Jasmine is only one week post vaccination, so I have not been going on long walks with her. She has been lovely, though. This morning I let them out and decided I'd wash up some dishes, leaving them alone in the back yard for a little bit.That was my mistake. Two of my new bare root roses got chewed up and one of the 30 gallon fabric pots had half its mix strewn all over the deck. I'm keeping an eagle eye out from now on. I swept everything up and replanted what was left of the roses, hopefully this was a setback and not a death sentence for them. BTW I've read some interesting info about vaccinations. The reason there is a 'puppy series' is because the vaccines don't always 'take' due to maternal hormones in the puppy can can persist up to 4 months. Jaz is almost 6 months. There is some interesting reading about vaccines out there and exactly what is necessary.
Oh dear. Yes. labs like to remodel gardens to get them just how they like them. I currently have a new path over my grass thanks to 6 year old Lilly. Why oh why can't she just wander randomly?
When Jet was a puppy I pointed the first Iris to bloom that year out to the OH. Snap, gulp, gone. I learned to not draw her attention to my flowers. Oban was a winter puppy, yet another advantage of having a puppy in winter. Yep, lots of interesting information on vaccinations now. Have you read any of Dr. Jean Dodds vaccination protocol? I don't vaccinate at all now, except for rabies. I titre.
I Googled Dodds. I'm making my own protocol because this almost 6 month old dog had never been vaccinated when I adopted her a week ago. When I called a vet I sometimes go to the office is insisting on a full course of vaccinations (I have given one and I am thinking that the one may be enough). But vaccinating is for some vets their livelihood, so maybe I can't expect them to actually think this through with me. I have to get an annual rabies for them, it is required to get the annual dog licenses. I think as far as the outdoors goes, I just think for my sake, her sake, and the rose's sake, from now on until she is quite a bit older,and the rosebushes larger, I'm not going to let her out even for a minute without monitoring her.
@Lucille, I used to work for a vet (in England) and his income did not come from vaccinations only!!!! When your dog is first vaccinated you do need the full course and I would strongly advise you to do it. I have worked when vaccinations were not a so regular thing to do and have seen many dogs die through distemper, parvo virus and leptospirosis. Dogs need to go out and also it is important that you socialise her.
Stacia, A 6 month old dog does not have maternal hormones, and so does not need a full course of vaccinations. Before taking a stand, do some research as to why there is a full course, it is because of those hormones. I respect that you used to work for a vet, however, you do not necessarily have to always do what was done in the vet's office without knowing why it was done and then developing your own informed opinion.
@Lucille, Stacia was expressing quite a reasonable opinion, and it wasn't entirely clear from your original post what you meant by a full course of vaccinations - and she could mean all sorts of things in her reply. It's best simply to clarify what you mean, then debate remains friendly. I certainly took your post to mean that a dog didn't need the full range of vaccinations after 6 months, and vets were profiteering by recommending this. It turns out that you mean an older dog doesn't need repeat vaccinations of the same vaccine because it is free from maternally derived anti-bodies.
And for those interested, an alternative source of reading to dogs naturally magazine is the WSAVA research document on vaccines. According to this, whether or not a dog free of maternally derived anti-bodies requires repeat vaccinations, depends on the type of vaccine being used. http://www.wsava.org/sites/default/files/WSAVA_OwnerGuidelines_September2010.pdf
My Vet agrees and that's why my feral cats, all obtained as adults except for the kittens, only got one shot. I did start the kittens I found on the kitten series as I was hoping to place them in homes and thought it would be a point in their favour. LOL, one went to my neighbour, another Vet, and she doesn't do the kitten series on her own, waits till later and does just one.
There are two different subjects under discussion here. One is the schedule of puppy vaccinations as discussed in the dogsnaturally magazine reference. The other is a vaccination schedule for an older dog. There is a very good reason why puppies have more than one vaccination, and I personally couldn't disagree more with the dogsnaturally magazine article (but I always find that publication generally dreadful ). There is much better information here: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/puppy-vaccination-faq/
Guide dog puppies have three vaccinations at 6, 12 and 16 weeks. They lost a few to Parvovirus so they are now ultra cautious and cover the maternal protection problem by giving three. The dogs don't suffer any ill effects from having three rather than two. My arm muscles are strong by the time the pups are allowed down in doggie areas! (17 weeks) ...
I respect other points of view. Mine differs, and I believe I have adequate reasons. "There are two different subjects under discussion here." Perhaps, but they are related because of the underlying reasons for vaccination.
I am a bit confused here. Bear with me, my knowledge is human based rather than animal, so if I get it wrong, let me know.... On the whole, I would say that a dog owner is entitled to choose about vaccinations for his or her puppy/dog, except for the fact that reducing vaccinations also reduces herd immunity in a populations, therefore leading to an increase risk in any individual contracting a disease, changing the risk benefit ratio (as risk of disease goes up, benefit to the individual from vaccination increases, and risk from the vaccine itself relatively speaking reduces). "Group responsibility?" All vaccines have potential side effects, and yes, they DO sensitise your immune system to diseases, that is how they work. So yes, you can get a very mild form of the illness but it is normally pretty harmless - in some way, this confirms that your body is making good antibodies to protect you from the disease. It does not however cause the actual disease - the vaccinations are mostly all altered ("attenuated") or killed and you can't catch the disease from the vaccine. The only proviso is if you have a LIVE vaccine and no immune system - for instance if you already have cancer, particularly if it is a bone marrow/blood related cancer, or if you are on meds that knock out your immune system. I am unsure which vaccines dogs get are live and will be happy to be informed if I am barking up the wrong tree. I am quite worried by that article on Dog's Naturally. To be frank, it is scaremongering, and the opening shot of an anecdotal case where a 6 month old pup died from an "osteosarcoma" at the site of a vaccine is guaranteed to worry, and I don't actually think it makes sense. I don't think there is any sound scientific evidence to suggest vaccines cause immune problems or cancer. In fact, the link with vaccinations and sarcoma (which is a soft tissue cancer and different to osteosarcoma which is a bone cancer) is worrisome. I believe there is a very RARE link with any kind of injection in CATS - this could be after a vaccine but equally likely (according to another article) after injections for fleas, or antibiotics, or chipping. But you know, its really difficult to know whether to believe this article because there are absolutely no references for this article that I could see to check out. I went on to google but didn't find anything very scientific to back it up. I am pretty sure I am doing the right thing by vaccinating my girl to protect her best as I can and not risking her by patiently waiting for her immunity to suddenly develop through natural exposure. I guess getting titres done would be useful, but personally I think the stress of blood sampling is an adverse effect that I would rather avoid than risk of vaccination which is really quite small relatively speaking. It is interesting that the article was very heavily into giving advice who to do your titre testing and the costs etc etc. Makes me think it was written by someone with a (financial) vested interest in doing titre testing rather than vaccinating, so as far as I am concerned I won't want to rely on the veracity of the remaining information. Sorry for the long post. I respect your decision to do what is best for your family, fur or otherwise, I just hope you are reading the right stuff with the best evidence to back it up and your decisions are as informed as they possibly can be.
Sorry, but I disagree with you. There are lots of sites re vaccination written by various people with different viewpoints. @drjs@5 wrote a very balanced answer and one I agree with in light of my personal experience of hundreds of dogs vaccinated. Vaccines used to be given at 12 and then 24 weeks when the maternal hormones would have worn off. We each have to do what we believe in.
