We received a reminder card from our veterinary centre today to let us know that our dog is due his yearly vaccination. We had him vaccinated as a puppy and he had his first annual vaccination. However, I am not sure whether to continue with these annual boosters. My last dog always had yearly boosters as I believed that was the best option to protect her. However, that was several years ago and it seems opinions have changed. Another local vet only gives boosters every three years, while many of the owners at my dog training class stopped vaccinations after the first booster because they believe that they are not necessary. I understand that people will have differing views on this, but I was wondering what other dog owners choose to do and why? I just want to be able to make an informed choice. Many thanks.
My own Vet recommends very three years , or even longer . Sam hasn't had a booster for about four years now and wont be having any more, but this is because he has serious underlying health issues . Nelly will have a booster next year .
I have always assumed it necesssary (vet’s advice) that a booster is necessary annually. We recently took our older lab for her annual booster. This includes the Lepto4 which is new and she has to have the second dose soon. I shall follow this thread with interest.
Your vet should be up to date with the latest recommendations. Lepto every year and the others every three years. I take mine in every year for a health check and the vet gives the correct vaccine which is/are due.
Thank you @Stacia - I have just looked at her vaccination certificate (properly for the first time ) and it makes sense now.
They definitely need boosters throughout their life - because their antibody levels (their immunity) won't stay high enough to protect them. I hope these owners are at least giving their dogs rabies boosters! The question isn't if they should have boosters, just how often. I talked to a friend of mine who is a vet, as Lucky's vet gives annual boosters and I wanted to change to every three years. My friend still recommends annual boosters to his clients, because there is a lot of variability and some dogs might have a low antibody count after one year - so not have strong immunity. The only way to test this is to do a blood test, and that's more expensive and more stressful for the dog than just giving the booster again. I'm going to stick with the annual booster for now, but would definitely consider changing to three yearly booster.
Our dog club requires a yearly vaccination certificate to maintain membership. They will accept a titre test though if you prefer not to vaccinate every year (assuming that the results are OK).
Is titreing an option and will the titres be accepted where you need them? Here our board of health will not accept a rabies titre so if my dog bit someone, or someone claimed he did, his titre would not protect him. Rabies is the only thing legally required here but some boarding, training and DDC places make their own rules and want to see a vaccination certificate. That's changing, more will take the titres.
Hi Snowshoe, Yes, I know of several owners that titre test and none of their dogs have required further vaccinations after their first booster. This is what made me start to question the need for the full annual boosters that my vet advises and, after asking around, I found that lots of owners were either opting out of boosters once their dog was older or deciding to only booster every 3 years. It would appear that the new Lepto vaccine is another highly contentious issue among local dog owners. It is all a bit of a minefield and has left me rather confused. Luckily, vaccinations against rabies are not necessary where I live unless you are travelling abroad; at least that is one thing less thing to worry about!
The American Vet Assoc recommend every three years (changed from every year). http://www.wsava.org/sites/default/files/WSAVA Vaccination Guidelines 2015 Full Version.pdf They took advice from the expert in vet immunology, Dr Robert Schultz, who says that a dog’s immunity after vaccination should last for life. https://news.wisc.edu/schultz-dog-vaccines-may-not-be-necessary/ My dog got the puppy vaccs, and no more.
@lucky_dog Many of the forum members are based in the UK , where rabies vaccinations are not a requirement , unless we want to take our dogs overseas and back on holiday , thankfully we are ( at the moment ! ) rabies free .
@kateincornwall Of course I didn't think of that! I'm British, but live in Germany, and here we do have to have it annually. I would have it every year, even if it wasn't a requirement, there are no stray dogs, but there are wild racoons in the woods where we walk!
@lucky_dog I lived in rural France for 10 years , the dogs I had back then always had annual rabies shots too , its not worth the risk I agree !
