Do you annually vaccinated your dogs?

[mjriggl2]

Just received a remider call from Wolfie's vet asking to bring her in for a "boost". However, I have read many articles against this "annual boost" and I am really concerned. Geeeeze.... someone really take making money very seriously by whatever means! I remember an article on MSNBC about interviewing a guy from a BIG pharm. company admitting this company pushed them hard to sale an epilepsy drug to "off-lable" use and misled doctors to prescribe this drug to whatever patients they have. Now this "annual boost" thing seems to me another big scam :(
x
However, the Texas law require the annual rabies vaccination, but I am not sure if the boost thing is required for other vacinnations as well. Just want to ask arounf here: do you bring your pets annually got boost shots?

We live in a scam-filled world... feel kind of tired...

[Angelboddy]

Yes, I give Nostalgia her yearly shots.
And the only reason being for that is because of all the diseases out there and illnesses.
Even though she is mostly an inside dog, going for walks or what-ever else, she can pick up anything.
It's best to just be on the safe side. :D
It would cost so much more if your pup got sick and they had to treat them. :(

[behle]

Yes, our guys always get their shots. :) Although, I have been thinking of discussing this with our new vet. Perhaps he has some new ideas about the need for annual vaccines..... Some of the literature out there is interesting... :-?

[courtnek]

yes, every year. The state requires the rabies vaccination - the rest are just for the safety of the dog. But believe me, if your dog got distemper, or
some other disease, you would NOT be able to afford the treatment without insurance or lots of money. The annuals are MUCH cheaper.

[imported_Cassie]

I only give Vaccines to my Rottweiler & one of my Newf's once every 4 years (my other Newf's still belong to the breeder, she has the vacc's done annully as they travel throughout USA, Canada and Bermuda with them) ...
I am going to start having my dogs titer levels done instead of vaccinating the titer levels are accepted by law for boarding, obedience etc. they are expensive though...that is the only down fall...I really don't like to over burden my dogs immune system with too many Vaccines...the Rabies Vaccine should only be done once every 3 years (it even says so on the bottle) the annual Rabies vaccines is not different than the every 3 year one.

This is a completely personal opinion...I feel as though by vaccinating my dogs annually for the first 3 years their immunity levels are built up...this can be proven with a titer..at that time if a level of immunity is down...then I will revaccinate...and many provinces in Canada are only under law to vaccinate every 3 years....it just depends on where you live...

[Carolk9s]

My two older dogs do not get annual boosters anymore. Jesse got his last 'cocktail' in Dec 2000. He is almost 12 years old. My vet agrees that he is most likely adequately immune for the rest of his life but she did say it would be a good idea to run titers on him soon just for safety.
Brittany got her last booster cocktail in June of 2002. She is 9.5 and also may well be immune for life but I will either have her updated next year on shots or run titers.
Candy is just about 3, she got her DHLP in July. I am still on the fence as to whether she will get boosters next year or I may skip a year.
As Cassie said, too bad titers are a bit pricey. I too do not believe in continually dumping more vaccine into a dog that does not need it.
For years, the vaccine for coronavirus was pushed, then I find out that the incidence of coronavirus is small and normally very mild. I also read that the vaccine is not very effective.
Anyway, here is a link to an in-depth article about vaccination protocols that I found very interesting and informative.
[url]http://www.dogs4sale.com.au/AAHA_Special_Report.htm[/url]

[Guest Anonymous]

YES!! YES!! YES!! Cody and ZOey got ALL their Booster Shots and their rabies, which is now done again in 1 year.. i would do it. there are so many things out there a dog can get...

[Nancy B]

[quote name='mjriggl2']However, the Texas law require the annual rabies vaccination, but I am not sure if the boost thing is required for other vacinnations as well. Just want to ask arounf here: do you bring your pets annually got boost shots?[/quote]

No, I do not do anual vaccinations. I vaccinate for rabies as required by law but, I have anual titers done in lieu of vaccinations.

If you wish to learn more about the over vaccination issue, you can find links to UC Davis, Colorado State and Texas A&M on the health links page of my kid's website.

[Black GSD]

No, I do not do yearly boosters. Just puppy shots.

[Aroura]

No. I do believe in vaccinating puppys as they are very vulnerable to diseases, though evidence suggests that vaccinations last for up to 4 years and so spending all that money every year pumping drugs into my dogs is really unneccessary. I'd rather just vaccinate every couple of years to keep the immune system strong, but not over worked :D

[nadooshkinz]

[quote name='Black GSD']No, I do not do yearly boosters. Just puppy shots.[/quote]

I did the same with my past dogs, although yearly shots are something to look into for when I get my new dog!

[imported_Cassie]

Here is an article from the Houston times regarding Canine Vaccines. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
From April 22, 2002 Houston Chronicle:

Pets don't need shots every year

Experts say annual vaccines waste money, can be risky

By LEIGH HOPPER
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle Medical Writer

Debra Grierson leaves the veterinarian's office clutching Maddie and
Beignet, her Yorkshire terriers, and a credit card receipt for nearly $400.

That's the cost for the tiny dogs' annual exams, including heartworm checks,
dental checks and a barrage of shots.

"They're just like our children," said the Houston homemaker. "We would do
anything, whatever they needed."

What many pet owners don't know, researchers say, is that most yearly
vaccines for dogs and cats are a waste of money -- and potentially deadly.
Shots for the most important pet diseases last three to seven years, or
longer, and annual shots put pets at greater risk of vaccine-related
problems.

The Texas Department of Health is holding public hearings to consider
changing the yearly rabies shot requirement to once every three years.
Thirty-three other states already have adopted a triennial rabies schedule.
Texas A&M University's and most other veterinary schools now teach that most
shots should be given every three years.

"Veterinarians are charging customers $36 million a year for vaccinations
that are not necessary," said Bob Rogers, a vet in Spring who adopted a
reduced vaccine schedule. "Not only are these vaccines unnecessary, they're
causing harm to pets."

Just as humans don't need a measles shot every year, neither do dogs or cats
need annual injections for illnesses such as parvo, distemper or kennel
cough. Even rabies shots are effective for at least three years.

The news has been slow to reach consumers, partly because few veterinarians
outside academic settings are embracing the concept. Vaccine makers haven't
done the studies needed to change vaccine labels. Vets, who charge $30 to
$60 for yearly shots, are loath to defy vaccine label instructions and lose
an important source of revenue. In addition, they worry their patients won't
fare as well without yearly exams.

"I know some vets feel threatened because they think, `People won't come
back to my office if I don't have the vaccine as a carrot,' " said Alice
Wolf, a professor of small-animal medicine at Texas A&M and an advocate of
reduced vaccinations. "A yearly exam is very important."

The movement to extend vaccine intervals is gaining ground because of
growing evidence that vaccines themselves can trigger a fatal cancer in cats
and a deadly blood disorder in dogs.

Rogers conducts public seminars on the subject with evangelical zeal but
thus far has been unsuccessful in persuading the Texas Veterinary Medical
Association to adopt a formal policy.

"I'm asking the Texas attorney general's office if this is theft by
deception," said Rogers, whose Critter Fixer practice won an ethics award
from the Better Business Bureau in 2000. "They just keep coming out with
more vaccines that are unnecessary and don't work. Professors give seminars,
and nobody comes and nobody changes."

When rabies shots became common for pets in the 1950s, no one questioned the
value of annual vaccination. Distemper, which kills 50 percent of victims,
could be warded off with a shot. Parvovirus, which kills swiftly and
gruesomely by causing a toxic proliferation of bacteria in the digestive
system, was vanquished with a vaccine. Over the years, more and more shots
were added to the schedule, preventing costly and potentially deadly disease
in furry family members.

Then animal doctors began noticing something ominous: rare instances of
cancer in normal, healthy cats and an unusual immune reaction in dogs. The
shots apparently caused feline fibrosarcoma, a grotesque tumor at the site
of the shot, which is fatal if not discovered early and cut out completely.
Dogs developed a vaccine-related disease in which the dog's body rejects its
own blood.

"That really caused people to ask the question, `If we can cause that kind
of harm with a vaccine ... are we vaccinating too much?' " said Ronald
Schultz, a veterinary immunologist at the University of Wisconsin School of
Veterinary Medicine. "As you get more and more (vaccines), the possibility
that a vaccine is going to cause an adverse event increases quite a bit."

Less frequent vaccines could reduce that risk, Schultz reasoned. Having
observed that humans got lifetime immunity from most of their childhood
vaccines, Schultz applied the same logic to dogs. He vaccinated them for
rabies, parvo, kennel cough and distemper and then exposed them to the
disease-causing organisms after three, five and seven years. The animals
remained healthy, validating his hunch.

He continued his experiment by measuring antibody levels in the dogs' blood
nine and 15 years after vaccination. He found the levels sufficient to
prevent disease.

Fredric Scott, professor emeritus at Cornell University College of
Veterinary Medicine, obtained similar results comparing 15 vaccinated cats
with 17 nonvaccinated cats. He found the cats' immunity lasted 7.5 years
after vaccination. In 1998, the American Association of Feline Practitioners
published guidelines based on Scott's work, recommending vaccines every
three years.

"The feeling of the AAFP is, cats that receive the vaccines every three
years are as protected from those infections as they would be if they were
vaccinated every year," said James Richards, director of the Feline Health
Center at Cornell. "I'm one of many people who believe the evidence is
really compelling."

Texas A&M's Wolf said the three-year recommendation "is probably just as
arbitrary as anything else," and nothing more than a "happy medium" between
vaccine makers' recommendations and the findings by Schultz and Scott aimed
at reducing vaccine-related problems.

But many vets are uncomfortable making a drastic change in practice without
data from large-scale studies to back them up. There is no animal equivalent
of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which monitors
outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease in people, thus keeping tabs on a
vaccine's effectiveness.

Federal authorities require vaccine makers to show only that a vaccine is
effective for a reasonable amount of time, usually one year. Richards notes
that studies to get a feline vaccine licensed in the first place are
typically quite small, involving 25 to 30 cats at most.

There is no federal requirement to show a vaccine's maximum duration of
effectiveness. Arne Zislin, a veterinarian with Fort Dodge Animal Health,
the largest animal vaccine maker in the world, said such studies would be
expensive and possibly inhumane, requiring hundreds of animals, some of them
kept in isolation for up to five years.

"I don't think anyone with consideration for animals would really want to go
through that process," said Zislin, another vet who believes current data
are insufficient to support an extended schedule.

Diane Wilkie, veterinarian at Rice Village Animal Hospital, said she tells
pet owners that vaccines appear to last longer than a year, but her office
hasn't officially changed its protocol yet. She said 20 percent to 30
percent of her cat patients are on the extended schedule.

"It's kind of a hard situation. The manufacturers still recommend a year,
but they're the manufacturers," Wilkie said. "It's hard to change a whole
professional mentality -- although I do think it will change."

In Houston, yearly pet examinations typically cost $50 to $135, with shots
making up one-third to half of the expense. A dental check, heartworm test,
fecal check and overall physical are usually included in the price. Without
the shots, vets could expect to lose a chunk of that fee.

But an increasing number of vets are emphasizing other services, such as
surgery. Wolf said savings on vaccines might prompt pet owners to get their pets' teeth cleaned instead. An in-house test to check antibody levels is in development.

"I definitely think there's a profit issue in there; don't get me wrong,"
Wilkie said. "(But) people are willing to spend money on their pets for
diseases. Although vaccines are part of the profit, they aren't that big a
part. We just did a $700 knee surgery."


Vaccination findings

Veterinary research challenges the notion that pets need to be vaccinated
every 12 months. Some of the findings:

Dog vaccines/Minimum duration of immunity

[mouseatthebusstop]

here they are only required if you want to put your dog in kennels for your holidays
I have the injections but I am not sure if it is right I have read our children don't get boosters every year so why should dogs

[Rowie-the-Pooh]

How weird! It is time for Rowie's annual vaccinations too! :wink:

I'm afraid I'm forced to... :( Required by law...