Dog Daycare/Pet Sitter/Vaccines

[MishathePooh]

Does anyone take their pup to a dog daycare? My parents work during the day and I won't be here forever to puppysit so we're looking into a 1x/daily pet sitter or a dog daycare. The daycare separates large and small dogs and walks them daily in addition to their playtime. They require *everything* as far as vaccines go and I'm a little concerned about the bordetella. One of our dogs got extremely sick from this vaccine so we never gave it again (over 10 years ago) and didn't have a problem despite meeting lots of other dogs. I've also noticed other people have had dogs with bad reactions to it. Any suggestions?

[debjen]

My boys go several times a week to daycare...they have to have all vaccines and I haven't had any problems giving them...we love daycare

[Gingers Mommy]

I recently realized that with my schedule it would be best to get Ginger into Daycare twice a week. She seems to love it and is totally pooped afterwards. My daycare also seperates small & large dogs and takes them out every 2-3 hours for walks. There are even a few other cavaliers there! She had every shot except bordetella and I just took her yesterday to get it. The vet said I had to wait there for 10 min just to make sure she didnt have a bad reaction to it, and I asked if that was common, she said no. Maybe its different now then 10 years ago? Ginger reacted fine to it, shes almost 8 months old if that maybe has anything to do with anything!
Good luck!
I was very hesitant about day care, but I think shes happy there and gets to play with other pups which is great socialzation.

[judy]

i would say there's no way around having the bordatella vaccination in day care or boarding kennels. I know of places that don't require rabies but do require bordatella. They have to require bordatella because they have dogs of alll ages, and an epidemic of kennel cough could ruin their business not to mention cause serious illness to a puppy. Strangely enough though, only evidence of annual vaccination for bordatella is required, even though it is known not to confer immunity for that long; more frequent vaccination is needed for ongoing immunity. So the risk isn't eliminated by those policies.

[Maxxs_Mummy]

I think Doggy Daycare is a wonderful idea and one I wish we had here. Just from my own horrible experience I would say to have the vaccine done, but voice your concerns to your vet who may be able to adjust the dosage accordingly.

Things have changed in the last 10 years and makers of vaccines change too.

My own experiences were (just to bore you....) we had a beautiful GSD who thankfully had her kennel cough vaccine. We had to leave her in kennels one weekend to go to a family wedding. These kennels were virtually opposite my house and I knew the people who ran them very well. The kennels were immaculate and the dogs extremely well looked after. Teddy had her vaccine done about 2 weeks before we left her in the kennels and she was only there from the Friday night to the Sunday afternoon.

A week later, she started to cough and sneeze and was extremely poorly. She ended up in the Vets for almost a week with extremely bad kennel cough - so bad that if she hadn't been vaccinated we'd have almost certainly lost her Unfortunately, there had been a dog in the kennels over the same weekend who had also come down with it and sadly he died Several others all got it too - we never found out where it originated from as they would only ever take dogs that had been vaccinated so no one was to blame.

A few years after we lost our Ted, we had two 3/4 Persian kittens. They had all their vaccines and when they were about 9 mths old the Vets suggested trying something called Droplix for flea prevention. This was a vial that was dropped onto their necks - just like Frontline, Stronghold etc. Mine and a load of other cats almost died from it and it was withdrawn from the market, I do still use flea prevention drops though as things have improved.

I've spent most of my working life working with medicines and can almost guarantee you that any side effects will be short lived and usually well worth the risk as things vaccines prevent are very often far, far worse.

Also speaking from bitter experience, when I was a kid I wasn't allowed vaccines and neither was my brother (doctors wouldn't vaccinate as we had lung problems), hence I had every single childhood illness going (except Chickenpox) I can still remember to this day, thinking I was going to die when I had whooping cough and so I decided that my kids would be vaccinated - and they have - against everything possible!!!!

The only reason I have used nosodes this year is because Charlie can't have vaccines because he's on other treatment and Maxx is now 7 and my Vet has agreed that every other year is more than enough for him.

I hope this might allay your fears a bit but it really is much better to get them vaccinated than get kennel cough. Sadly we lost Teddy when she was only five but her lungs never really recovered from the illness and left her immune system completely knackered

[Charleen]

Doggy Day care works great, if you can afford it. Especially for puppies and younger dogs, who needs lots of socialization and watching that they do not get into trouble. When Pippin & Merry were younger, they went to day care 5 days a week while I was at work. They did fine with the Bordertella (kennel cough) vaccine. No problems, but be aware that they could still get kennel cough. The vaccine doesn't protect against all strains of the virus. However, when Pippin did get a cough it was very mild and only lasted a few days. Not the full blown kennel cough, so I think the vaccine protected him.

Last year I purchased my parents home and my parents live with me. They are retired and are often home with the dogs, so they are not alone very much. So I didn't need daycare anymore. But when I got Jolly, I didn't want my parents to deal with all the puppy problems.

Currently with Jolly, I have an agreement with my groomer to watch him during the day. I drop him off on my way to work and pick him up on my way home. He plays his heart out with the groomer's yorkies, so that when he gets home at night, he is one calm, sleepy puppy. I had him get the kennel cough vaccine too, just in case my groomer cannot watch him, I have him registered at a doggy day care.

I highly endorse a daycare situation, if you cannot be home with a cavalier. They crave the affection of others and daycare is a great experience for your dog.

[Karlin]

My mom occasionally uses a daycare service and Lucy seems to enjoy it. I think these are wonderful options for dogs, though many places also have someone who can do a daily walk and this would be a good alternative for an at-home cavalier.

There are different ways of giving the bortadella vax -- nasal and injection -- so maybe the other version would work. the problem with not giving it (besdies the fact that no one will take dogs without it) is that dogs can become very ill from acquiring bortadella and that risk is pretty high when lots of dogs are together in a boarding/kennel situation. Bortadella can easily turn into pneumonia and then become life threatening and very expensive to treat.

If you feel strognly about the bortadella vaccine (and I'd go talk to a vet or two to get some different perspectives and see if administering it differently would help) then I'd choose the option of a daily dog walker.