Yearly Vaccine Boosters For Dogs

[terrier]

But surely there's the answer. Everyone just 'accepts'. You accept that you have to conform and PET accept that they have to conform. No one challenges why.

[flowerofshona]

I breed labs and all my pups have there first jabs to cover them and the new owners are given a voucher for the 2nd jab ! all my adult dogs are injected for 3 years then i stop !
In all the years i have had dogs this has never caused any problems and my dogs live to very good ages !
They are wormed and de flea'd every 6 months which im my opinion is by far more of a problem than annual boosters !! To many dogs are not wormed and cause a health risk to children !!
As to vets making money over this that is why vets are in the top group for making profit !! I breed and rescue guinea pigs and the treatment for mites which is very common at the vets is £17.00 each !! i can buy the ivermectin and it works out at 75p each !! You pay just to walk into the vets ! They should be regulated on their charges !
I take my dogs with me ( all 5 off them ) on holiday as we have a caravan, i would only worry myself sick if i left them anywhere nad enough leaving my piggies at home, i ring every day to check there ok LOL !

[JILLY JACKSON]

thanks jamesp will certainly do some research on the subject.i have a dear little dog who i naturally want the best for.This forum is great because you get all angles of a subject.Thanks all really.

[JILLY JACKSON]

have just started to do a little research and already have found what jamesp says to be true.one comment was that vets sometimes get people in for jabs yearly so they can give the dog a medical ,for the welfare of the dog.Lots of reading there.Going back to it.Very interesting!

[gemlady]

I don't give my dog yearly booster injections. I've been aware of the research regarding these for many years and chose not to have my present dog nor my previous one vaccinated, other than the puppy ones of course. The older I get the more suspicious I am of their motivation to do certain procedures. One of the vets at my local practice wanted to remove a growth with an op costing approx £130, but I was reluctant to go this route for several reasons (mainly her current health problems) and when I saw another vet in the same practice a few weeks later, she removed the growth under local anaesthetic for £30 and my dog was only there for an hour!

[Hilary B]

Our dogs do get yearly boosters, because their rabies boosters fall due about the same time, and it is too much hassle to get one done and not the other, also we DO sometimes put them in kennels, and the lady who runs the kennels HAS to insist on vaccination certificates or she would lose her licence to run a kennel (she never bothered about kennel cough vaccine for adult dogs until recently she was told she had to.
If the 'recognised standard' changes, I will go with the new one (and be quite pleased to do so), but until then, I do it 'by the book'.
re-licencing of drug production, I have kept goats, and few drugs are 'authorised' for goats because no-one bothers to do the testing involved. Every time my goats needed medication I was told that "it isn't actually licenced for goats, only for sheep and cows", before the vet would provide it. The vet insisted that he had to give me that information.

The (possible) problem with the MMR vaccine seems likely to be just too many vaccines too young. There is no reason for Rubella vaccine to be given to babies anyway. If the original program of giving that vaccine to teenage girls as they reach puberty had been continued, and whenever a new Mum was found NOT to have received the vaccine, she was offered the choice, then the problems that Rubella vaccination is intended to combat would simply not happen. When my children were babies the Measles and Mumps vaccines were relatively new, and given at just over a year of age. That seemed to be OK too.

[terrier]

Which goes to show that there are good vets and vets that are just out to make money. Maybe we should have a sticky 'good vets' list. Our vet loves to work with large animals, if we call him out to one of our horses, he charges less than if we took a dog down to his surgery. Don't get me wrong, I think our vets do a great job in general, but we count ourselves lucky to have found them, other people are not so lucky.
My last comment "No one challenges why" is obviously wrong as most people contributing to this thread seem to be taking this discussion seriously.

[Bephlam]

I totally agree that some vets are all about the profit side of things, but a great many more are in it for the love of the animals. I myself became a Vet Nurse because I adore animals, and wanted to care for them. I can assure you that although I worked in a specialist practice for years, I didn't make a 'good' wage. Don't be fooled in to thinking that vets earn crazy amounts of money either. In my experience the only vets on crazy money are practice owners, specialists working at the University hospitals or large animal vets. The nurses and non partner vets make a humble wage, by all accounts (hence the reason I only locum now and instead am training to be a midwife!).

Still, I'm agreeing with you about the profit margin. I hold my head in shame sometimes when I see the price of a 'procedure'...and I myself only put my pets through the absolute essential things (like when the cats wrip themselves on a fence, etc)...everything else is dealt with at home, by myself!

I would definitely argue the point james made about withdrawing the service of the PAT dog immediately. PAT dogs provide a wonderful service to people who are in great need of unconditional love and attention that only these little animals can offer them. Surely the benefits to all far outweigh the risks involved. PAT dogs adore what they do...and although yearly vaccination programmes are being challenged heavily - we can also all think of examples where people have a dog for 15-18 years, which is vaccinated yearly and still lives a long, happy life. So, removing a PAT dog from service because the powers that be insist on ' yearly vaccinations' seems extreme.

The beauty of opinions...we all have them...

[terrier]

...and when we take a dog to our vet, who do we get the best service from.. why it's the nurse or the non partner vet, I know our vet certainly makes them earn their keep for the small money they earn. They usually don't stay there long before moving on.

[Polly Fouracre]

I have all my puppies vaccinated when they are tiny and vulnerable but never thereafter. They will pick up a natural immunity from the environment which is surely better for them than an artificial one. Most of my dogs have lived very long and healthy lives.

[Bephlam]

The silence speaks volumes, I think!

Perhaps everyone has simply come to a conclusion on this topic, and don't feel the need to 'argue' any points further.

To each their own - I don't know what you're trying to achieve 'converting' people to the 'say no to vaccination' lifestyle. At the end of the day, people will make a choice of what line of action to take based on what THEY feel is right for them (and their pet/child, etc). People make their decisions based on their experiences, and available information. I have nursed several dogs (young, old and indifferent) dying of parvovirus, leptospirosus and associated illnesses, and believe me - it is a most unpleasant death. I wouldn't blame anyone who has witnessed the likes (perhaps lost a dog to this in the past) to vaccinate their pet as a precaution. I believe it's known as freedom of choice - some mothers choose not to have their child vaccinated, others wouldn't dream of it.

I don't vaccinate my DOGS outwith their initial dose, but I far from agree with all of your points. Back to an earlier point - to withdraw the PAT dog due to the risk their vaccination poses. When I practised (as a vet nurse) I had to have several vaccinations (for things that I would never come in to contact with) should I have resigned from my vocation because I was being vaccinated against diseases that I would never be exposed to?

Thank you, once again, for pointing out the data available for us to research accordingly.

I don't feel the need to 'debate' it any further.

Ps: Whether to have your pet vaccinated or not is nothing to do with animal behaviour. Sharing knowledge is always welcome, I'm sure we'd all agree. Someone disagreeing with your 'opinion' is not throwing it back in your face - they're merely having their say also. Live and let live!

[lynda66]

Im surprised to see no replys so far..........

can't be bothered ......sorry

[Bephlam]

can't be bothered ......sorry

lol - that's how I felt too, but you know me....can't keep it shut when something niggles me.

[Bephlam]

to me the risk of health to a dog here outways a 200-1 chance of benefit.

Finally, after all that you hit the nail on the head - "TO ME". You're quite right...it's YOUR choice. As it is OURS.

You're also quite correct, I have a freedom of choice, and animals don't. However, we as informed adults make choices on their behalf (as we would a child). Obviously we make choices to benefit them, to the best of our ability. I agree that vaccinating your pet yearly is not called for, but I would far from call it cruel or unjust. There are far more serious breaches of animal rights happening hourly - the risk here is tiny by comparison. And, over 3000 vets attend the annual conference - to date 30 have signed the agreement - a tiny percentage...certainly not enough to outlaw vaccines.

You're also right about toxins in the body altering behaviour, but it's not quite as spiritual as you make it. It's about chemical balance, and brain chemistry. Mr Ellis is right not to use medication on his pack unless neccessary, and I believe as companion pet owners we follow the principle. Unfortuntely as pharmaceutical companies are unable (unwilling?) to give accurate timescales of the effectiveness of their live vaccine the RCVS err on the side of caution by giving a 12 month expiry. Like anything, these are guidelines only, and as a pet owner we are not obliged to have our pet boostered.

I agree with the main point of your argument, I simply feel that the information has been made publicly available for others to read...and should be left at that. It's like anything in life - I respect everyone's choices, but I do not like their ideals being crammed down my throat. I do believe there needs to be more research done into the life cycle of any given vaccination - to tell us how long they are live for in the body - which in turn could lead to more accurate vaccination plans - such as five/ten yearly injections. Not only would this prevent unnecessary chemicals being introduced to the body, it would also cut down on emotional trauma for the animal. All of which I'm sure are common goals for any animal loving person.

At present...PAT dogs (any working dog) etc must follow the protocol of yearly vaccination. I would welcome a change in protocol to allow these dogs to continue their good work without the yearly boosters, but I still feel that the benefit of their work to date far outweighs the risk from boosters.

Good luck in your endeavours to change the public view point - and don't let your unvaccinated dogs socialise with any vulnerable un-vaccinated (because we can't be sure everyone has their puppies vaccinated) youngsters, even if it is essential for their behavioural development, because you will put them at risk of fatal illness - and despite their lack of freedom of choice, I'm sure they'd choose life (even with vaccination) than none at all.

Ps: Yes, I do require boosters in order to continue practicing as a Veterinary Nurse.

[Tracey]

I’m not sure I’m experienced enough to contribute to this thread as we’ve only had a puppy since September. After reading this thread I asked my vet about the boosters and he said that they don’t have the same ingredients every year as some vaccines last one year and some more. So he'll have a full booster one year, then the following year a booster with less, etc.