Vaccine

I have just got my copy of Dogs Today and there is a piece about a dog that died due to his vaccination. I cannot type the whole thing out but please visit the www.canine-health-concern.org.uk for information on it - the sorry is so sad.

They rarely can have allergic reactions or other reactions to them. It is really sad when this happens.

I've got a whole lot of links etc on vaccinating down in the caring for your Cavalier section of the Library. I advocate a 3-year vax, not an annual vax, and I wouldn't vaccinate a dog after about age 8 or so. Vet schools are actually recommending the 3-year scheme. The problem is also that kennelling facilities etc require up to date vaccines and many won't accept titers as a substitute (titers measure the amount of antibodies the dog has to whatever it is being vaccinated foir -- eg how effective the last vaccine still is).

Busta is due to have his second booster injection in June (had 9 and 12 weeks and then at 1), do you recommend the third one also. And then leave for three years ?

Affter puppy vax and then first booster at age 1 I'd wait three years before next booster. If he had one last year I'd tell the vet you prefer a three year schedule. The vaccine manufacturers now produce the three year vaccine (actually it is the same as the one year anyway!).

I vaccinate every three years but every year for leptospirosis, which is a separate vaccine anyway. Lepto is usually recommended dependent on area and risk or if dogs go in water (not sea but ponds, lakes, canals etc). Mine like to swim and there are rats (which carry lepto) around the canals and so forth so I vaccinate for that. As UK and Irish owners know we don;t have to vaccinate for rabies as we don't have it but many US residents are required to vaccinate for rabies. Some feel there are so many varieties of lepto that it isn't worth vaccinating against just some of them but I do vax for this.

You often have to be VERY firm with vets that you simply don't want to vax every year with the general vax. There's lots of info as noted gown in the LIbrary section of the site. I don't vax cats any more annually either.

It's a tricky area but my dad, who is a retired emeritus prof of medicine, agrees that evidence indicates there's not only no need to vaccinate yearly but that it may be detrimental (eg hard on the immune system). Consider that humans are not vaccinated every single year -- and also that there's clear scientific evidence that vaccines give protection often for many, many years and don;t need repeating anually.