-up, but ours also does a vet check-up when our dog gets her vaccinations, so it's sort of like paying parts and labour at the mechanic. You pay for the vaccination, the vet taking the time to do the vaccination, and the check-up that I imagine most vets would do, so you look at around $60+, it's once a year though so not a massive expensive really. I pay that much for every 4 months flea+worming treatment, the vaccinations are probably the cheapest part about having a dog!

I'd be interested to know if those are the breeders true intentions (not vaccinating for health reasons) because it's actually very unusual. Is the puppy micrchipped? Did the breeder worm the puppise? In Qld, it's against the law to sell a dog or cat without microchipping it, and no good vet will microchip before 8 weeks without a very good reason, and it's quite frowned upon among reputable breeders to sell without vaccinations (and worming, and before 8 weeks). Not sure where you are but is it possible this was a money issue on his part? Some see visiting the vet for vaccinating and microchipping a litter as too 'expensive'.

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Just in regards to the breeders true intentions, if it's a breeder registered with the ANKC, they must follow the rules and regs for vaccinating puppies, microchipping etc in order to register the pups with the ANKC. however, it is not uncommon for many breeders to vaccinate 3 yearly or more on their adult dogs. Also pups can be microchipped anytime from 6 weeks particularly the larger breeds, so there isno excuse for any pup coming from a reputable registered ANKC breeder to not come with a microchip, wormed and vaccinated.

Personally I follow the vaccination policy for pups however after their booster at 12 months that is it for at least 3 years. I also only vaccinat with a C3. The C5 has cover for kennel cough, which I have found to be quite ineffective based on personal experience. I have 4 dogs. Once, when I only had 3 dogs, they came into contact with Kennel Cough, the one that had been annually vaccinated got KC worse than the other 3. A more recent case with my pup from last year, where it came into contact with Kennel Cough (caught it at the Royal Show). Her brother and a friends pup (same age) were both there. Her brother had the nasal kennel cough vaccine and showed the symptoms of KC quite severely and needed antibiotics, my friends pup had the vaccination by injection and also had the serious cough (but didn't need ABs). My pup had only had a C3 and didn't have the KC nasal, and she didn't show any signs at all of having KC. kennel cough is not fun, but it's easy to treat and easy to see if they need to go to the vet for Antibiotics if it gets too bad. It's easy to manage just like a cold in humans and the reason so many vaccinated dogs get it is because it has many strains just like a common human cold.