Hi All,

I never have my dogs boosted every year just puppy shots and then at one year. If that particular bitch passes all health tests and proves herself as a good worker with a sound,even tempermant I usually get them boosted again 3 years after to ensure adequate protection for any future litters.

I am now wondering if this is necessary..... what do you experienced breeders do? Do you think a bitch that was vaccinated as a pup then at 12/15 months would still have enough antibodies to protect a litter she has at say 5 or 6 years old? I am torn..don't want to leave litters with a low protection level of antibodies but on the other hand I feel very uncomfortable with boosting older dogs.

I have discussed titre testing with my vet who thinks it is unreliable....not saying I agree with her but don't think I would get a lot of support with this particular practice if I went down this route.

Thanks for any opinions,
Ali

The sconce would say it's not necessary, once there is immunity then they will pass it on in the colostrum, same as if they had survived a virus.

I have boostered all my dogs bar one, always -I currently have 20 dogs ranging in age from 6 months to 12 years and I have owned close to 50 dogs in my life -obviously not counting pups that were sold. I have only ever had a problem with this one single dog, and she is one I would not have bred from anyway. I firmly believe sensitivity to vaccines is genetic, like so many other issues, so that this is why we hear more of it.

On the other hand I once bought a puppy from a breeder who didn't see a need to vaccinate every year, and my pup had distemper when I got her -this was proved by laboratory tests and it affected at least one more pup in the litter.

I have as many dogs as Marianne, and booster all of them annually.  I once had a bitch who I definitely wanted a litter from.  Her booster was due, and her season had started.  I had her booster done on the second day of her season.  Mated at day 10 and day 12.  Totally normal pregnancy and whelping.

Thankyou for the replies,

Brainless, do you vaccinate your bitches for breeding apart from the one booster at a year or do you personally feel a virus is covered for life? (I know the Lepto part is not).

It's not the worry for me on how the vaccine will affect the litter ...it is more concern for my bitches long term health,

Ali

I no longer vaccinate after first booster at all.

When we were breeding, I used to bring boosters up to date if needed, and wormed, my bitches before being mated.  For me that just made sense.   Yes, you could titre test, but I enquired about this once down to just two, and was quoted A LOT with the proviso too that they aren't totally reliable.   So I didn't bother (this was my two current non-breeding pets).    Mine are now on the 3-yearly schedule apart from the one for Lepto which I'm assured is still needed annually as it 'drops'.   This after the full sets of Puppy Vaccination + one full booster 12 months on.

I'd make sure boosters/worming is utd before mating.   My opinion.

>Yes, you could titre test, but I enquired about this once down to just two, and was quoted A LOT with the proviso too that they aren't totally reliable.   So I didn't bother

When I enquired about titre tests I got exactly the same response from my vet.  It worked out quite prohibitive to test all my lot. 

Thankyou Brainless...I think this is the route I feel happiest with.

Thankyou for the other opinions as well. What I find interesting is I always ask puppy buyers to quiz their vet on the necessity of yearly boosters and when vets are quizzed it is only then that they admit 3 yearly is enough (apart from Lepto). If not quizzed they happily shove complete vaccines into dogs every year and some inexperienced owners have no idea they are over vaccinating. I did used to titre test a couple of my bitches about 7 years ago when they were 4 or 5 years old and their levels came back as so high they would never need another booster! Strangely nowadays I find vets less enthusiastic about the titre testing.

I was also told by an old vet I used to see that as we have a pack of dogs (usually 10 or more) any puppies/young dogs we have will shed their vaccines into our environment and this will give our older dogs a natural boost......interesting theory and makes sense. He also told me the chemical/substance that is used in the killed vaccines is very nasty (can't remember what it was called...it was a king of preservative). Anyway, rambling now but all food for though......

Ali

>He also told me the chemical/substance that is used in the killed vaccines is very nasty (can't remember what it was called...it was a king of preservative).

It is the 'Adjuvants' that primarily cause the adverse reactions. 

These are chemicals used to make the immune system 'react' to invading foreign substances, intentionally the killed or modified live vaccines. 

Problem is that this can backfire and the dog develop sensitivities to other thing at the time it is vaccinated. 

This is suspected to be the reason for many allergies to common things like Grass, Pollen.

Quite a few 'nasties' in vaccines. Aluminium is one commonly used as an adjuvant. Formaldehyde, mercury......

A good read, amongst others is STOP THE SHOTS : Are Vaccinations Killing Our Pets? by John Clifton.

I'm not against vaccines per se, just the over vaccination that Vet's frighten unknowing clients into having when not only are they against manufacturers protocal/data sheet, but by giving unnecessary vaccines, they are actually going against the oath that they take as veterinary surgeons, to do no harm.

I personally used nosodes (not all agree, I know) having lost two dogs to vaccination and one permanently damaged. I get mine from Christopher Day the famous homeopathic vet (also an allopathic vet). He will happily conventionally vaccinate if his clients wish.

What he, and for the life of me neither I can understand, is that if only a small amount of a very potent vaccine is necessary to elicit a response, then why, are 1 kilo 8 week old puppies given the same amount as adult 90 kilo, for example, Great Danes? Other medications are calculated extremely carefully by weight and age.

Takes some thinking about at least.

>then why, are 1 kilo 8 week old puppies given the same amount as adult 90 kilo, for example, Great Danes?

Because it takes the same amount of wild virus to infect them too; a Great Dane doesn't need to contract more virus to become ill than a tiny dog.

We have had a couple of threads regarding vaccinations recently. Lots of differing opinions.
There is now a much cheaper in house titre test Vaccicheck  cost is approx. £25 -£35 depending on the vet and your location.
All medivet practises are now stocking it, and also a lot of Companion Care vets ( inside Pets At Home Stores)  there is also a lot of information on the Canine Health Concern website.

http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/cgi-bin/board/topic_show.pl?pid=1400390;hl=Vaccination#pid1400390

If the link does not work just do a search for Vaccinations and quite a few threads come up.

Thankyou all the info......yes Brainless, that is the chemical the vet mentioned...I remember now.....why are vets doing this (apart from the obvious income).

I did not know how the connection worked between vaccines and allergies before your post....I do know years ago I had a terrier who suffered terrible skin allergies which I tried everything for.......it was only on seeing a holistic vet who told me to not vaccinate him again that he started to improve and then lived until 17 with no itching whatsoever....rambling again.....