Do you get yearly boosters?

[Witchonastick]

Just mulling this over...

We are currently starting the long search for a puppy after losing our wonderful dog to bone cancer a few weeks ago.

The breed isn’t a common/popular one, so can be hard to find a planned litter waiting list and I’ve had some interesting chats with a few breeders.

All recommend raw feeding and one doesn’t believe in yearly boosters. She suggested getting the initial course of vaccines then yearly blood tests for immunity and only giving boosters if necessary. She feels it can be harmful to give yearly boosters and most dogs need no more than a booster for certain diseases every 3yrs and some aren’t needed for the rest of a dogs life.

I’m trying to do a bit of research myself into this. The idea seems logical. But how does it work in practice? Our vets would make you repeat the whole course if the booster was late.
Do many vets support this?

I’m not anti vacs when it comes to my children, is this the same thing?

If you read the actual veterinary guidelines foe vaccination, yearly boosters aren't necessary. (Unless you need to board or for showing)

These diseases kill dogs, and if they don't, it costs thousands in treatment to save them. If vets were "all about the money" they'd discourage vaccines and spend thousands treating the illnesses, no?

One of the (very limited) perks of where where I work is free vaccines for staff animals. Everyone from the CEO to the cleaner, and everyone in between, vaccinates.

The whole point is I don’t want to put my dog at risk, either by not vaccinating or over vaccinating and I will listen to their advice.
But in my experience, some vets can be dismissive of concerns.

I don’t believe breeders talk crap and some of them have over 30yrs experience in the breed and it’s quirks. But they aren’t medically trained. Where as vets can’t possibly be experts in all breeds and they do differ.

I understand what you’re saying, but I think the overheads on treating a very sick animal are much greater than for a yearly booster.

Anyway, I’m really playing devil’s advocate slightly, as I wouldn’t take the risk of having a poorly dog so after the initial puppy vaccs and first year boosters I would titre test to ensure they’re covered, personally.

Also side note, I agree with you OP that breeders knowledge is dismissed too quickly. No not medically trained, but a wealth of experience is important. (The best vets have both )

I love your breeders! Far too many crappy breeders feed crap kibble and over vaccinate. A puppy still has it’s Mother’s antibodies up to 16 weeks of age and so it’s pointless vaccinating then, anyway.
I remember I took my puppy for her first ever check up and the vet was horrified I’d put her on the floor and began telling me of all the diseases she’d catch - despite me having her out and about from day 1 of having her. She’s never been back to the vets since that check up (only because there’s never been any need) and it was the same for my last dog!

I don’t get boosters. I titre test which is accepted by my kennels. I also raw feed.

Ignore the advice saying that insurance companies won’t pay out for stuff if you’re not fully vaccinated. That’s rubbish. They just won’t pay out to treat something that could’ve been prevented by a vaccination - that is different.

If you decide not to booster and your dog caught lepto for example, then no they wouldn’t pay to treat the lepto. Which is understandable. However I asked my vet how many cases he’s treated for lepto in his entire career (40+ years). His answer? 3.

Vets love to scare people into visiting them as it lines their pockets up nicely. Even the manufactures recommend not giving boosters each year and yet here’s the vets handing them out like sweets.

Oh and a good way of making your vet realise how stupid they sound is to tell them you can’t boost immunity. There is no such thing! Dogs are either immune or they’re not..

It’s a bit like if you have a bottle of water filled to the very top. It’s either full up or it isn’t.. if it’s completely full up then you can’t add anymore water into the bottle. So if a dog is immune to something, you can’t add extra immunity

I titre test

How if you don't go to the vet?

However I asked my vet how many cases he’s treated for lepto in his entire career (40+ years). His answer? 3.

Maybe that's because the vast majority of dogs are vaccinated against it? Or maybe it's because in urban areas lepto isn't as much of a problem as it is in rural ones?

There are all sorts of factors to take into consideration before assuming he's only treated three dogs because it's an incredibly rare diseases. It's not.

We have yearly L4/2 the others are every three years. One of my pups (I have three) had a bad autoimmune reaction to L4 so she will have L2 next year and be monitored closely for reaction. The others are fine. There is actually very little leptospirosis round these parts but we do travel around a bit and it’s a nasty disease.

Out of interest, what sort of reaction did your dogs have to L4?

It was quite unusual my vet had never had a reaction like it but as it happened a few days after her vaccination and it was a very weird thing to happen anyway and nothing came up on any blood tests we had to put it down to the vaccine.
Her gums haemorrhaged. She was really unwell for a few days and off colour for a few months but she is back to full fitness now.

I haven't thought too hard about this and go with what my vet suggests. I know one of the injections is every two years, but we do take them for annual boosters.

Out of interest, what sort of reaction did your dogs have to L4?

Despite what you'll read online, genuine reactions are very rare. We have been using L4 as standard since January 2014 and probably vaccinate about 100-150 dogs a week (an estimate just based on how often I order the vaccines!) and haven't seen a single genuine reaction.

Diddleysquat's pup's reaction is unusual and I hope it was all reported and investigated and all is well now. People who will tell you that L4 killed their "perfectly healthy" 15 year old Labrador who had his vaccines then dropped dead a week later however. Correlation does not equal causation.

It is very difficult to say if it was the vaccine or not however as it was the first time she had had L4, she had had L2 up to then but the vet policy changed, and she had been in robust good health (she is a terrier so I do mean robust ) up to that point, it seemed the most likely explanation. The vet had never seen anything like it and he is a more (ehem) mature vet. He suggested the change in her prescription for future vaccines.
She is in perfect health now and back doing agility training and destroying my house .

My puppy just had her second vaccinations (1st at 8w, 2nd at 12w) so not thinking about boosters yet but the brand used was Nobivac. I looked up their booster schedule and found this leaflet which suggests 3y for DHP. Nobivac L4 is yearly. Are people vaccinating for DHP yearly? What is the benefit of that?

I've heard of lots of reactions to L4 but never any that a vet can actually corroborate or confirm. Lots of rumours and such but that's it.

Our pup had it and so did all the pups at his puppy class - he's absolutely fine and in perfect health. All dogs around here get given L4 as standard as we're rural and surrounded by farms. I've not heard of any who've gotten sick from it.

Are people vaccinating for DHP yearly?

We don't but I think that is where a lot of confusion is coming from when people say yearly vaccinations as I think some think it means 'everything' is yearly.

Are people vaccinating for DHP yearly?

We don't but I think that is where a lot of confusion is coming from when people say yearly vaccinations as I think some think it means 'everything' is yearly

This is exactly it. They need something each year but it will vary depending on what they've had in the previous few years. I have had people come in brandishing WSAVA guidelines about DHP every 3 years and why have we been giving it annually etc. without actually checking what is given each year in their vaccine record

I go with whatever is required to keep her Pet Passport current - for as long as that scheme lasts.

🙌 @KennyCalmIt for a post I don't have to roll my eyes at!!! We titre test our adult dogs. Only vaccinate puppies from 16 weeks old, never use the KC or Lepto vaccines as for us the risks outweigh the benefits. Conversations with numerous vets etc have led to this decision. We titre test our dogs £30 locally and last time all tests came back showing immunity. We do worm regularly.

Sadly loads of vets are not up to date and still do annual boosters. This is very outdated. The recommendations are every 3-4 years for core-vaccinations.

I don’t.
A few hours after the third one my dog appeared to get a seizure, it happened again after flea medication and again after the next booster so I don’t vaccinate her now.
I can’t be 100% sure it was a reaction to the vaccine and flea medication as her breed is prone to epilepsy and seizures anyway (border collie) but she hasn’t had one since..

I would always give any new puppy the full set of initial vaccines though and 1 or 2 boosters then probably not.

It can make it difficult if you need to arrange care though, the dog walker I used to use accepted titres but most don’t

I don’t know a single dog owner who knows about the new official vaccination protocol. All our local vets automatically give a full booster every year.
When I asked for just a Lepto booster it was given without question. I think the vaccine manufacturers and vets are keeping quiet.