Vaccinations

Discussion in 'Labrador Health' started by Aburns, Jun 2, 2014.

  1. Aburns

    Aburns Registered Users

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    Can anyone offer their opinion on this? My puppy was given her first shots at 6 weeks of age when the breeder took the litter to the vet, as well as deworming. My vet now wants to do an extra set of shots because he said they like to see their first set done at 8 weeks not earlier because if done earlier the vacc could be ineffective due to the mothers antibodies in the milk(or something along those lines) so he vaccinated her again on their routine schedule at 8 weeks and plans to do then again at 12 weeks and 16 weeks. I don't want to do more than is necessary, so do I need to do a 4th set of shots?
     
  2. kateincornwall

    kateincornwall Registered Users

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    Re: Vaccinations

    I`ve never ever heard of four lots of vaccinations at such a young age , I would certainly be questioning this, or getting a second opinion , if it were me . I know that pups do inherit a certain immunity from Mum but this begins to wear off , I think at around 6 weeks of age, but dont quote me on this . But whatever , I definately would not want a puppy of mine to have four lots of vaccs , ask ask and more ask , dont feel bad about asking either, you are paying the bill , do let us know please, good luck :)
     
  3. Aburns

    Aburns Registered Users

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    Re: Vaccinations

    [quote author=kateincornwall link=topic=6382.msg84461#msg84461 date=1401727336]
    I`ve never ever heard of four lots of vaccinations at such a young age , I would certainly be questioning this, or getting a second opinion , if it were me . I know that pups do inherit a certain immunity from Mum but this begins to wear off , I think at around 6 weeks of age, but dont quote me on this . But whatever , I definately would not want a puppy of mine to have four lots of vaccs , ask ask and more ask , dont feel bad about asking either, you are paying the bill , do let us know please, good luck :)
    [/quote]


    I definitely agree with you! I'll keep you posted.
     
  4. JulieT

    JulieT Registered Users

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    Re: Vaccinations

    That would be the right schedule for worming, not vaccinations. Seems a bit odd.
     
  5. Stacia

    Stacia Registered Users

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    Re: Vaccinations

    The natural immunity lasts until about 12 weeks ;D, but you should be alright if she has her second lot at 12 weeks. When the parvovirus vaccination first came in years ago, my pup played a part in a trial and it proved that the vaccine had not taken at 12 weeks so she had another one for parvo at 16 weeks. I think I would have a second opinion.
     
  6. Lochan

    Lochan Supporting Member Forum Supporter

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    Re: Vaccinations

    I would do exactly as described by your vet. 6 weeks vaccination - very unlikely to work at all due to interference by maternal antibodies. So essentially the six week shot is null and void. Routine vaccinations at 8 and 10/12 weeks are the norm, but current WSAVA guidelines are to repeat the parvovirus component at 16 weeks to catch the small (but significant) minority of pups which do not develop immunity to parvovirus at 8 and 10/12 weeks. I have vaccinated all my own pups at 8, 12 and 16 weeks, but got them out and about on fields, beaches etc from 13 weeks (low risk parvo areas). It may be of interest to point out that the last 4 cases of clinical parvovirus infection we have seen in our practice have all been in pups between 6-12 months of age who have had 2 parvo vaccines as puppies finishing at 10-12 weeks of age. So the advice you have been given is immunologically sound and completely up-to-date in accordance with international guidelines.
     
  7. Jane Martin

    Jane Martin Registered Users

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    Re: Vaccinations

    Well that's interesting, thanks Lochan.
     
  8. JulieT

    JulieT Registered Users

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    Re: Vaccinations

    Yes, very interesting! Thanks Lochan.
     
  9. Aburns

    Aburns Registered Users

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    Re: Vaccinations

    [quote author=Lochan link=topic=6382.msg84496#msg84496 date=1401734125]
    I would do exactly as described by your vet. 6 weeks vaccination - very unlikely to work at all due to interference by maternal antibodies. So essentially the six week shot is null and void. Routine vaccinations at 8 and 10/12 weeks are the norm, but current WSAVA guidelines are to repeat the parvovirus component at 16 weeks to catch the small (but significant) minority of pups which do not develop immunity to parvovirus at 8 and 10/12 weeks. I have vaccinated all my own pups at 8, 12 and 16 weeks, but got them out and about on fields, beaches etc from 13 weeks (low risk parvo areas). It may be of interest to point out that the last 4 cases of clinical parvovirus infection we have seen in our practice have all been in pups between 6-12 months of age who have had 2 parvo vaccines as puppies finishing at 10-12 weeks of age. So the advice you have been given is immunologically sound and completely up-to-date in accordance with international guidelines.
    [/quote]


    Thank you for this, I called around and this was the general recommendations by other vet practices. Makes me wish the breeder hadn't bothered with the shots but what is done is done.

    I was also told that unless you follow the vaccination schedule as stated by the pharmaceutical company then they will not guarantee the effectiveness of the vaccination so if your dog was to contract a virus they had been vaccinated for them all costs would be on you as opposed to if you followed their schedule and recommendations then they would cover the costs. So looks like it needs to be 8/12/16
     
  10. Penny+Me

    Penny+Me Registered Users

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    Re: Vaccinations

    Lochans advice is really interesting. My pup had a parvo-only vaccine at six weeks and then her normal jabs at eight and then I think it ended up being eleven weeks. My vet never mentioned about wanting to repeat the parvo vaccine... Perhaps we're in a low risk area... I dunno. This was over a year ago now!
     
  11. Debs

    Debs Registered Users

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    Re: Vaccinations

    Maisie only had 8 and 10 weeks :-\
     
  12. drjs@5

    drjs@5 Registered Users

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    Re: Vaccinations

    Interesting.
    Our breeder arranged the first set of vaccines at around 8 weeks. We picked Lilly up a little later (as we were off on holidays) at around 11 weeks. When we took her for her 2nd vaccinations we were told that as our own vets used a different brand of vaccine, that we had to "start again" and have 2 of their brand.
    We were a bit annoyed at the time to be honest. It delayed us getting her out and about even further. We didn't know about all the socialisation that we were missing out on at that point (yet to discover the forum).
    Just something to bear in mind for anyone else being in a similar situation.
     
  13. Penny+Me

    Penny+Me Registered Users

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    Re: Vaccinations

    Jacqui - we used to have that problem in the dogs home. If a dog came to us unvaccinated or with no history we would give the first vaccine, the if it got adopted out before the second was due the new owners had to get it done at their own vet. We often had them phone up saying the vet couldn't give the second and wanted to restart. Often we would just tell them to bring the dog back to the dogs home and us give the second vaccination ourselves.
     
  14. drjs@5

    drjs@5 Registered Users

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    Re: Vaccinations

    [quote author=Penny+Me link=topic=6382.msg84566#msg84566 date=1401741861]
    Jacqui - we used to have that problem in the dogs home. If a dog came to us unvaccinated or with no history we would give the first vaccine, the if it got adopted out before the second was due the new owners had to get it done at their own vet. We often had them phone up saying the vet couldn't give the second and wanted to restart. Often we would just tell them to bring the dog back to the dogs home and us give the second vaccination ourselves.
    [/quote]
    We thought we were getting ahead by doing this. It is a shame, but hey ho.
    Had no idea that there were issues.
    It is the same with human vaccines though, so I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised.
     
  15. Pops

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    Re: Vaccinations

    there is growing evidence that we are over vaccinating our dogs. I wish vets weren't so blase about starting vaccine courses from scratch :-\ poppy cant have any more vaccines as she suffered vaccine damage but i dont get my other dogs vaccinated yearly as it goes against the vaccine manufacturers guidelines.x
     
  16. Maggie68

    Maggie68 Registered Users

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    Re: Vaccinations

    I take Otis for his booster vac, on Friday, I was advised that this is the correct thing to do ?? x
     
  17. JulieT

    JulieT Registered Users

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    Re: Vaccinations

    I took Charlie for his boosters today.

    It's good, I think, to ask your vet what your dog is being vaccinated against, and the frequency of the vaccinations, and why they are given at the frequency they are to check you are happy.

    Today, Charlie had boosters for all the routine vaccinations (see here:https://www.vethelpdirect.com/vetblog/dog-vaccination/) plus kennel cough.

    He has kennel cough vaccine because of the density of dogs on the common, all dog walkers and vets recommend it here. Plus he has stayed in kennels and will again, and it's a requirement.

    He will not need these again for another 3 years - apart from kennel cough and Leptospirosis, which should be done every year. According to my vet.
     
  18. Maggie68

    Maggie68 Registered Users

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    Re: Vaccinations

    Thanks Julie, helpful x
     
  19. Penny+Me

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    Re: Vaccinations

    I've got a feeling recent guidelines from the WSAVA is that once your dog has had their initial course of puppy vaccines, and then their first yearly booster they are covered. I can't remember where I read that though, ill have to see if I can dig it out from somewhere... They advise yearly titre testing to check levels of immunity.
     
  20. Lochan

    Lochan Supporting Member Forum Supporter

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    Re: Vaccinations

    Most evidence is that we under-vaccinate puppies (missing out the 16 week parvo vaccine) but may over-vaccinate adults. Current best practice would be the puppy course, a full booster at 15 months then "core" vaccines only annually. What goes in to the core vaccines depends on you and your dogs lifestyle. As JulieT commented, kennel cough vaccine if you are in a high risk lifestyle, leptospirosis too if your dog goes in waterways etc regularly. Distemper, parvovirus, hepatitis etc can be every 3-5 years, but I would boost parvovirus if we were in the middle of an outbreak locally. Your vet knows which of the infectious diseases are around locally and is the best source of advice for this sort of stuff - there are even different types of leptospirosis out there, and different vaccines cover against different serovars so you may well need a different brand depending on if you were going abroad, live in the south east as opposed to the north west, etc. In 27 years of clinical practice I've seen only a handful of significant, confirmed adverse reactions to vaccines. I've seen hundreds of dogs die or become seriously ill because they weren't adequately vaccinated.
     

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