vacc. - need some advise

I posted here last week that freddie had an upset tummy and was with the vet, who put him on tabs! when i was talking to the vet he told me to bring freddie this week for his last shot but h2b brought freddie yesterday as i had work stuff on and the vet would not give him his last shot as she felt that there was to much of a gap between shots!

Did u ever hear of this before?

Yes: if you wait longer than about two weeks you have gone beyond when the second vaccine will be sure to provide immunity if the first didn't -- and you need to start again. How long was the gap, and why didn;t they notice the gap when they said to bring him this week?

When I had Monty, the breeder had given the first vaccination at 8 weeks, but for some reason, not known by her vet didn't have the recommended one at 12 weeks. (odviously they had a 4 week gap). I bought Monty at 19 weeks, so discussed it with her vet, who didn't understand why only one jab had been given, but said my vet could go ahead, even with a different brand, as the vaccine's efficiency hadn't lapsed. My vet gave one injection, at 19 weeks, a differeent brand from the original, but both vets agreed it was ok.

Also with the other three, who had first jabs at 8 or 9 weeks, I was told that 2 weeks was the minimum time to be allowed between the doubles.

I've just spoken to my vet (over Teddy's test results) and asked her about this, mistakenly believing you were in the States. She said that she knows little of the conditions treated in the States, so they may well have differnt rulings. Over here she says they recommend a gap of two to four weeks between and in certain circumstances, can allow a little longer.

i think the gap was 3 wks, could have being more as i have not card on me! but she told my h2b that she just wanted to make sure that he was covered!

Karlin- don't know y they didn't notice the gap before now!

coconut said:

I posted here last week that freddie had an upset tummy and was with the vet, who put him on tabs! when i was talking to the vet he told me to bring freddie this week for his last shot but h2b brought freddie yesterday as i had work stuff on and the vet would not give him his last shot as she felt that there was to much of a gap between shots!

Did u ever hear of this before?

Click to expand...

It sounds like you're talking about two different vets because you call the first one a 'he' and the second one a 'she.' Is that right? maybe two vets have different opinions?

What did the second vet say? did she say he had to start the series over because she thought there was too much gap since his last shot? If so, why would she refuse to vaccinate him when he was brought in yesterday? Why wouldn't she start the series over yesterday? i'm confused.

If you were in the US, the recommendation of the leading professional veterinary organizations would be the same as what Barbara's vet said.

The recommendations of the American Animal Hospital Association, endorsed by the American Veterinary Medical Association, depend on how old the dog is now and how old he was when he had his most recent shot, with respect to the basic core puppy shots (distemper and parvo modified live virus vaccines).

They recommend that If he's less than 14 weeks, a shot (of modified live virus) should be given every three weeks (every 2 to 4 weeks) between the ages of 6 and 14 weeks. In their list of vaccination do's and don't's at the end of their report, they say do not vaccinate any closer together than two weeks apart, this is considered unnecessarily risky.

If the dog is 14 weeks old or older, according to the AAHA, they only need one shot, no matter how many they've had before, even if they've had none before. This is because they are likely to no longer have antibodies from their mother powerful enough to make the vaccination ineffective in puppies young enough to still have those antibodies in their system (those antibodies are the only reason for giving a series rather than just one shot, according to the AAHA). The antibodies from the mother are temporary and are believed to not pose a problem for vaccination by 14, and even 12, weeks, according to the AAHA report.

How old is Freddie and when was his last shot? From that, you would be able to tell what the AAHA would recommend. I don't know if different guidelines are used where you are, but it sounds like the two vets Freddie saw have different opinions about it.

Here is the report of the AAHA 2003 where there are details of the above summary.

http://leerburg.com/special_report.htm

yeah there was 2 different vet but they are in the same practice! freddie is 11 wks old, she did start the vacc on tuesday again!!

think they are just being careful!

coconut said:

yeah there was 2 different vet but they are in the same practice! freddie is 11 wks old, she did start the vacc on tuesday again!!

think they are just being careful!

Click to expand...

definitely--it seems the second vet is trying to be careful that Freddie is vaccinated enough. The first vet may have more of a tendency to want to avoid vaccinating unnecessarily.

The AHAA guidelines would suggest that a dog who is 11 weeks old can have a shot at 11 weeks and then another one three weeks later, which is at 14 weeks old, and would not need another shot after that in order to have confidence that the dog has been vaccinated enough, regardless of how many shots the dog had had before 11 weeks. They say clearly that when a shot is given at greater than 14 weeks, one dose is enough to immunize the dog.

Vets have different beliefs about this in the US too. Some will vaccinate more, in order to reassure themselves that the dog has been vaccinated enough while others will vaccinate less in order to avoid vaccinating too much and unnecessarily risking side effects.

The AAHA stressed that their recommendations were guidelines, not hard fast rules for all vets and all dogs. The recommendation and supporting literature were offered as guidance and information, leaving vets to consider each dog individually and decide what is best for each dog, rather than having a set rule that you always use a certain number of shots at a certain time, no matter what.

thanks for all the info. Judy!