Dylan hasn't had the Bordetella vaccine

I took Dylan for his 1st check up at the vets today (the vet was reallly yummy!). Anyway, everyone love him, (that's Dylan, not the vet, well maybe both of them ) and he listened to his heart and said he's fine.

Turned out Dylan hasn't had the Bordetella vaccine. The vet explained it was like whooping cough. The virus is from the same family as the human form. He said at this time of year there is a lot of movement of dogs as more people buy puppies and he said it's a time dogs do catch this. He said it's an air born virus and can travel on a good wind maybe even a mile! :shock:

Anyway, my question is, why didn't the breeder give him this vaccine, is there a reason Cavaliers don't have it? Dylan has a runny nose at the moment so the vet said to wait a week for the vaccine, let him fight off his runny nose.

He loved the other huge dogs though. He was calm and shy and polite but not nervous. He just gave them a sniff. A very proud Mum

I took Dylan in to my daughters work after the vets, she's a hair dresser. He had cuddles from everyone. He really didn't like the traffic though so I carried him on the main road, well it is his first time near busy traffic. I don't like that he's nervous about cars but I kept calm and that's a good thing. Is it bad to carry him though?

Thanks, Pauline :flwr:

You generally only get this vaccine if you are exposing the dog to other dogs where there might be increased risk of getting this -- usually, kennelling. Most kennels require this vaccine. It only lasts 4-6 months so there's no point in doing it for no specific reason. I wouldn't get it even if your vet is trying to argue for it unless you are going to kennel him soon. Then you need to give it at least 5-7 days before kennelling. Breeders never in my experience give bordatella. Giving it just to give it is IMHO a good example of useless overvaccinating and unnecessarily stressing out a pup's immune system.

I have not heard of that has he had the parvo one ---Aileen

I asked my breeder and she phoned her vet. Her vet said it's the same dose for a little pup as it is for a big one and that in itself isn't good. Also he said it can make him poorly but the illness if he does get it is not life threatening.

My vet said it was air born though and can travel a mile. Where did he get this from?

My breeder said it's up to me as if she said don't do it, sods law, Dylan will catch it. I would only board with my breeder anyway.

He has had vaccines for:

Parvoirus
Coronavirus
Distemper
hepatitus
Leptospirosis
Parainfluenza


Thanks for your advice :flwr:

My Vet did not give Lily the Lepto, and said he wouldn't. This is the one that gave my Lhasa the anaphylactic reaction and her throat closed up and had to rush her to emergency room. He has not given that one to the Lhasa in years. But Lily has never had it. Is there a problem if she doesn't get it?

It is good that your breeder got him vaccinated - has he had both injections?

People need to do the research on vaccines themselves and consider their risk comfort level and what their dog is likely to be exposed to; listen to their vets and get second opinions from other vets if they remain unsure. There are many opinions and approaches to vaccinations and no one should simply accept advice offered here but research the area and find what they are comfortable with. Recommendations vary depending on where you live and what your dog may be exposed to and there are some small risks (VERY small but they can be more significant in some breeds and some dogs) with vaccinations and there are also risks in not vaccinating; with some diseases, these are *significant* risks and in the case of areas with rabies, *public health risks* that go beyond the dog itself. I recommend reading the advisories given by Dr Jean Dodds and also please read this link fully:

http://www.cavaliertalk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=613

Thank you for the link. Very interesting. I still feel unsure as I don't know what the side effects of the Bordetella vaccine. I think the point is that to be fully covered, you have to give it so ofetn that that might do harm in itself. My vet told me it need repeating every 10 months. I'll do some more research.

I don't like muliple vaccines, if my kids were babies now, I'd pay for the single jabs. And as for boosters, well my Dr won't give me the flue jab as I have M.E. so they do put your body under some stress.

On a different note, the report mentioned humans can't get Chicken Pox more than once but my Dr dissagreed when my daughter had it three times plus shingles :shock:

Ive had chicken pox twice. Once when I was about 6 and last year just before I picked Merlin up

According to my vet the bordatella is only good for 6 months. It also does not prevent them from getting it. It might lessen the symptoms. We only got it for Riley once, when we boarded her. It was required for the training we were taking her too.

One additional note, she did get it. It was pretty awful on her only because our regular vet couldn't see her, found another and it was misdiagnosed. Finally, found the vet we have now. She said, if I had wasted any more time, she would have had to get an IV. She told me good job on being persistent until someone would treat it right. :yikes

From the 2003 American Animal Hospital Association report and recommendations on vaccinations:

...Bordetella bronchiseptica is another cause of the “kennel cough” syndrome. Infection in some susceptible dogs generally causes a self-limiting, upper respiratory disease and rarely causes life-threatening disease in otherwise healthy animals. Clinical disease resolves quickly when treated with appropriate antibiotics. Vaccination does not block infection but appears to lessen clinical disease, and vaccines provide a short DOI [duration of immunity](<1 year) .... It is also unknown whether current vaccine strains protect against all field strains. Animals considered to be at risk may benefit from vaccination followed by boosters at intervals in line with their risk of exposure

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I've often heard that the risk that does exist is mainly to young puppies, and dogs with pre-existing health problems. Is Dylan about 12 weeks? i believe there are a few people on these forums who posted about their dog having it, and i think it was serious in a couple of cases, if i'm remembering right (always an unknown)

About the airborn pathogen travelling a mile, i dont' know how they would test for that, but maybe it's true.

About the side effects of the vaccination, i've heard from various sources that dogs can get a mild version of kennel cough from the vaccine, and they can infect other animals with a mild disease immediately after they're vaccinated for a few days.

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1556&articleid=452

The woman i got Zack from said that she doesn't vaccinate for bordatella because in her experience it gave the dogs kennel cough. I've heard some people say this is common and other people say it is rare. I've heard people say that it's not from the vaccine that the dogs get kennel cough, but rather, they were already coming down with kennel cough before they were given the vaccination and its just a coincidence that the kennel cough started soon after the vaccination.

I ended up deciding not to have Zack vaccinated for bordatella based on the information i had.

gocamping said:

..It was pretty awful on her only because our regular vet couldn't see her, found another and it was misdiagnosed. Finally, found the vet we have now. She said, if I had wasted any more time, she would have had to get an IV. She told me good job on being persistent until someone would treat it right. :yikes

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What was the misdiagnosis?