I have had conflicting advice about booster vaccinations for dogs?

Question

a vet once told me that yearly booster jabs for dogs are uneccessary and simply a money making exercise for vets.He also told me there is evidence to support this.Other vets have said this information is wrong.Apparantly dogs initial vaccinations are similar to humans and provide protection for life but it has to be accepted that like humans some dogs will still become ill and like all living creatures this is unavoidable.Has any one else heard of this and if so do you no longer get your dog vaccinated.I am undecided who to believe and am playing safe rather than risk being sorry but like a lot of people i often feel ripped off by vets.Is this another rip off or a vet talking rubbish?

Answer 1

Well I feel strongly about this subject with the information that I have seen. We are being ripped off by vets in this area. Yearly re-vaccination is completely unnecessary and in fact may be harmful in the end. I know people who advise completely against vaccinations however from my experience you need three vaccinations to keep your dog safe. Parvo, Distemper, and Rabies. These three will protect you from anything that can be transmitted. They should be given around 14 weeks or so with one booster set and from that point on are unnecessary. Rabies given yearly is complete crap as they have proved the vaccine to be good fro seven years and possibly for life. Get a blood titter done to avoid the necessity of giving the shot. If you would like more information I have several documents that prove these points. Just e-mail me with your e-mail address and I can send them over to you. Same goes for anyone else who is interested.

Answer 2

I was also told this by a vet who used to work for the RSPCA no less! She said that if you have the initial inoculations done when a pup is very young and then get the booster done after a year then no other boosters were necessary, the vet I use now gives boosters every 3 years, obviously if you board your dog in kennels when you go on holiday then all vaccinations need to be up to date!

Answer 3

I believe that immunity lasts longer than a year...but I was also raised & taught that my dogs need vaccines every year...& until there is SOLID proof that they don't...they will continue to get yearly vaccines. I personally have never had any over-vaccination related issues...but I guess if I ever do & I know for sure that the vaccines caused the issue...then my opinion will probably do a 180. I would rather be safe than sorry...unless vaccines start becoming a serious threat to my dogs health...as far as I'm concerned that hasn't been & isn't the case. ETA- My dogs yearly vaccines include... Rabies Parvo Parainfluenza Canine Hepatitis Distemper

Answer 4

We had our dog vaccinated every year she died at 11 year old shortly after her "jab" at that time there had been a T.V. program
concerning dogs boosters and as you said there are conflicting stories,so when we brought home two pups we spoke to several vets and decided to have the vaccinations up to 5 years,both dogs are fine 8 years old now,but you have to keep up with the injections if they are going into kennels and like us whatever you do just hope we are doing the right thing.

Answer 5

Whether you do the booster thing or not depends on several factors.

Are you in an area (or do you allow your pet to play in an area) that provides a breeding ground for certain diseases? How much do you care for your pet ... versus the "cost of doing business"? Are there other veterinary services that give different rates and/or separate out the vaccines - or do they all "lump them together"?

If your pet doesn't ever go to a kennel (or have other dog friends that s/he plays with that do), then bordatella isn't on the list of things to be boosted. Other things (like rabies, leptovirus, parvovirus, and so forth) are far more common, and therefore should be administered.

We don't "booster" our dog's rabies shots. We get a good quality, 3-year version and redo it every 35 months. Other ones, it's a different story.

Our labrador retriever is the only child we're likely to ever have, so he gets the best of everything - just like a human child would.

Talk to several vets in your area (and I mean the old-school, field vets ... not the chain-store modern ones) about combining medications. I bet they tell you the boosters relevant to your area are necessary, and that - just like humans - it's a bad idea to mix medications.

Answer 6

There is a lot of conflicting advice about vaccinations. I follow a holistic program for my dogs, which means they eat a raw diet and do not recieve meds. It is believed that over vaccination (yearly) causes many of the problems dogs have such as allergies and various diseases. If you think about it years ago dogs did not get all the vaccines they do today and years ago it was rare to hear of some of the issues dogs have today, such as allergies. I do not vaccinate all my dogs regularly, they mostly only recieve the rabies shot and only because it is required by law, two of my dogs I do vaccinate yearly but only because they are therapy dogs (they go to hospitals and nursing homes)and they have to have them in order to participate in the therapy dog program and out of 5 dogs the only one with an allergy issue is one of the dogs being vaccinated yearly. I do not ever put flea preperation on them because I just do not understand how you can put this stuff on your dogs skin but if it touches your skin you should wash it off immediately if it is toxic to us then it is reasonable it would be toxic for our dogs and I do not give heartguard or any other heartworm medication. I do have them tested 2x a year. I have not had a problem with fleas or heartworms or any kind of worms. There are several books that you can get on the subject one that I liked a lot was Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats. It was good for when I first began investigating holistic remedies. I hope this helps.

Answer 7

This is true and its your call to decide what the risks are. The vets just haven't really explained it properly.
The initial vaccination gives your dog the immunity to the disease. That teaches your dogs immune system to recognise that disease and react to it. The immune system will probably recognise the disease for ever, but some forget it or don't remember it so clearly after a period of time. The result is increased risk of contracting the disease. This varies from dog to dog as every immune system is different. Some immune systems won't respond to the vaccination at all anyway and so will fail to protect the dog from the disease.
The booster is designed to stimulate the immune system to remember that disease. So its memory is fresher should it be required to recognise and fight that disease.
Manufacturers of vaccines generally recommend boosters every 3 years. However, many vets say better safe than sorry and recommend every year as we don't really know how to judge the quality of response by the dog's immune system in learning to recognise and fight that disease. Most dog owners follow the norm and give boosters every year but increasing numbers are happy to follow the 3 year cycle. I would not recommend the once only course as there is greater risk that your dog's immune system will not respond sharply to the disease.
Better safe than sorry although its your call to decide for your dog!

Answer 8

I have done lots of research on this subject. Most vaccines have been proven to be good for at least 7 yrs and up to 15 yrs. so far; also just because a pet has been vaccinated for a certain disease is not a 100% guarantee that they aren't going to contact anyways. I no longer vaccinate my dogs yearly. My dogs get all their puppy shots, they get their one year booster and then they don't get vaccinated after that (except for the rabies shot that is required every 3 yrs). They do however eat an excellent food to keep their immune system in good shape and they still get their yearly checkup at the vets.

Check out Jean Dodd's vaccine protocol http://www.doglogic.com/vaccination.htm

and this google search will give you a list of more sites on this subject. http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=over+vaccinating+our+pets&meta=

You do the research and then do what you think is best for your pets. I believe that if we "humans" only get vaccinated for all the childhood diseases and they are good for our lifetime, then why would our pets systems be any different?

Answer 9

Like people, some dogs just have a better immune system. You can have a blood titre test done to check for the level of anti bodies; but you need one test per vaccine (eg one for parvo, one for distemper etc) and it costs as much as the vaccine.
I've seen unvaccinated dogs die of parvo and distemper; they are preventable diseases and its just not worth the risk.

I had one dog who was sensitive to the vaccine and I went for 4 years without, then saw a new vet. He suggested giving the booster as two shots as for puppies; as they san sometimes react when given all together. I tried that and it worked.

Answer 10

since you have already have an honest vet tell you this, why are you doubting it.
For the last 20 years I have had puppy vaccinations done, then apart from lepto which I have to have done every year as I live in the fens (lots of rats) I only have them done every 3 years until they reach 7 or 8 years of age, then I never have them done again. All of my dogs live to a very good old age.