Boosters - time

gettingready

Sure it was here but can not find...it.

All my 4 cats and Zara are due for boosters kind of now...

How long can I leave between boosters?

I know vets say a year more less but what is a leaway, anyone remembers?

Yes, I know lots of people do not vaccinate their cats/skip boosters but conditions of my insurance mentions those as neccessary but really skint right now and 4 cats plus a dog need to spread them a bit...

So, can I have a month/two months? Any link to some official info?

Their vaccinations include leukemia...

Thanks a lot

krlyr

It depends on the brand you use. And not everyone will agree that the manufacturer's recommendations are the max either..some studies have shown immunity to last many years, even longer than the manufacturers recommend. Mine tend to use annual vaccines but allow about 3 months of overlap, I know some allow 6 months. There are some vaccinations which are designed to be given every 3 years, in dogs at least, but that wouldn't cover every aspect (they'd still need a separate annual booster for lepto, for example)

If it's mostly to keep your insurance valid then I would ask them what they consider to be acceptable. Some insist on yearly, some will say "to vet recommendations" or similar - and then you'll need to see what your vet recommends (as they'll be the one providing health history, notes, etc. to the insurers in the event of a claim, and the ones who might be asked if they felt the pet was adequately covered vaccine-wise)

http://www.dfordog.co.uk/article-dog-vaccination-boosters.html may not necessarily answer your question in terms of what the insurance company require of you, but may be an interesting read

Have you looked at vaccination clinics or other low-cost vet services? I took mine to an Easipetcare clinic last booster, they run it in the corner of a garden centre so it has low overheads for them and means they can offer low prices. It's literally just a receptionist taking your name/details, a vet who gives the pet a quick check over and administers the jabs, and then you get your vaccination certificate - wham, bam, thank you ma'am! Whether it's convenient for you to get to a venue like that with all your cats, or do a few trips, depends on your circumstances I guess, I went to the Reading branch but I drive so it was a lot easier for me. They were happy to cater for Casper's reactivity - I went in alone to book us in, then went in when it was quiet and tucked ourselves behind a couple of aisles so Casper couldn't see the other dogs. We waited for everyone in the queue to have their turn so it was just us there. The vet and receptionist were happy to accomodate it, though next time I may just pop along to the actual practice for the ease of it - costs a tiny bit more but avoids the situation of having to wait around for ages for it to quieten down (I turned up early to try to avoid the rush but everyone else had the same idea!)
http://www.easipetcare.com/

gettingready

Thanks - called 2 vets, one said 3 weeks one said 4.. sigh....

Got to pack my lot in for boosters (4 cats) on the 27th Feb... and organise cash by then.....and borrow cat baskets as only have one left at home (daughter took 2 when she was transporting the girls to Windermere).. sigh....

Thanks

krlyr

Must have edited while you were replying..added a bit to my post incase that helps

gettingready

Thanks, I am taking them to Celia hammond, booster (with leukemia) is £20.00 there per cat, at Goddards £47.90 per cat....

With 4 cats... still £80.00 plus a cab to get there/back as no way can get 4 baskets on 2 busses

They only do vaccinations for cats on Wednesday (come, take number, wait basis) so have to take a day off too...

Wellyboots6

Literally just rung my vet to ask the same question!

New dogs boosters were due December 2012 and the vets have just said that for insurance purposes 6 weeks from due date is fine, but any longer than that and they have to say that vaccinations have lapsed. For insurance purposes. For actual vaccination cover then they say you can leave it a lot longer but wouldn't want to give an actual time-frame.

Not sure if that helps.

I am panicking now too as I have just spent the morning comparing pet insurance and have decided on M and S cover and am worrying I have made the wrong choice

Got him booked in for vaccinations in 2 weeks time, so the insurance should have kicked in by then for claims. So just going to spend 2 weeks now wrapping him in cotton wool and trying not to tempt fate!!

krlyr

Katy, I used to use M&S and found them fab but that was a good 10 years ago now. Since then I've heard lots of people say the same thing - that they seem to be pricing themselves out of the market, doing very high premium rises a lot of the time. Not everyone has found that to be the case but quite a few have and wouldn't recommend them. Sorry to throw that in the mix but thought I would mention it while you're not completely locked in to them!

Wellyboots6

Hmm it's hard to know because you only get quotes on current rates!

They seem to be about middle of the range for the type of cover I want. Most other places don't give a high enough rate of coverage, or lifetime cover, for the price I can afford to pay.

The other option was petplan, but they are ridiculously expensive.

Just daren't take any risks on a lower amount of cover due to the huge cost of the operation that Tyson had, it made me realise the costs I could be looking at!

Some companies seemed to cover flea and worm treatment, unless I read that wrong?!

gettingready

Zara was with M&S to start with, they doubled the price after the 1st year (no claims then) so moved her to Argos Platinum.

Check Argos Platinum Katy

KxMx

I don't know what the prices are like for dogs, but with Axa for my cat I pay just over £10 per month for 7k per condition, per year. And you can set the excess to increase/decrease the cost of the premiums.

krlyr

I found Direct Line, Sainsbury and Axa to offer an alright amount of coverage (think it's £7000 each though in slightly different methods, e.g. some were per year, some per condition). I'm with Axa now and they barely rose the premiums second time around (£5 a month per dog - but when I got new quotes to check, everyone was asking for the same or more with less cover - even Axa's new policy quotes were more expensive by about 50p or so!). I'd be with Petplan if I had the cash spare but it's just a bit over what I could spare with two big dogs, and they won't cover Casper now anyway as he's over 5. I know they do have a reputation of not increasing premiums by much in general though.

I don't think I've seen any that cover flea and worming products..but that's not to say there aren't some that do!