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vaccination schedule

This article about vaccinations was referenced on FB.

http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/revaccination-and-dogs/

I moved to the puppy, 1 year, 3 years protocol. I am thinking I should probably change. I wonder how often breeders are vaccinating now.

Re: vaccination schedule

I am not a bigtime breeder. My thoughts are based on my rescue background, titering and being a vaccine radical for 20 years (rescues I kept who had allergies needed titering per vet back then).

Vaccines for puppies are amazingly wonderful, by and large. I remember the late 70s and all the dogs who died of parvo when we lived in NYC. At worst, they can be a necessary evil, emphasis on "necessary" for most of our pups. I have known too many pups sickened with vaccine preventable disease even nowadays. Parvo and distemper are always out there, to some extent, in wildlife and in mobile pets and show dogs, and on our shoes.

Dogs with unknown history are vaccinated here. In older rescued Cavaliers, I might or might not titer, as they are prone to heart disease as a breed and vaccines have been linked by some to onset (maybe endocarditis, maybe coincidence). Labs are generally just vaccinated in rescue if history is unknown or source is suspect.

As a breeder:
Listen to Jean Dodds about vaccinating in between heat cycles of the bitches as much as possible. Start vaccines as she suggests on her schedule, other than maybe a puppy DPv, if other dogs are showing or there are raccoons, foxes, or coyotes in the neighborhood. The new high titer low passage parvo vaccines work well. Some vaccines work better than others: there are articles out there and studies. I hate the genetically engineered vaccines: we saw too many reactions in toy dogs and an increase in puppy pyo in unrelated Lab pups. When we stopped using them, the reaction rate went down. Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not. Studies showed them to increase the odds of autoimmune disease. I call them Frankenvaccines. Even if they are free, as at state clinics, I won't use them again unless they are the only option, which I hope never happens.

To some extent, if the bitch cleans up after pups who have been vaccinated about 10 to 14 days after they have been vaccinated with modified live vaccines, she gets a booster. Modified live is for herd immunity. Theoretically, even licking their mouths and vice versa could do it: it is shed in the GI system. A titer could prove some of that.

Of course, if the bitch is going out with a handler or to class, one has to go by the rules there. Even then, more and more places accept titers for parvo and distemper at least. Titers cost more at the vet, but in my Cavaliers, the volume of the shot and the chance of a reaction is greater, theoretically, especially in the smaller ones. (Jean Dodds is doing a study on vaccinating small dogs now.) Titers also let the dog skip one more way to throw gasoline on the fire that is cancer smoldering in an older dog. I have known too many older dogs who got terribly ill within days up to 6 weeks after their vaccine booster. Titers give one some peace of mind when easing off on vaccines. I don't know what your vet requires for their clients, or what your handlers do. Walking into a large emergency vet hospital, one's Lab is exposed to many germs. That both boosts immunity and creates an opportunity for infection in a susceptible pup.

I can't wait until rabies is either a 5 yr vaccine or a vaccine for which one can titer in this country. It is tough on the tiniest dogs. Merial vaccines seem especially tough on them, in my experience and that of my friends. The vet I use stopped using them. Rabies is by law, although in NJ we can get a veterinary exemption for up to a year at a time. I believe in supporting the research by Shultz and Dodds on rabies vaccine. They could use more funds, and I believe donations are matched, doubling your donation, for a short time. I have supplied a link to the Rabies Challenge Fund.
http://www.rabieschallengefund.org/

All in all, I don't vaccinate or titer the old dogs much any more. I have had titers come back wonderfully high for too many expensive years.

2014, PENN VET, Re: vaccination schedule

This is a link to the proceedings of this year's vet conference at Penn.
http://www.vet.upenn.edu/docs/default-source/penn-annual-conference/pac-2014---proceedings.pdf?sfvrsn=4

It is also at the website link below, for a hot link.

The vaccination information presented by teaching vets to other vets starts on page 804850, which is 93rd page if you download the pdf document. I note that Dr. Littman still does not recommend Lyme vaccine. The dogs most likely to get Lyme nephritis can get it sooner from the vaccine than from the environment, if tick preventatives are used.

Earlier articles deal with cardiology. Those ones are a little more intense and less readable than those on vaccines.