We had our three vaccinated yesterday in preparation for their pet passports. We have done a lot of research into the matter before hand and know that there is a small percent failure rate but the consensus of vet opinion is that the pet has one vaccination followed by a blood test 30 days later, if the blood test is negative then the pet has to be vaccinated again. So, you can imagine our shock yesterday when we were told by our vet after the first vaccination - "you know that they have to be vaccinated twice ?" We queried this and advised what we had read etc and was informed that this was how this particular vet practice "did things". Needless to say we will be sticking to our guns and will await the results of the blood tests before subjecting our babies to a 2nd possibly needless vaccination. Has anyone else had their dog pet passported and if so how were things done at your vets ?

Only one of mine had to be done twice as her titre level was not sufficient and I wondered if it was because her dam was vaccinated shortly before mating so the maternal antibodies interfered with the pup's bodies acceptance of the innoculation. So far my vet's have only had to redo two sine the scheme started.

If your vet's make a habit of having to do the vaccination and associated blood testing twice I would question why, as it is not exactly a cheap undertaking.

Christine

Thanks for the reply and I agree with you that it is not cheap. We had three dogs vaccinated only and it cost £112.00. Add onto that the costs of blood tests x 3 and health certficates x 3 and it becomes rather expensive. Just out of interest after I put my initial posting on I called two vets in my area whom I consider to be my vets major competition and they both advised that they only give one vaccination and wait to see the blood tests results. As echoed elsewhere on this forum, I think my vets are just out to make as much money as possible.

My two have had yearly rabies shots all of their lives. When I discussed having their blood tested in case we head to the UK in 14 months, the vet said the best optimal time for testing is 60-90 days after their jabs. The antibodies have had time to work and set in. So far, he's never had any returned with a negative finding since the Pet Passport system was set up here in Germany.
hth,
toodles

I was given the option to have a second jab a fortnight after first, so that if titres were low on the first check, the blood could be sampled again sooner based on second jab. I declioned, and both mine came back with results well over that needed.