Vaccinations.......What do you do?
I have read the pros and cons about vaccinations and was wondering what you do. Today I have to take Fred in for his rabies vaccination. We go to Petco Wellness Clinic for the vaccinations, since it is so much cheaper than a regular vet visit. For one price they give rabies, 5 in 1 (DHPP), Corona, Bordetella and a Heartworm test for the cost of $52.00. I am somewhat torn everytime I take my dogs in for vaccinations because on one hand I feel that they maybe getting over vaccinated just to keep the veterinarian in business and on the other hand I know I would live with alot of guilt if any of them caught something that could have been prevented thru a vaccination. I have been told by a vet that just because a dog or cat has been vaccinated for something, it is not a 100% guarantee that they will not contract the disease. I also find that if I do not have the dogs vaccinated yearly, except for the rabies which is every 3 years, and need to go to a veterinarian for a health issue he will not see them unless they are current on all vaccinations. And I know that if for some reason I would need to board the dogs or send them to a dog day care current vaccinations are required. I feel as though I am damned if I do and damned if I don't. |
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| Ditto, feel the same way. I don't vaccinate my older dogs, but the younger ones I do only because of activities they do involves being around a large number of other dogs. We don't have rabies here so the only vacs they do get is a C5 & heartworm annual vac too. With my older ones I just have the Heartworm done as we live in a high heartworm area & I feel they have enough in their systems from years of vaccinating to cover them for diseases anyway. It does create problems as you said no boarding facility will take a dog that has not got up to date vaccinations, my vet is understanding, thank goodness, as one of mine had a fight with cancer that I feel was brought on with over-vaccination so stopped her at 7 and had no problems till we lost her at 14. Stopped Kelsey 2 years ago due to a few minor problems the vet actually said no more vaccinations for her, it helps with an understanding vet. Brie I will probably stop around 5 or 6 and maybe just have titter blood tests done every couple of years after that to see that she is still carrying anit-bodies in her system.
They vaccinated kids only when babies, then maybe every so often years later the occassional booster shot. I don't understand why with dogs it is every year, personally I think they are causing a lot of problems with dogs healthwise with this overvaccinating!! As you said you are damned if you do and damned if you don't, a real catch 22 situation. Arrgh  |
| The immunization schedule for kids has changed over the years based on the results of communicable disease monitoring. Years ago, the kids received one MMR, but a large group of those kids had an outbreak when they reached college age. Now two doses are required in the US. We are about to see the same thing with a booster recomendation for Varicella (chickenpox).
For our animals, there isn't a centralized collection agency monitoring the effectiveness of the vaccines. Another issue is that many of the states have not changed their laws to permit adequate titer results in place of vaccination. I wish it was different. |
| The experts seem to recommend this:
http://www.critterfixer.com/index.php?o ... &Itemid=48 |
| Here is some previously posted info on vaccines.
http://forum.oes.org/viewtopic.php?t=2888 |
| And here...
http://forum.oes.org/viewtopic.php?t=5667 |
| Wrecktech and Willowsprite, Thank you for the informative websites. |
| You are very welcome, that is what these forums are for, true dogloves who share info. |
| I spread all of my dog's yearly vaccinations about a month apart from each other so it's not too much on their immune system. The vet is great about only charging for the initial yearly office visit and then they only charge me for the injections the following months. |
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