Vaccinate or not?

rising_from_the_ashes

Hello everyone, just after a few opinions.

I have 2 cats (both vaccinated) and all my previous dogs have been done regularly.

I currently have an elderly lab - he was a rescue who had his jabs as a pup but had never been done again.

I had him vaccinated (& neutered) within a month of getting him but he was really ill afterwards. Just over a year later, I had his booster done and he was really ill again.

I then didn't vaccinate him for 18 months (which was the longest I could leave it) and same thing.

So, basically every time he's been really ill - He's now way overdue his jabs again but I've been putting it off as really worried about how he'll cope if he's that ill again - he's now a pretty old boy and has a few health problems.

I'm really torn as believe in vaccination (although I do think 12 months is unnessarily due to the life of the vaccine and think it's a bit of a con from the insurance companies that you have to have them at these intervals) but also don't want to put him through it after the history of reactions to the vaccine.

Any suggestions?
Thanks

ecsvn

He should need all of them again! Just the lepto yearly - Distemper, parvo, and hep are required every 3 years. So prehaps he had a problem with having all of them?
If he is due all of them why not have them seperate over 2 weeks so as not to bombard his system?

If you choose not to vaccinate - which I would not reccomend- then he might be fine but it is a risj- check out the national vaccination month website for charts showing diease previlance in your area.

Remember to worm and flea prevent regularly and not all at once with his vaccinations as this could also be a factor as well as stress from going to the vets!

tankgirl1

From memory I think its rather costly, but there is also the option of a blood test to check your pooches levels of antibodies, and therefore determine whether a vaccination is neccessary. Cheaper to get him vaccinated, which will include a full health check too, but if he gets very ill after his vaccs, it may be worth looking into.

paddypaws101

Really this is something you should be discussing with your vet. My experience is only with cats, but most vets will not want to vaccinate an animal that is ill or has had previous strong negative reactions to vaccines.

mummyinthevalley

I have bred and shown dogs for 20 years, I always have the first set done and one booster but never after this. I have read many articles showing that the antibodies from vaccination last many years and personally believe that annual boosters are a waste of money and aggressively promoted by vets as it is their 'bread and butter' work.

Of course it is only my personal opinion but I have had no bad experiences as a result, perhaps if boosters were charged at a more reasonable price more people would have them done?

Hope this helps x

Paradigm

mummyinthevalley wrote: »

I have bred and shown dogs for 20 years, I always have the first set done and one booster but never after this. I have read many articles showing that the antibodies from vaccination last many years and personally believe that annual boosters are a waste of money and aggressively promoted by vets as it is their 'bread and butter' work.

Of course it is only my personal opinion but I have had no bad experiences as a result, perhaps if boosters were charged at a more reasonable price more people would have them done?

Hope this helps x

Agree with most of this, I've always had the initial course when puppies & avoided boosters (except Lepto). I have never had a problem.

I might disagree with Vet statement as I think it's more the drug co's who push boosters & Vets are guided by this but I could be wrong

As for the bit in bold... they could give them away for free & I still wouldn't have them!

albacookie

A blood test to check his antibody levels is probably the best way to go. How often you need to vaccinate will also depend on the level of disease where you live - we have a lot of parvo locally and so I would always recommend regular vaccs - it is a horrible disease and nursing a dog with it is heartbreaking.

Padstow

Seems more than a simple yes or no. http://www.wsava.org/PDF/Misc/VGG_09_2007.pdf

Mupette

I've always beleived that you should, until i came to mse and read reasons why you should and why you shouldn't

and if i was at my old home i probably wouldn't

but now i have moved and live right by fields where everyone walks their pups, and parvo still being around the area i wouldn't want to risk my pup

rising_from_the_ashes

Thanks for all the replies, I will have another chat with my vet but am also interested to see that there are few people who go with the 1st set & 1 booster (quite a lot of my friends have also done this).

I live in quite a rural area but there are other dogs around...... it's such a dilema, if I'd had him since he was wee, I'd probably know a bit more about the history and there may be a "proper" reason why he's so ill afterwards. (We have an "amber" where I live).

ecsvn wrote: »

He should need all of them again! Just the lepto yearly - Distemper, parvo, and hep are required every 3 years. So prehaps he had a problem with having all of them?
If he is due all of them why not have them seperate over 2 weeks so as not to bombard his system?

If you choose not to vaccinate - which I would not reccomend- then he might be fine but it is a risj- check out the national vaccination month website for charts showing diease previlance in your area.

Remember to worm and flea prevent regularly and not all at once with his vaccinations as this could also be a factor as well as stress from going to the vets!

I've just Googled "lepto" and no idea there were so many problems so off to do some more research.

I'm afraid I had a wee chuckle as he's the most laid back "person" ever and is the 1st [STRIKE]dog [/STRIKE] animal I've had who doesn't bother about going to the vet. He usually walks in and rolls over for his tummy to be tickled!