Yearly dog vaccinations

[Hormonal Filly]

Hi all. Do you vaccinate your dogs yearly?

I am in the UK and my spaniel is 2. He had all of his puppy jabs and his last booster a year ago.

Hes due again now but a friend has advised to avoid yearly vaccines... unsure what to do!

 

[Goldenstar]

Of course I get them done each year .
The anti vacc movement has moved onto dogs .

 

[Landcruiser]

Have a chat with your vet. And have a think about whether you would rather take a tiny risk of a vaccine reaction, or risk your young dog picking up lepto, or distemper, or parvo etc...

 

[The_Shetland_Collector]

We always have our two vaccinated, they spend a lot of time boarding and around other dogs and visit lots of varied environments so I'd never want to run the risk of them not being vaccinated.

We have them signed up to a Vets4Pets practice purely for their vaccinations as they offer a £99 vaccs for life offer. We paid the initial £99 and provided you keep up to date with it, annual the booster vacc is covered in that one payment, it doesn't take too long for it to make sense value wise.

 

[CorvusCorax]

My two travel, so not doing it isn't really an option, they mix with other dogs a lot, and we live in an area where a lot of dogs are being walked and they are in and out of water a lot. A lot of training clubs and competition organisers will also insist on it.

 

[ApolloStorm]

Of course I get them done each year .
The anti vacc movement has moved onto dogs .

I would disagree with this..
I don't disagree with vaccinations at all, mine all get puppy shots and a booster, but then we titre test and check to see if the annual vaccination is required. In fact most common used vacs are recommended to be boosted only every 3 years, except lepto, which in itself is an issue, since the time it is active and effective within the body has been shown to be as little as 12 weeks!
I thought it was fairly common knowledge that vets recommend annual vacs as most family dogs dont get looked at by a knowledgeable person on a regular basis, so seeing them in every year for vacs means the vet can get an overview of the dogs health.
I would ask your vet if they titre, then make an informed decision from there.

 

[SusieT]

yes. ask your vet what they do for their dog- money on it they vaccinate them. You can titre for some of the vaccines and only give if needed. 'friend' is unlikley to stump up the cost of treatment if your pup gets parvo..

 

[splashgirl45]

mine are vaccinated every year and have never had a bad reaction...

 

[AmyMay]

mine are vaccinated every year and have never had a bad reaction...

Ditto

 

[Clodagh]

I would disagree with this..
I don't disagree with vaccinations at all, mine all get puppy shots and a booster, but then we titre test and check to see if the annual vaccination is required. In fact most common used vacs are recommended to be boosted only every 3 years, except lepto, which in itself is an issue, since the time it is active and effective within the body has been shown to be as little as 12 weeks!
I thought it was fairly common knowledge that vets recommend annual vacs as most family dogs dont get looked at by a knowledgeable person on a regular basis, so seeing them in every year for vacs means the vet can get an overview of the dogs health.
I would ask your vet if they titre, then make an informed decision from there.

I acknowledge that Aru ough to know what they are talking about, but I do agree. Very few vets (well, mine doesn't!) jab annually now, mine are done 3 yearly except lepto which is annual.

 

[satinbaze]

Don’t forget that if you don’t follow your vets advice regarding vaccinations it can make parts of your insurance null and void.

 

[TheresaW]

Ours have lepto every year, and DHP every other year after the first yearly booster. They occasionally go into kennels, so have to be vaccinated for that, and also it can invalidate their insurance if they get something they could have been vaccinated against.

 

[Annette4]

Mine are done every year, they spend a lot of time around other dogs and I need them to be able to go into kennels and none locally will accept titre testing. If in doubt speak to your vet.

 

[MurphysMinder]

The core vaccinations only need doing every 3 years, lepto and kc should be done annually.

 

[MurphysMinder]

I acknowledge that Aru ough to know what they are talking about, but I do agree. Very few vets (well, mine doesn't!) jab annually now, mine are done 3 yearly except lepto which is annual.

Where has Aru posted ? My vets also vaccinate 3 yearly except lepto , and kc if you choose to have it.

 

[paddy555]

Of course I get them done each year .
The anti vacc movement has moved onto dogs .

no not anti vacc just not doing more vaccinations that required.

These are my vet's guidelines and their reasons why. They will also titre to see if the 3 yr booster is required.

"Our vet"s vaccination policy is in line with the recommendations of the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (https://www.wsava.org/guidelines/vaccination-guidelines) and the Vaccine data sheets (available here: https://www.noah.co.uk/) and as such we recommend vaccinating against Distemper, Hepatitis and Parvovirus every 3 years, and against Leptospirosis yearly. A separate Kennel Cough vaccine is available and we recommend it is given yearly, although not all dogs are at high risk of kennel cough infection, so this can be discussed on an individual basis with your veterinary surgeon."

 

[blackcob]

Mine have lepto annually and DHP every three years. When they were racing they also had rabies and annual KC (I am always surprised that other dog sports don't insist on vaccinations, microchip checks and vet checks!) We travel, we do sports and activities, they mix with dogs from all over the country and abroad, it'd be negligent not to.

I thought it was fairly common knowledge that vets recommend annual vacs as most family dogs dont get looked at by a knowledgeable person on a regular basis, so seeing them in every year for vacs means the vet can get an overview of the dogs health.

I am a reasonably savvy owner (no sniggering in the back row!) and have hands on my dogs daily for grooming, nail clipping, teeth brushing etc.... my vet (and boss) still found a lump I hadn't spotted yet at booster time.

 

[Blazingsaddles]

After allowing my youngest to get the KC vacc (which sheds) all my oldies came down with it. I will not be getting that done on any pups again.

 

[Leo Walker]

Don’t forget that if you don’t follow your vets advice regarding vaccinations it can make parts of your insurance null and void.

Thats not true at all, or hasnt been on the 6 or 7 policies I have had. If you choose not to vaccinate and your dog gets a disease that you could have vaccinated against, then that couldnt be covered by insurance, but everything else is

 

[Clodagh]

Where has Aru posted ? My vets also vaccinate 3 yearly except lepto , and kc if you choose to have it.

D'oh! I saw the A and thought Aru, it was Apollostorm.

 

[Clodagh]

After allowing my youngest to get the KC vacc (which sheds) all my oldies came down with it. I will not be getting that done on any pups again.

We never do kennel cough, but also thankfully our dogs never go to kennels so we don't have to.

 

[Blazingsaddles]

We never do kennel cough, but also thankfully our dogs never go to kennels so we don't have to.

We never go on holiday😀

 

[{97702}]

Depends on the age of the dog for me.....

Every dog gets done annual for Lepto with (shock horror!) the L4 vaccine. (Except George who hasn’t been done yet, but he will catch up in the next round)

The oldies don’t get anything else.

The younger ones (about 8 years old or less) get the parvo/distemper/hardpad vaccination every 3 years as per manufacturer’s recommendation.

It’s always fun at vaccination time trying to remember I’ve moved from having 4 oldies to having ‘2 oldies and 3 younger ones’ over the last year.....

 

[satinbaze]

Thats not true at all, or hasnt been on the 6 or 7 policies I have had. If you choose not to vaccinate and your dog gets a disease that you could have vaccinated against, then that couldnt be covered by insurance, but everything else is

Sorry but it is true. A friend had her claim for her dogs arthritis rejected because he had not been vaccinated for over 4 years. It was one of the insurers that try to wriggle out of paying. She tried to argue that the dogs arthritis had nothing to do with vaccination but they still refused to pay.

 

[Boulty]

I'd have a chat to your vet about it. Most can send off for titre testing if you desire (although that involves taking a blood sample & sending it off to a lab) although most would still advise you get lepto done regardless as titres for that can drop off pretty quickly, it can be fatal, you do still see cases of it & it can be passed on to people so vaccinating dogs against it also has human health benefits. To be fair these days I doubt the very vast majority of vets will be using every vaccine every year (there tends to be I think a 3 yr rotation of lepto +/- the others depending on when they were last done & vaccine company recommendations) Would also read the fineprint of insurance if you have it as I think some companies may have started putting it in as a clause (how lenient they're prepared to be will vary as I think some will only exclude conditions that COULD have been vaccinated against whereas others it will totally invalidate the policy & they won't pay any claim regardless of what it's for)

 

[Aru]

Find out what they mean by "annual vaccines"
Very few uk vets will be vaccinating for parvo distemper and adenovirus annually at this stage once the puppy course has been finished(after the 1 year for that!) most have those on a 3 year schedule per current wsava recommedation and vaccine companies datasheets.

Most annual vaccines given will be vaccinating for the bacterial diseases as immunity for these dont last as long as the viral ones.

Lepto (l2 or l4) and bordetella bronchiseptica(one of the kennel cough varients) are the most common, some might be doing parinfluenza,canine influenza now that ones doing the rounds again (pi2)
Calling that vaccine kennel cough as a name drives me mad though as its a term thats not very representative of the disease. Its not only picked up from kennels and people underestimate the risk based on the name. It's also a very specific vaccine that treats for a specific disease...not all upper resp disease in dogs is due to "kennel cough". In a similar way to how humans claim we have "the flu" when we have a cold. The vaccines work on the flu type(severe illness) versions only, your dog will still catch colds.
Any dogs who meet other dogs or socialise/compete /get groomed in areas with other dog around (increase risk of contamination) can potentially get kennel cough. Kennels do increase the risk because stressed dogs who are barking and in shared air space with other canines are at risk for obvious reasons but they arent the only source

As a general rule its a good idea to prevent rather then have to treat any of the vaccinatable for conditions. They tend to be quite severe diseases and potentially fatal.

The very old and the very young in particular get bad cases of respiratory disease and really should be protected.
Its why the flus shots in humans are empahsised so much and given on population risk.

After 3 years you can consider yearly titres for the viral vaccines rather then boosters but there is no current titre for the bacterial vaccinations.

I don't vaccine for lepto where I am due to risk being so low but in the UK it is considered an endemic-common native disease.

Interestingly enough Sydney Australia a previous no lepto given zone, just had a canine lepto outbreak in the middle of the city linked to a specific parks and building works disturbing the rat population. The strain is one carried in the vaccine so its preventable (it was isolated from some of the dead dogs by the unis research dept) so that section of the city is now a vaccine recomended.

Local risk matters quite a lot when it comes to vaccines. In some of the regions where parvo is very bad the last parvo injection has to be given after 16 weeks or you will have occasion vaccine fails thanks to maternal immunity issues.

Talk to your vet is my advise. It really does depend on individual animal and area risk.

My own dog is vaccinated for everything on the standard schedule. My previous dog also got every vaccind going including Lepto and Rabies for her passport.
I'm debating a titre at the 3 year mark out of curiosity but chances are she'll still be boostered as I'm not taking the chance of the titres waning when shes in the highest risk category for exposure to disease-in pretty much every way when I think about it-shes comes to work with me and belongs to a vet-strike one ,her daily walk includes around the vet clinic where sick animals converge outside(insides disinfected frequently) she goes to dog parks and dog beaches,does dog shows and events,gets groomed and is occasionally kennelled, hunts small animals and swims and is a overly social in your face friendly animal to other dogs - shes pretty much high risk for every disease you can be exposure to as a dog bar that she doesn't eat actual dog shit(anymore....)

 

[Aru]

Sorry but it is true. A friend had her claim for her dogs arthritis rejected because he had not been vaccinated for over 4 years. It was one of the insurers that try to wriggle out of paying. She tried to argue that the dogs arthritis had nothing to do with vaccination but they still refused to pay.

That's unusual. did she have any vet health check ups during the 4 years? Sometimes they will try and refute based on vaccines but if you can argue the dog was regularly seen and examined and risk assessed then they will still cover for chronic illness like arthritis..
I'd definately be arguing that one.

 

[Leo Walker]

I always check and read the small print, and have nevre had an issue claiming. I even had a claim paid for a respiratory infection/cough when there was no kennel cough vaccine in place.I genuinely did not expect them to pay that one

 

[ApolloStorm]

I don't insure my dogs so I don't need to prescribe to their terms and I can do as I see fit. Which involves titre testing. I don't plan on doing any more lepto jabs after the booster, as we are in a low risk area and I think its published lack of efficacy puts me off. I also show both of them, so they are regularly out and about, a lot of show people I know have a similar schedule.

I am a reasonably savvy owner (no sniggering in the back row!) and have hands on my dogs daily for grooming, nail clipping, teeth brushing etc.... my vet (and boss) still found a lump I hadn't spotted yet at booster time.

I more was talking about owners who wouldn't notice (or know) obesity, nails being a good length or teeth problems which could cause issues later on which the vet could advise with. Obviously a full health check isn't done with regards to bloods and scans etc.

 

[GSD Woman]

The veterinary schools in the USA redid their policy on how frequent vaccines are done several years ago. I believe the protocol here is now booster every 3 years and rabies as required by law. For the flu vaccines, lepto and bordetella most vets push for yearly. I personally do the puppy series, booster a year later and rabies 1 year after the first and then every 3 years as required. When I board my dogs I take them to a friend's kennel and they've never asked me about vaccines.