Just want to put this out there

[Cathy Moon]

I don't have any recommendations and this isn't my opinion - but it's about Lepto vaccination.

One of my coworkers has a 6 yr old Labrador who was not vaccinated for Lepto. He caught Lepto in early December from wildlife urine in his own back yard. He was sick for months, and is now as recovered as he will be. He used to love to play fetch and was active, but now he basically eats and sleeps. This is due to permanent, irreversible kidney damage from the Lepto. He has always had both a holistic vet and a conventional vet, and was always fed the top of the line dog foods and had the best health care. They've had to change his diet because of the kidney damage, too.

Please, please talk to your vets and do all the research.

[Karlin]

That reminds me: a woman in the US posted this to a cavalier list and gave me permission to repost it to the library just as part of people's consideration when thinking about whether or not to do a lepto shot. It too is sobering:

crossposted with permission

Hi,
I've been a lurker on this list for about a year, gleaning information
and knowledge from everyone. I have 2 pet cavaliers (1yr & 6 mos), as
well as a 10-yr old english springer spaniel. The discussion about
vaccines has prompted me to finally participate. I live in Suffolk
County on Long Island. I vaccinate against Lyme and Lepto. Let me
explain why. 4 years ago, my springer became very sick, very
suddenly. Upon taking her to the vet, found she was in liver
failure. Because the lepto test takes a week to get results, and the
fact that they had seen 4 cases that summer, we started treating for
it. Her liver and kidneys shut down. My vet still doesn't know how
she survived. Bottom line was the test came back positive. There are
about 8 different serovars(versions) of Lepto, my pup tested positive
for 4 of them. And she hadn't been out of my yard in over a month, so
she got it there. We are a suburb of NYC, but not rural my any
means. My house is on 1/3 acre, the back yard fenced. I had never
vaccinated for Lepto because we only go for walks on leash, and
figured it wasn't necessary. My mom was living with us at the time
with a lab mix who was vaccinated. She never came down with it, and
it is highly contagious through urine. She was in quarantine at the
vets while she was there. By the way, it can pass to people too - we
(the people in the house) all went on antibiotics). My dog survived,
only 3 of the 10 dogs that my vet diagnosed that year survived the
infection. Now I don't think everyone should vaccinate for
everything, but you should talk to your vet about the incidence in
your area. How many cases have they seen per year for the last few
years? Here, in this part of LI, my vet sees more cases of Lepto than
he does lyme. And while the vaccine only covers 4 of the serovars, it
seems to give some protection from the others, as the vaccine the lab
mix received did not cover any of the serovars that my dog tested
positive to. Again with lyme - I never vaccinated for it until we
started spending summers on Fire Island. We have deer come onto our
deck every night. It is said there are 2 kinds of people there -
those who have lyme and those who haven't been diagnosed yet. I
decided to vaccinate, as well as use Frontline, hoping if a tick
sneaks through the Frontline, the vaccine will protect. I am going to
rethink giving it to the cavaliers when it comes time to vaccinate
again, but with my springer, it's not an option. She never regained
her energy level after the infection, and has residual liver damage
from the lepto. I don't think she could survive another major
infection.
So I would definately discuss with your vet how prevalent each
infection is in your area, as a part of your decision making process
concerning vaccines.

[*Pauline*]

I was told the lepto vaccine only lasts one year and must be done yearly. This advice was given by a homeopathic vet who said there are no homeopathic substitutes for vaccines. I paid to have the lepto shot done separately to make sure Dylan was covered. My advised regime is to alternate lepto one year, all shots including lepto the next. It's a shame but the 3 year regime is reliant on all dogs also being vaccinated and sadly here many dogs don't see a needle after their 1st shots.

[Barbara Nixon]

I have always understood that, though some of the vaccines can be done less often, the lepto needs to be annual. My vets (past and present) have always recommended annual 'everything' because parvo is widespread, here, so needs to be vaccinated against annually, but is not packaged with the lepto combination. Hence we need both bottles each year.