Are annual booster vaccinations needed?

louisebt

Forgot to add, link for those who'd like to read more on vaccs...

http://www.canine-health-concern.org.uk/

*onlyme*

Thanks for the link Louisebt.

louisebt

Something else You can insure a dog thats not had conventional vaccines, I use nosodes on my guys and can insure them, some companies will insure you but parvo and the things you can vaccinate for you wouldnt be covered for, tho I am told some companies do let you insure if you use nosodes

hotpot1000

A vaccination doesn't 100% guarantee all dogs or humans that have been vaccinated, even dogs vaccinated with parvo can then get parvo, it's not impossible.
Vaccinations should not be given to an animal that is not 100% healthy but this happens. There are a lot of animals who have a reaction to vaccine and most of these are not properly recorded at the vets and passed onto the company making the vaccine, so it appears on paper that vaccines are totally safe.
Auto -immune diseases can be triggered by vaccinations, so you don't know that when you next take your dog for a booster that it won't trigger an auto immune response.

My dog has PF which is auto immune related so I would not give boosters which would stir up the immune system when Im trying to keep it quietened down.

simontheiceman

I'll keep it really, really short - just to make it as clear as possible; read the science and not the anecdote:

http://www.abcd-vets.org/

ka7e

geri1965 wrote: »

I checked the wording of my policy when I took it out - it excludes conditions which could have been avoided if the annual booster had been given, but nothing else.

Usually, it is under general terms and conditions of the policy, not under exclusions.

AXA - "You must comply with the following conditions to have the full protection of Your Policy.....You must ensure that Your Pet is vaccinated each year against distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis and parvovirus for dogs and feline infectious enteritis, feline leukaemia and cat flu for cats."


E&L - "You must have the pet wormed regularly and
protect it from infections or contagious disease by keeping it isolated. You must also have
the pet vaccinated against distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis, parvovirus for dogs, kennel
cough when entering a boarding kennel or show, and feline infections such as enteritis and
cat flu for cats. You must also agree to have your pet vaccinated against any other disease
your vet feels is necessary."

MoreThan - "Dogs must be vaccinated/boosted against distemper,
hepatitis, leptospirosis and parvovirus and cats against infectious
enteritis, cat flu and feline leukaemia."

etc.

Dooleyk9

In over 25 years of owning my own dogs I have never had more than puppy jabs done, I have never thought pumping an animals system full of chemicals could be a safe thing, just as I wouldn't think it was safe for us either. Not one of my dogs has had any disease that vaccines are given for. And since I own more 4-6 dogs at a time, and go to dog shows I would have thought that my dogs were at higher risk of "nasty" things.

I have had one dog die just a few months after their puppy vaccinations. Of course the vet "couldn't" put it down to that, but she was perfectly healthy before that, and she had had a severe reaction to her puppy vaccs, so I put it down to that. I have also known several dogs who's owners insist on yearly boosters, their dogs have all kinds of health problems.

Not giving vaccines has nothing to do with with saving yourself money, it has to do with not wanting to poison your dog! I also wouldn't dream of feeding my dogs on commercial pet "food", as if you were to look into that you would find that that is far from healthy too.

I have very healthy dogs, they don't get boosters and they are fed on a raw meat and bone diet. They are not insured, but they have a bank account which is just for them, so if anything costly came up the money would be there to treat them. But in all the years I have been a dog owner nothing, other than the odd bout of cystitis and old age related problems has ever happened. My parents and grandparents had healthy dogs that didn't get vaccinated all the time either, their dogs were fed with table scraps and free bones from the butcher. They lived far longer than most dogs live these days.

LusciousLuce

Well I can only think that is down to luck rather than good management of your dogs' health. Having seen dogs die after being fed bones, and having seen dogs die from parvo, I am still shocked that owners are willing to risk their animal's health and go against veterinary advice and comon sense.

It sounds like your family have been lucky with the longevity of their dogs, but the fact is dogs are living longer these days, and I'm as certain as I can be that advances in veterinary medicine, regular vaccinations and balanced diets are in no small way responsible for this. Oh, and FYI - the process of vaccinating does not involve "pumping an animals system full of chemicals". I would refer you to the link provided by simontheiceman - as he succintly put it, read the science and not the anecdote.

KVet

THey are doing loads of studies into dog vaccinations at the moment. As anotehr poster already mentioned, most drug companies have reduced down most vaccines to every 3 years with certain ones (Lepto and PI) every year. There is still ongoing investigation into this and it MAY see the vaccines being licensed for longer periods of times. OF course we vets HAVE to go by what the drug companies tell uas as if we go against their vaccination protocols then if anything happened to the animal then we could wasily be sued etc for not following protocol.

Vaccination reactions are very rare. Most puppies/kittens have a ver mild reaction eg tired, moany, hiding away etc but this is usually only 24h max. Some others, rarely, have more severe anaphalactic reactions (extremely rare). Infact one of my nurses at works dog had this to one vaccination, was saved, and she STILL vaccinates but has just changed the brand of vaccine and he is totally fine. Some dogs do have a reaction to one vaccine but not another which is why we have 2 in stock.

IMHO there is NO evidence that homeopathic nosodes work. I am scientifically minded and there is no real evidence to show they work at all (test have been done "vaccinating" a group of puppies with nosodes and the other with normal dog vaccine then exposing them to parvo and ALL the dogs treated with the nosodes died...). Parvo is more common in puppies but I have seen it in older dogs 2/3/4 plus years old. People LOVE to blame vaccinations for everything wrong with their animal but it is simply not the case

/rant over, sorry!

supersunshine

As someone who had a dog die of parvo, I would strongly advise to have this vaccine. It was a horrible horrible way to die for my poor dog - he was dead within 48 hours of getting ill. He had had his vaccines and was old but he was just about to go for his booster when he got parvo and died :-( There is a new strain of parvo at the moment so you will need the booster that fights this new strain - hence why they are usually annually. Like flu jabs they update the vaccines to cover new strains of the virus.

Personally I can't understand why someone would get a pet and not look into the things you need to pay for to keep them healthy e.g. vaccines, vet visits. It is like getting a car and not looking into the costs of running it e.g mots ect.

I don't mean to sound harsh but if you want to get a dog or cat (or any other pet come to that) then you have to know these are the sorts of costs that are involved - they will, from time to time, need to see a vet. If you don't want to pay for these things then don't get a pet.