Am I the only one who didnt know that dogs have to be vaccinated annually

[bargainhuntingbetty]

I was under the impression that they only needed done as puppies and that was it, I didnt realise they needed done annualy too. I only found out when I was trying to get insurance and read it in the small print. Am not happy .

[HKT]

Regarding insurance, the companies can and will wangle out of a claim if they possibly can, so vet records are checked thoroughly before they carry out a claim - a friend of mine lost out on over £500 when her dog was run over, because she had overlooked his booster by about 2 months - this didn't have any affect on the broken bones/injuries at all.
If you don't wish to vaccinate every year, but your dog is insured, you can have blood tests which check for immunities, so the dog is only vaccinated for neccessary illnesses, but like someone's said before, this works out as expensive as the boosters anyway.

[spugs]

As a child the dogs we had were given 'puppy' injections and that was it. Our cat never had any.

My 2 dogs have had their puppy injections and will be having boosters. The only way their insurance does not cover them if they havent been vaccinated is if they get a preventable illness that they should have been protected against.

My cat though has had kitten injections and nothing since, though he does rarely go outside.

I think one of the reasons cats seem to be so much more healthy is because your typical moggy doesnt have any where near the same amount of inbreeding and hereditary illnesses as a dog.

[serenity]

Slightly OT I know, but generally, do dogs tend to get sicker than cats? Most dog owners I know seem to have problems a couple of times a year (nothing serious, but like having a child!) whereas cats rarely seem to get ill (or if they are ill, it's serious) Are cats 'healthier', or is just that they roam so keep it out of the house?

[MmeLindt]

I did not know this but will check with my vet to see what the recommendations are here.

Another thing to consider is if you at any time want to take your pets out of the UK, I am pretty sure you will have to have the required vaccinations.

Our dog had to have the rabies shot and will have to be checked prior to us bringing her over to UK.

[seeyounexttuesday]

I have mine vaccinated because i believe the insurance in null and void if you don't keep them up to date. Also because they go to kennels when on hols

My friend never gets her dogs done and they live to a ripe old age.
My 16 year old cat has never had any.

[ceres]

my dog has his boosters every year.

i have a good relationship with our vet and trust him to do the best for our dog in the same way that i trust our family gp to do the best for the rest of the family. if i didn't trust our vet then i would change to another practice (which i have done several times in the past).

so until my vet tells me otherwise i will keep taking my dog for his yearly boosters and check up.

[chegirl]

Parvo is horrible, really, really horrible.

It lives on pavements and can survive for many months.

It is not common everywhere but in some parts (specially cities) it is usually rampant.

Lepto is the animal equivelent of Weils disease so its a good idea to get your dog done if they like to swim in rivers etc (carried by rats).

Young and old dogs are particularly vunerable. there is some thinking that healthy, adult dogs are ok to be unvaccinated.

I have no reason to want to line the pockets of vets but TBH I dont think its worth the risk. Once you have seen a parvo dog you never want to see it again. Its a vile way to die and the fatality rate is very high. Its a severe gastroenteritis. Think of Ebola. It causes fecal vomiting as the intestinal lining disintigrates. 20 odd years after working for the RSPCA i can still remember the smell of a parvo dog.

I am not sure about the other diseases but I would definately always protect against Parvo (but I live in the inner city).
Vaccinations seem to have got cheaper in real terms. I was suprised when I got my new puppy. I was expecting them to be about £200 by now as they used to cost around £50 when I was working with animals.

[beautifulgirls]

Riven, as a vet my pets get annual vaccinations - I have read and heard plenty of evidence for and against vaccines. Vets are changing their vaccination routines in response to ongoing scientific information - not so long ago all the dog diseases (that were routinely vaccinated for) were boostered every year, and now most vets only do alternate or once every 3 years for most of these. Currently cats still require annual vaccines for the common diseases we can vaccinate against. This is not about vets making money, it is about protecting against preventable, life threatening disease.

[Disenchanted3]

I never knew this either!!

[minimu]

You can get a blood test to see if the dogs are still covered but to be honest it costs as much as the vaccines! Just vaccinate as Beautilgirls says the illness are killers and there is no way of preventing them apart from vaccinations.

I am not a vet but I really don't go for this thing about the vet making money out of vaccination. All vets do the job because of their love of animals not to make money. If they did want to make money they could have left school and becoma a banker without the 7 years of uni!

The yearly health check is invaluable to in my opinion and for my own piece of mind.

[luckyblackcat]

Having lost a puppy to Parvo over 20 yrs ago(due to maternal antibodies rejecting the parvo vaccination) I am obsessed with annual boosters - as I have first hand experience of how horrific it was to watch my puppy die horribly within 4 days of becoming ill.

Leptospirosis, distemper, hep and parvo are essential and KC if you kennel them.

I'm a homechecker for a national charity and it is part of the adopting discussion I have with all prospective 'parents' - it is part of the routine cost associated with good animal care, I also class proper flea and worming (Vet NOT petshop/supermarket) along with this.

[GrimmaTheNome]

When ours had his first vaccs, the vets gave us a booklet to keep track of the boosters and also worming/flea treatment schedules.

And they send us a reminder for the booster/checkup each year.

So yes, we knew!

[flier]

I didn't mean to suggest that you wouldn't have to insure. Now that I know that my dog should get annual boosters, he will get them.

[beautifulgirls]

Having seen dogs die from preventable diseases I would strongly recommend you don't leave these vaccines. Thankfully there are not so many cases about these days, but they do still happen.
I'm not sure there ever was a "one off" lasts a lifetime vaccine.
From the point of view of an insurer (I am not an insurer) the vaccine is firstly to protect against disease, but secondly because the vet would give your pet a full health check each year at the time too - hopefully any health issues would be picked up and dealt with early, costing the insurer less money for them to deal with.
I have never known an insurer not pay out for something that was not vaccine related such as a broken leg, but it is in the smallprint and you are therefore at their mercy if they do decide to clamp down.

[flier]

bargainhuntingbetty, who are you insured with?

[bargainhuntingbetty]

Hhhm I wonder if it is worth keeping up the insurance I have then. They have not had the vaccine for 3 years and have remained healthy. Hhhhm I wonder if I can save my Xmas money after all.

[pagwatch]

it depends I think

Our dog has to go to kennels regularly so we keep his kennel cough updated obviously. We have needed boosters occasionally but can't remember which ones.

But I personally don't think an insurance company would throw out a claim arising from say a broken leg by trawling through late vaccinations But they may invoke it if they think it is an indication that your dog wasn't properly cared for.
We keep ours up to date by having regular check ups and weight checks etc at the vets.
But we have lovely vets

[bargainhuntingbetty]

Hhhhm so is it necessary to have them boostered for insurance then??? Do the insurance companies check this out when you make a claim?????

[flier]

OP, not its not just you. It hadn't occured to us until we had to use kennels for the first time this year. Our vets have lost out on a few quid from us by not advising us of this when we first got our dog 7 years ago.

I hadn't read it in the small print of our insurance, though, and it hadn't affected the two insurance claims we have had to make prior to this year.

I must admit, I did feel a bit dim in not even thinking that our dog would need boosters, especially as kennel cough, in particular is pretty rife in our area.