I have two dogs with auto immune disease. Mother and daughter. The daughter was diagnosed two years after having her first litter as her seasons stopped. Because of possible hereditary disease I had her spayed and informed her puppy owners. (Grandma is fine with no problems whatsoever) My vet has contacted me to take her in for her booster.I only vaccinate every three years but am a bit concerned about vaccinating a dog with auto immune (thyroid) disease. Would appreciate your comments.

My ten year oldboy is hypothyroid, and has also suffered from ulcerative colitis and recurrent bowel polyps for several years. His three year booster was due in 2016, ( my vet has been advising the three year protocol since 2004), but she has advised against doing it as she believes that his two health conditions suggest an auto-immune problem. He is a rescue dog, and was bred in a puppy farm, so I have no knowledge of his parent's health status.

It's up to you of course, but how old is she because frankly if she's over 7 years, I'd stop boosters.    I have never boostered beyond about that age although when we started seeing rats around last Winter, I took my two in for Lepto boosters.   I'll have to see about the rats this Winter because mine are now 9 and 10 years, and would normally not be having any further boosters.

Lepto should be boostered annually btw as it dips over a 12 month period.   But again what you do with your girl(s) has to be your decision, depending on your situation.

Thank you. She is 6 years old so needs some thought.

Right, interesting and good to have a vet who believes in the three year protocol. Mine still calls them in 12 monthly auto immune or not.

U could titre but be aware only circulating antibodies will show .this doesn't  mean she isn't immune just that the antibodies  are effectively held in the memory cells which cant be tested and will only be active if a challenge is faced .ie in contact with the disease or a vaccinaion .this is often why vets arnt happy about using titres unlesw the dog has recently been vaccinated or been in contact woth the diseases.
If she has had previous vaccines and is now an adult there is very high chance further vaccines arnt necessary and she is immune .u can't boost immunity .

given she has an auto immune condition I would  not consider further vaccines. Even the manufacturer only recommend vacci ation for healthy dogs and vets should  know that.
Regarding lepto again should only be given in a healthy dog and not one I would use at all. Lepto 2 has a better records regarding vaccine reactionsthan the newer lepto 4
if u do decide to and as mamabas says will need to be done annually as it barely last a few months. Neither can a titer test be done for this .

Thank you so much for such a comprehensive reply. I need time to get it all straight in my mind. The fact that they are calling in a dog for vaccination who is not healthy is as you say  not  good.

is not an easy subject and one that does take time to decide on your own stance  I only vaccinate pups and no further . If the vaccines are done at a time that mothers immunity doesn't Interfere it has been proven that most dogs will.be immune for 7 years minimum and likely for life.research stopped at the 7 year point  .the wsava  take the stance of no more often than 3 yearly  not as is often translated every 3 years . Probably to cover everyone's backs as well as the revenue.  In this case I am referring to core vaccines excluding lepto whuch has been swept up by the bva as core .If u want to do more reading look at the research by Dr Jean dodds and Ron Shultz probably two of.the most knowledgeable specialist vets in immunology

Any autoimmune disease automatically stop a vaccines IMO.  It indicates a predisposition to AI stuff and some AI diseases can be extremely nasty, so there's no way I'd want to chance anything that could trigger one.

My view to Nikita. I don't vaccinate as explained but having two with serious allergies needing immunotherapy vaccines woild be a no no anyway .the body has enough to cope woth without the extra onslaught

> U could titre but be aware only circulating antibodies will show .this doesn't  mean she isn't immune just that the antibodies  are effectively held in the memory cells which cant be tested and will only be active if a challenge is faced .ie in contact with the disease or a vaccinaion .this is often why vets arnt happy about using titres unlesw the dog has recently been vaccinated or been in contact woth the diseases.

This is pretty much what my previous vets told me when I asked about titre testing rather than booster, at the ages my hounds were then.

Titres arnt worth less and definitely have a place imo but u need to understand what u might get and how and why it would affect your choice.as I won't vaccinate I wouldn't titres. A new pup I would vaccinate around 14 weeks when mother umunity is most likely to have waned and titred a few weeks later for confirmation of immunity.  Also.that means pup would only need one vaccine not two

Our recently departed boy was found to be auto immune many years ago & was advised by our then vet not to vaccinate again. I did for lepto one last time but, had such a reaction never again.
Recently had a rescue join us, had his pup vaccinations, but because he was late at 18 months his previous vets had been insisting to his then owner he had to begin again, he'd had one but I've not followed up with the second & he won't be having any more.

No way would I vaccinate a dog with auto-immune disease

Even the vaccine manufacturers' guidelines say that dogs should be 'healthy' when a vaccination is given. 

I don't vaccinate any of my dogs after puppy vaccines anyway - 1st year booster at the max! 

If you are that worried, get a titre test done to reassure yourself that your dog is still protected - but even if the titre test comes back saying to vaccinate, I wouldn't vaccinate a dog with auto-immune issues.  Memory cells won't show up in the titre test and it's likely the dog is still protected even with a negative titre test result.

Many thanks all. I will have a word with my vet who has now called both my auto immune dogs in for booster. Maybe I should suggest they do some research.

Is it possible it's an auto.matic recall ? And the dogs medical history has not been marked accordingly or they may be expecting u to agree to just lepto which is annual?
I wouldn't do any but I think u knew that .just trying to work out how the practice  may  operate

It probably is automatic but sadly, I wouldn't put it past a lot of vets to vaccinate regardless.  I knew a woman with a dog with autoimmune thyroiditis and the dog was still boostered every 18 months, at the owner's request and the vets never advised against it - it was news to her when I explained why it shouldn't be done.

Unfortunately u are probably right but one can always hope although we shouldn't need to

Facebook Replies:"Would you vaccinate a dog with auto immune (thyroid) disease?"

Jo Cartwright says:  Absolutely not.

Bernice Emanuel says:  No. I wouldn’t vaccinate a dog with health problems

Stephanie Wickers says:  No

Dawn Riddell says:  No. "Only healthy dogs should be vaccinated" is the first line on the data sheets in the Contraindications section.

It is certainly true that only healthy dogs should be vaccinated. I wouldn't go to talk it through with your vet. Vets have powers of persuasion that we never seem to be able to challenge. Just ignore the reminders and the ones which come again next year.