Vaccinations....

[karly101]

Not all vaccinations are the same.. there are different strains of parvo (CPV2a and CPV2b and another one not in australia yet as far as known CPV2c). Vaccination makers are not all the same as to what variant is included. AND even with vaccination there's still a chance the dog may contract parvo. From my experience from outbreaks near my workplace, we have not had any fully vaccinated dogs (as in following all the boosters and a year 1 of age vaccination - which I believe is the recommendation) contract parvo. We have seen cases in puppies not fully vaccinated and in older dogs who did not get vaccinations after the puppy series.

I think the safest approach is titre testing and vaccinating as needed after the (roughly) 1 year of age vaccination. In my area this is a big cost issue though- it is cheaper to vaccinate (and sometimes we can barely get some clients to do that, even the basic puppy vaccinations) and titre testing is an option as well. Unfortunately, until manufacturers are on board vets are in a sticky situation, if they say a yearly vaccination is good for 3+ years and the dog does end up contracting a disease then they are in trouble as they didn't follow label recommendations.

Edited July 10, 2010 by karly101

[alpha bet]

Even the Vic Dogs Website has now placed the vaccination recommendations of the first adult vaccination at approx 15 months and after that every 3-4 years. I would think this should make most people here feel fairly confident that this format has gone thru enough scrutiny and make their own decision.

Perhaps there is also a case of the companies producing the vaccinations havent bothered changing their paperwork yet or even just using up their existing paperwork. Over the next 12 months we will probably see all the paperwork sorted out.

[Staranais]

I do puppy shots (as many as recommended by manufacturer), booster one year later, then titre or vaccinate every 3 years from then on, for C3 (hep, parvo, & distemper).

This is off label use for most C3 vaccines, but there is strong scientific evidence that this is acceptable, it is taught in our vet school as an acceptable vaccine protocol, & is additionally the recommendation from the World Small Animal Veterinary Association. I doubt a vet could get in much trouble for recommending this regime, as long as the owner was warned that it is off label drug use, due to the weight of scientific evidence (and the number of specialists & specialist groups) recommending it.

Kennel cough needs to be done annually, if you want or need to vax against kennel cough.

[Lily123]

Does anyone know what the pet insurance companies require in the way of vaccination? I've recently signed my gang up with PIA and there was a question in the application asking when your animal was last vaccinated. I didn't see anywhere in the PDS anything about not paying for treatment for animals that haven't been vaccinated (in fact I thought I read that they don't pay anything towards these illnesses anyway - parvo etc - but not entirely sure of this).

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

I get flu vax for myself every year.

I get the other vax as required/recommended by my doctor, so I've had quite a few tetnus, typhoid, mumps, polio etc.

And the chicken pox vax - I really really don't want to get that at my age.

I had the TB vax twice, and the post vax test shot at uni showed up negative/not immune - so I gave up. I got told you could have that shot 8 times and still not pass the "mantou test". Whether or not you'd be immune or not I don't know. I do know that the TB site the first time around festered like a pussy pimple for two whole years before it healed over. Not going to go through that again.

Dog seems fine with C5 vax annually. No problem with her coat or movement.

I do know that viruses that mutate frequently - require frequent updates with vaccination. Not sure what that means for dog vax - apart from kennel cough changes often. My dog club does require annual proof of...

[4 Paws]

I was at the vets the other day and they mentioned my dogs were overdue for there vaccinations.I said I really wasn't planning on getting them done for 3 years since the new findings and they reckon they haven't heard much on the subject so were still recommending yearly vacs

[raffikki]

My guys had their first annual shots last week.

I was told that the vaccine was a 3 yearly one, and that the one they had at 12 weeks was also a 3 yearly one (but it was recommended to get the vaccine again at 15/16 months)

The one thing that concerned me, and this is just the impression I got off the vet, is that the "3 yearly vaccine" is stronger than the normal yearly one, so it's not just leaving it longer