After taking my dogs and a litter of puppies for their first vaccinations, my vet advised me that they are now using a new lepto 4 vaccine instead of lepto 2 and that the second one needs doing in 4 weeks time.  My qiestion is with the pups going to new homes how common is this lepto 4 are all surgeries using it or will my puppies have to have their jabs restarted?

My adults have just had lepto 4 as part of their annual booster, I have to take them all back to have a booster (no extra charge). I'm in south Wales.

For those with sensitive dogs the vet did say it seems to sting more than the previous one.

Interesting.   Mine are due their boosters end of the month (one just Lepto, the other the full set - they are on a 3-yearly schedule now).   I've just checked their previous and find they had Lepto 2.   So it will be interesting to see what is used this time!!

Hopefully this won't mean your puppies have to have their vaccination started again - I'd ask because I am very wary about over-vaccinating.   Which is why mine are now on 3-yearly boosters, apart from the Lepto one which is felt necessary to be boostered annually as it drops away.   I wonder if the Lepto 4, new version, doesn't?

Which is why mine are now on 3-yearly boosters, apart from the Lepto one which is felt necessary to be boostered annually as it drops away.  I wonder if the Lepto 4, new version, doesn't?

From what I was told and can rember last time I spoke about vaccinations to my vet they said that a new lepto one was coming out and it was ment to last longer than the old one. cant rember how much longer but looks like online its still a booster every year
http://www.charlesworthvets.com/nobivac_l4_datasheet.pdf

My vet said it was because of the relaxtion with pups coming in the country they are seeing more strains and this new vaccince covers 85% where lep2 covered 70%.

Interesting.   I do remember when we went with two hounds, out to Canada, we were advised to have the distemper booster done because there was a difference between distemper vaccination (the disease?) in the UK and that seen in Canada.   I did trust the vet and felt he wasn't conning us into spending money unnecessarily.

Again when I take mine in next week, I'll have to ask about the Lepto. booster - might be difficult as I'm going to be using a new vet.

http://www.northdevonvets.co.uk/the-new-leptospirosis-vaccine-lepto-4/

I did some searching and found this - oddly this is a practice I used, but ran from after they messed me around big time with a terminally ill bitch I had.   She died.

That's pretty much what my vet said. That now with the movement of dogs being much easier they are seeing a surge in diseases. Interestingly the one thing he said they hadn't seen any of this last autumn/winter was parvo.

I suppose that's one good thing eh.   But I'm continuing to be concerned about the possibility of rabies getting into the UK - and have already thought about maybe getting mine vaccinated against it.  What bothers me is the possibility of a cull, in specific areas, should rabies hit.   Some might say that's unlikely but is it?   Look at what happened with foot and mouth.

A rabies outbreak is certainly a possibility - I know DEFRA vets who think it's only a matter of time now that there isn't a satisfactory titre test requirement - but I think a cull of unvaccinated animals is unlikely. it didn't happen in the outbreak in Surrey in the late 60s/early 70s (can't remember exactly when) but there was a mass cull of wildlife in the area, which took a long time to recover. What is more likely is that pets will have to be confined indoors unless they have proof of vaccination, which will no doubt cause a run on vaccine because there aren't millions of doses readily available. That's why I've had mine vaccinated a few weeks ago.

A rabies outbreak is certainly a possibility - I know DEFRA vets who think it's only a matter of time now that there isn't a satisfactory titre test requirement

Yes my vet is convinced it is only a matter of time until we see it here, he finds it so sad when we have done so well until now.

I'd imagine all vets are worried because as happens overseas with rabies, they will have to be vaccinated - probably annually although I'm not sure about that.   I know my Canadian vet was.   It's going to change everything here if we get rabies in, unless it can be contained and fast.

I thought the protocol for Rabies vaccinations was 3 yearly in the UK

http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/specific_groups/veterinarians/staff.html

I searched this (because I was interested!) and found this link - I don't know whether it's a US website, or how up to date however.

It's certainly a US website; the spelling of 'Center' gives that away.