Do you vaccinate your dog?

[Shanti]

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

[No.5]

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.

[Taurean]

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 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'?

[Frantelle]

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

[meow]

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!

[Ms_Fi]

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.

[xXHopeXx]

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

[Kazzo]

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.

[Floweryfields]

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.

[LuluHB]

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.

[AngelPants]

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

[~ Mylitta ~]

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

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!!!

[Astrid]

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%.

[Heaven]

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.

[Shanti]

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.

[Astrolady]

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.

[ss_storm]

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).

[Jennifer13]

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.