[Jodi]

On another board I visit there was a discussion about whether or not to get your dog vaccinated as a puppy.

It never even occured to me to not get a puppy vaccinated. I just assumed you had to.

Well, a few people were saying "Just plays havoc with their immune systems" and "I have seen entire litters go into seizure after just one puppy shot! If that isn't a chilling experience...I don't know what could be" and "The vaccination protocal is changing yearly. Could it be that we are finding them to be not as safe as was once assumed?" and " Stehen Blake, DVM has noted that of the dogs treated for parvo in his practice...the only ones who died had been vaccinated!"

This is a the link one of them listed supporting her opinion: Vaccine Myths

I'm not going to quote the whole thread but there were a few stories of people who have had a dogs go in to a seizures & die after a parvo vaccination.

So anyway, I didn't even know this was a debatable issue. Here's my question....Have y'all ever heard this point of view before? What do you think? Do you vaccinate your dog?

I guess this may need to be moved to the debate section but I'll wait and see how it goes.

 

[jmb9101]

OK I have heard of this before. It has to do with a Natural Rearing program, where the breeder decided not to vaccinate his/her puppies because they dont want to add stress to the puppies...they basically look at it as they would if the dogs were in the wild, they would never recieve shots...hmmm...lemme find you a link to a site that has a little more info about the basics...I dont personally use this program, because I just would be too much of a worry wart if my pets werent vaccinated...there are just too many diseases going around, and I dont know enough about the program to understand it properly. I know some people vaccinate their dogs, just the puppy shots, then get titers (a way to test if the vaccination is still present and working in the dogs system) and if the titers results say it is still working then they dont get the shots, but if the titers say that the specific vaccine is out of the dogs system, then they most likely will re-vaccinate. So sometimes they just vaccinate less, because they believe it causes more harm to an animal to vaccinate if its not needed, which would be understandable...the whole thing is sort of confusing, but it sort of makes sense a little...

ok here is a link (the article is long, but informative)

http://www.naturalrearing.com/J_In_Learning/Immunization/vaccinations/VACCINATIONSPart1.htm

hope it helps

 

[Candycane]

I still believe that puppies should get vaccinated and should at least get a rabies vaccine. After that, they should be covered for at least 3 years. My cats were not vaccinated this year for the simple fact that it was unneccesary. My cats are both inside cats, have been vaccinated for the first 3 years of their lives and we (my vet and I) feel that they are fine without another vaccination. After all, humans only get vaccinated a few times in their life...why should pets be any different? I realize this may be a different opinion than the norm but it is simply my opinion.

 

[Dena]

Personally, I wouldn't take the chance. My dogs and cats don't live in the wild so I don't want to use a method that treats them like they do. I also have another factor, I work at a shelter where lots of different diseases come through so I don't want to have the slightest chance of giving anything to my animals. I know there is a big discussion about Felv/FIV vaccinating cats. Most indoor cats don't get that vaccine but because of the above mentioned reason mine do get that vaccine also.

 

[Candycane]

Actually, Dena brought up something I meant to add. Some vets will not treat your animal if the vacs aren't up to date. And if you are planning on enrolling in obedience, agility, etc. or even just travelling with your dog, shots should be up to date.

 

[Jade]

Working in an emergency vet office, I see probably two puppies per week with Parvo. The first question out of my mouth is "is the puppy up to date on its shots" and the answer is always no. We euthanize probably at least one parvo pup per week because people don't realize that if they can't afford the shots, they certainly can't afford treatment and don't even bother to try.

If you can keep your puppy in a sterile, dog free enivronment, sure. But most of the time it doesn't work that way. I don't have dogs but mine WILL have their shots. :yes:

 

[Becki]

My dogs stay in my yard, away from all other dogs, so I don't get thier vaccinations until they're fixed. But, if they are around any other animals (or if I worked with animals like Dena and Jade do) I would get them ASAP. I had a puppy (was a stray) die from Parvo. It was the saddest, most traumatic thing I've ever seen Not to mention the most expensive treatment (that obviously didn't work). Not having the money is NOT an excuse, like Jade said, if you can't afford the shots there is no way you will afford treatment. Besides, where I get my dogs vaccinations it is cheaper for the 6in one + parvo than for a bag of thier food.

 

[SharonM]

Dutchy had Parvo - I had gotten him the first shots, and stupidly thought I could just wait on the second ones. Not so ....
I kinda figured since he didn't go near other dogs, he'd be fine. Problem was, my neighbors had a puppy they tied outside and left, and when he got sick - they called the dog warden to come get him.
Here's the crazy part: I went through our trailer court and told everyone who had a dog that my puppy had caught parvo and had never left the trailer court. One neighbor informed me that "We don't believe in getting all those shots - I mean, 100 years ago, nobody heard of these so-called diseases ..." I was dumbfounded. I was standing there telling him that my dog had one of these "so-called diseases" and was at the vet's on IV's ... and he's arguing with me ??? Unreal.
I've read that you can track it in on your shoes, it can be airborne ... I'll never again make the mistake of not getting a puppy it's shots ASAP. The cost was bad enough, watching my baby suffer was even worse.

 

[RSbunny]

My dog and my rabbits get their shots every year. I haven't heard of dogs having seizures after a vaccination but it can happen in humans so I'm sure it would happen in dogs.....I'd rather get my animals vaccinated. I would feel terrible if they died from something that I coul have had them immunised against....just my opinion.

 

[Deja]

I too have read the debate over vaccinating.
Of course there is always the slight chance of a reaction, but I am all in favor of following the recommended immunization schedule.

Becki's experience is heartbreaking.

Where I live yards aren't fenced. I'd never know if an animal wandered through with parvo.

It's a very interesting subject though and there is a lot of information to process, think about and make an informed educated decision on.

 

[kittygurl823]

Jodi, yes, I have heard these things before. All 3 of my dogs had the normal puppy shots. My dogs also got the parvo vac as puppies. They all just got their yearly vaccines within the last few months, which is rabies and distemper. I will vaccinate my dogs every year, and Candycane is right, they need to be utd in enrolling in a class, etc.
I know this is mostly a doggie question, Jodi, but wanted to add something about my cats.
Now, my cats is another story. Smokie got very sick as a kitten with his last set of vacs. This year, I told her about his reaction and she said she would just give him rabies and distemper and see how it went. Well, that night he got very sick. He was better the next morning, but I called her and she said she marked on his chart next year to do something different, such a premedication him or give them seperate. Here is a whole thread on "Smokie limping"
http://www.paw-talk.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13847
2 wks after these vaccines, he couldn't walk. That is the whole thread so I don't have to explain it again, lol. He is better now, but in the end, who knows if it was from the vaccines, it was too coincidental to me, and no one knows what really happened. Since he is only 1 1/2 and he had such terrible reactions and we don't know if the not feeling his leg was due to this at all, we are not taking a chance and the vet said since he's indoors, he most likely won't get any vacs again.
Snuggles on the other hand, suffers from seizures. I don't know the underlying cause of them, either. He had a complete blood scan and nothing abnormal came up. It is put down on his chart that he is "Epileptic" b/c there is no difinative cause. When I was at the store, first buying the natural foods for my cats and dogs, I ran into a vet who was also buying food for his cats, lol. He said he sells Science diet in the office but would never buy it. We were talking about Snuggles and he asked if the seizures happened after his vaccinations. I said the first one was in June 02' (I knew of) and his last vac before that was Oct 01' He said it is possible for them to develope seizures from the vacs. This year, I took Snuggles and Ginger in for the yearly visit. They had rabies, distemper and feline lukemia. My vet was cool in not trying to push me into vaccines and answered all my questions. He also talked about the every 3 years deal.(for the inside cats) His cats are older and only inside now, so they will only get rabies every 3 years. He told me to let him know if Snuggles had any siezures after the vacs. 2 weeks later, he had one. I let him know. Snuggles is 3 now, so we may just go to the every 3 years. Is it from the vacs? We don't know, since we don't know what causes his. He isn't on anti-seizure meds, and hopefully won't have to be, as they aren't frequent, for example, he had 2 small ones in Feb, but then none to my knowledge for a few months.
Becki- that is so sad and heartbreaking

 

[Jodi]

Very interesting guys. It seems that the people who don't get their dogs vaccinated feel very strongly about not doing so and vice versa.

I still believe in getting their shots and will do so with my new puppy I PICK UP TODAY!!!! (ok, sorry for yelling, I'm just so excited! )

 

[BrendaLynn]

Yeah How exciting! I love getting a new pet. Can't wait to pics of him!
I never thought of not getting my animals vaccinated, it's like my children. I don't take chances with my babies' health, especially since negative reactions are not that common. I would feel horrible if they caught the disease because I was wrong about the odds of them getting sick.