Vaccinating a toy breed puppy..

[Powertothepetal]

Is it safe?
They apparently get the same dosage as a big Great Dane puppy?!
Is that true??
It seems crazy!

I am also reading that vaccinations should be given at 12 weeks for best effectiveness, think the article was by Dr Jean Dodds so as I understand, a ‘reputable’ and knowledgeable individual, not 8 weeks as the maternal antibodies are still active up to 12 weeks?

Also, did anyone here not give the leptospirosis?

As lovely and knowledgable as many dog owners on here are, you should talk to your vet about this.

Im not terribly trusting of vets tbh.
The negative experiences have outweighed the good for me.

Just be aware that if you don't vaccinate against lepto, you will not be able to leave your dog with a licensed home boarder or a kennel as it is a required vaccine, along with the core vaccines.

All I will say, is hundreds of thousands of dogs have been vaccinated and no harm has come to them.
I would research all avenues, not just read what you want to believe.

If you got your dog from an experienced breeder I'd have a chat with them, op.
I had my eyes opened re vaccinating when I bought my late toy poodle from a long time breeder.

Maternal immunity starts waning at 8 weeks. If you wait until 12 weeks to start you'd miss a very important socialisation window. You'd be mad not vaccinate against lepto.
Yes the dose is the same, it's tiny, about 0.5ml. Same goes for small and large humans, vaccine doses are the same.
If you want to take the risk of your pup dying from a preventable disease though that is entirely your choice.
I'm a vet nurse BTW, had a pup die of parvo in front of me this week, entirely preventable.

I had my eyes opened re vaccinating when I bought my late toy poodle from a long time breeder.

Haha, yes we're very familiar with those breeders in the veterinary world. Did they have a veterinary medicine degree?

At what age are you getting your toy breed puppy? Many should not be homed until 12 weeks anyway so makes the timing issue irrelevant.

Has anti vax spread to dogs now?!

You need to check which lepto jab - our pup came from an area where only 2 was needed, but we changed to 4 at the one year boosters (meant having 2 shots, not just one at that point) as that was what the vet recommended for out area

Definitely do not delay parvo.

You can get away without the kennel cough shot if you won't be using doggy daycare, but I really wouldn't miss any of the others

I vaccinated both my dogs

My smallest one wasn’t even a kg when she got vaccinated. She weighed less than a bag of sugar. She still had a full jab and she’s fine

@mycatisnuts

I had my eyes opened re vaccinating when I bought my late toy poodle from a long time breeder.

Haha, yes we're very familiar with those breeders in the veterinary world. Did they have a veterinary medicine degree?

Might be as well to be more open minded and listen to breeders with years and years of every day experience of a particular breed, no?

I'm not a breeder in case you were wondering.

Might be as well to be more open minded and listen to breeders with years and years of every day experience of a particular breed, no?

All the decent breeders I know vaccinate, the anti vax breeders are nuts.
Other than a few specific breed anomalies dogs are all the same anatomically and all have the same immune systems, no amount of experience can change science.

Has anti vax spread to dogs now?!
Can we not have a sensible pros and cons discussion then?
Any potential concern must immediately mean im an anti vaxxer?

Current dog was vaccinated, against her breeders recommendation actually, still went and got it done!

I assumed the dosage would be different according to size, human medications are different according to weight so the fact a minuscule toy breed gets the same dosage as a huge giant breed is a bit concerning to me!

The articles I read were by Dr Dodds who, as I understand, is a very well respected veterinarian and expert in immunology.

Leptospirosis I believe is spread by water contaminated by infected rats?
I don’t live near waterways nor takeaways or anywhere else you’d expect a large volume of rats and the dog will be leashed.
The risk of picking up lepto seems low?
Unless it’s transmitted some other way?
And the leptospirosis seems to be a controversial vaccine amongst a lot of breeders, particularly those of toy breeds.
Why?
Why isn’t the parvo vaccine controversial? Or Distemper?
They must have a reason for being opposed to that vaccine and not others?

I’m not ‘anti vax’, I just want to do the best and healthiest thing for the dog and would appreciate hearing both sides and trying to make an informed decision rather than a blanket ‘anti vax is nuts, vaccinate the dog’

If you wait until 12 weeks to start you'd miss a very important socialisation window
I have no intention of missing socialisation.
The puppy will be out and about (in arms) as soon as I pick him up.

I assumed the dosage would be different according to size

Your assumption is wrong

human medications are different according to weight

medications are not the same as vaccines. Vet medicines are, like human ones, scaled to size for some. Human and vet vaccines are not scaled by size, though there can be differences by age (eg diffferent adjuvants in flu vaccine for the over 60s)

@mycatisnuts

Might be as well to be more open minded and listen to breeders with years and years of every day experience of a particular breed, no?

All the decent breeders I know vaccinate, the anti vax breeders are nuts.
Other than a few specific breed anomalies dogs are all the same anatomically and all have the same immune systems, no amount of experience can change science.

Err, no one's mentioned 'anti vaxing,' except you.

We have a chihuahua, and got her when she was 9 weeks old. Her first jabs were split into 3 injections, and she had them every 2 weeks until the course was completed.

So instead of 1 or 2 injections, she had 3 space out over 6 weeks.

I have a toy breed.

Breeder had them all vaccinated as standard. We picked ours up at 16 weeks, all vaccinations had been done. They had all the vaccines.

If you want an idea of veterinary care pre antibiotics and routine vaccines I recommend James Herriot books. Some heartbreaking stories about losing animals to diseases that are entirely preventable now.

I don’t live near waterways nor takeaways or anywhere else you’d expect a large volume of rats and the dog will be leashed.
The risk of picking up lepto seems low

Hate to break it to you but there are “large volumes of rats” everywhere. Even living in a city we have rats in the garden every so often. If i’ve seen one, there must be plenty more. If there are plenty, the chances of coming into contact with rat urine, or urine contaminated puddles/grass, is very high.

Also just because it’s a toy dog doesn’t negate natural hunting instinct. Mine is a very proficient ratter/mouser, better than the cat.

My premature ds who weighed barely 4lbs had the same dose vaccine as my friends baby who weighed 12lbs. My tiny Yorker weighing less that 1lb had all her vaccines on time.

I have a toy breed.
She had her vaccinations at 12 weeks but was socialised by being carried all over the place. I took her to a main road to see buses and lorries, stood outside shops so she was petted by strangers. You can do lots of socialisation in your arms.
I also took her to visit my parents dog who is fully vaccinated, as it would be no different to bringing her home to another dog we might already own.
I’m not against vaccinations at all, but mine collapsed at the 12 month booster where she had Lepto 4 for the first time. She hasn’t had it again.

I would go on your vets advice, but if you have lost trust in them and want to research further yourself, this is an excellent article based on Evidence Based Medicine by the World Small Animal Veterinary Association.

Although it seems odd to give the same dose to a chihuahua and a Great Dane this is standard vaccination practice - same in human medicine, the petite slender person gets the same dose as the 7ft weightlifter twice their weight!

wsava.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Small-animal-vaccination-a-practical-guide-for-vets-in-the-UK-Michael-Day.pdf

I have a toy breed and he has been vaccinated on time as normal.

As PP’s have mentioned, humans also get the same dosage regardless of weight. I didn’t get weighed when getting any of my jabs (including the COVID ja ) and neither did my kid.

Re lepto, one of my dog's littermates didn't have follow ups done so wasn't vaccinated. Guess which one didn't make their first birthday? We think it was lepto. And despite pp comments about water, rats etc this pup lived in Greater London. Get your pup vaccinated according to your vets advice.