How long overdue does a booster have to be before a dog has to be started again on their vaccinations?

Am getting quite miffed here, I know Opi has to be started again as she's two years late :rolleyes: but of the others, Remy and Soli are both a month late and River is 2 months late.  It's all because I'm broke, and Petplan have taken a stupidly long time sorting a claim which would've covered it (the fees I'm claiming were paid when I had some money).  I've just spoken to them and apparently the claim was dealt with and closed on August 31st the blokey I spoke to is having someone chase it up and sort it within 48 hours.

Anyhoo, I digress.. is it down to the individual vet as to whether I could get away with just boostering 3 of the dogs or is there an industry standard?  The big problem is that I need to board them on Oct 7th.  If I can get them boostered I can board 3, Opi will just have to come with me (luckily she's the best behaved :p) because I don't have enough time to get her the second jab before my trip.

I think the manufacturers say that if they're more than 3 months late they need to be restarted. If I were you I'd get River done asap.

I don't know if it varies from vet to vet but I usually leave 18 months between boosters and have never had to start again. Arnie this year should have had his booster in February but I didn't get him done until june. No starting again, just the booster. I don't boost Otto now but again, used to leave it for 18 months, no problems with him either.

I think it depends on your vet?

It is 3 months :)
If you are in financial difficulties then think about going to the PDSA maybe :)

Lucy
xx

The PDSA donnot pay for routine vaccinations or wormers.
Lea :)

A dog over 12 weeks of age nee3ds only one set of vaccinations to be covered, there is no need for a two shot course, but seems to be used as a method by soem vets to ensure people boost yearly.

This I was told at a seminar by one of main vaccine company reps.

The reason pups get two sets of shots is in case of maternal immunity stopping the first one being effective.

I'll second that B, only 1 booster required over 12 weeks....and no need for restarting in adult dogs whatever that means....dare I say a double shot...

i was also told 3 months late max, the PDSA do now do injections, boosters, flea and worming treatment and also spaying for a cheaper price (you have to pay up front) but to have any animal treated you have to be recieving either housing benefit or council tax benefit and you have to take in proof, they also do spot checks to make sure the animal lives at where they are told they live. I know of a couple of people who think its ok to take their elderly aunt along to the vets with then because auntie is on benefits and they are too tight to pay for treatment

>I know Opi has to be started again as she's two years late

Snap!

I'm 2 years late aswell,due to never having the money to get it done,plus i have all the worries in the back of my head of the things that can go wrong with over vaccination.
Howeeever,the vaccine protocol is 3 yearly now, so really we have another 12mths to get it done.

As for having to start the whole vaccine schedule again I have not heard of that... My vet says that they just need the 1 booster no matter how late,so i wouldnt be risking starting again,i would just get the one booster done.

Thanks all.  I'm going to book them in in the next few days, Dad is being gracious enough to lend me a few quid to do it and with Petplan getting their hineys (hinies? :p) into gear over my claim I shouldn't be too out of pocket.

Opi isn't late through lack of money, that's a very recent thing - she wasn't done last year simply because I forgot!  She was due last August, which was smack in the middle of a lot of trouble trying to sell dad's house and me trying to work out where (and how) I was going to live so it completely slipped my mind.

Good news that I don't have to start again - it was my old vet I heard that at, they also said it about my last cat (she'd had her first lot at 5 months then never again, she was 9 when I asked).  If my new vet try and make me start again I will query (sp?) it, it'd be better all round if I can board Opi along with the others for quite a few reasons.

You never have to start again - fact!

If you have missed a booster and you are going to re-booster then one is all it takes!
Only one is ever needed for parvo/distemper for puppy jabs if given after the maternal antibodies have waned (12 weeks and over) and 2 for lepto as it is not a live vaccine.

So if your dog had puppy jabs and none since then he/she would still only need one shot to cover all above.  I've done a lot of research on this after my last dog died from a reaction to his booster.

I have given Jasper his puppy shots and I won't be boostering but titre testing to see if one is acually needed!

If you need to put them in kennels try and find one that will accept a titre reading - also, a booster is not necessary every year if you look at manufacturers guidelines it is every 3 years (apart from lepto)  which is a whole different kettle of fish.  The vaccine used for lepto in the UK only covers 3 strains and not the strains found in this country - and only protects between 7-9 months anyway so not really worth having :(

Im lucky my vets do a deal if you pay a additional £60 when having them vaccinated they will be covered for life, so when my dogs vacc's are due i dont have to worry wether i have the money or not i just pop them to the vets give them my card and then they have there vacc.

The only reason that two vaccinations for parvo, distemper and hepatitis are given to puppies is in case the first is compromised by maternal antibodies.  Therefore it is clear that no adult dog needs to be given two vaccinations for these diseases - and I have had this confirmed in writing from Intervet.

I get very annoyed at vets using the threat of dogs needing double vaccinations at a higher cost unless single booster vaccinations are kept up to date - I had such a letter from my own vet quite recently.   Maybe this is ignorance of the facts on their part but if I can find the truth, surely so should they?

I would suggest that anyone being told that a double booster is necessary should ask their vet why, bearing in mind the information above.

Yep it was Intervet who stated those facts at the seminar I attended on vaccination.

I have found this thread very interesting, I always used to get my dogs boosters done every year and they were always at the vets for something, Then i stopped boosters and i haven't had any of the labs in the vets for four years, apart from the odd injury but no illness. I also feed raw and have found they are much healthier. Now I have got two bassets, one of which I have only had 5 weeks and she is just over 6 months she had her first vaccine (procyon) on monday so am I right in thinking that she is now covered, no need for the second???

I work in a vets as a receptionist and we will give the full, two course vaccine to any dog that is 3 mths over the booster date and we are told to say that if they don't have the full couse we can't guarentee thier dog will be covered (which i know is not true) but they do only charge the same price as a booster so not making money, but why do they insist on over vaccinating :rolleyes:

> we are told to say that if they don't have the full couse we can't guarentee thier dog will be covered

But does that mean that the owner doesn't have to take the full course if they don't want to, and that a vacc certificate would still be accepted at a kennels?

When Jasper was a puppy he had his one and only shot for parvo/distemper after 12 weeks and the lepto was a couple of weeks later so he did not have 2 shots for everything (as is the normal practice at about 8 and then 10-12 weeks).  We had a vaccination certificate which indicated he was covered so could actually go into kennels.

What is interesting we have just enrolled on a dog training course for both my dogs, and I received the info in the post yesterday and at the bottom it said 'please bring your vaccination certificates with you'   I phoned and explained they don't get vaccinated every year and so Jasper hasn't got a certificate and the reply was 'and neither do I vaccinate after the puppy jabs, but we have to say that so  we are not held responsible if anyone's dog becomes ill', they went onto say they had seen so many dogs become poorly that were vaccinated every year.

It is about time we all changed our thinking and realised we don't get vaccinated every year so why the heck do our dogs???  I'm just amazed that the majority of vets still haven't realised either

Nikita - we had this the other day, dog overdue by 3 yrs, vet would do first one (as this was essentially a booster) and write in the vaccs book '2nd due in 3 weeks' and leave it up to the kennels to decide if they would take it, apparently they said they would but I don't know the outcome, I think that maybe not all kennels would and the dog would have had to be over vaccinated

I'll have to add here that our rescue dog Henry who we adopted in June was vaccinated before we adopted him, just one shot and his vaccination card indicates this and kennels will accept it - so this is knowing he has only had one shot and not a course.  I think if you explain to the kennels that only one is needed and if necessary ask intervet to write to you confirming this.

We have to realise it is not the kennels but the local councils that insist on this for them to continue with their licence - and that all boils down to big business and the vaccine manufacturers and politics etc etc :(  and I could go on but won't as it has been said a million times........

Also worth checking with your local kennels if they will accept titre tests certificates - some do :)

They won't accept cards saying the next is due, the dogs have to be fully up to date.  As annoying as that is!  I've already had to switch kennels because of this madness - the last place has suddenly started insisting on every dog having the kennel cough vaccine, even though it isn't all that effective.  Or even covers all the strains.  And I can't afford another £80 on top the booster costs.

I'm not going the titre test route - I realise it can be better to avoid over-vaccinating, but money is tight enough without taking the risk of paying for titres only to find that any or maybe even all of the dogs need a booster anyway.  The car's just cost me £150

They won't accept cards saying the next is due

Henry's card just states the date of vaccination and as that happened in April then he will be covered until next April, the cards don't indicate when the next vaccine is due.  At least the ones I have don't.

It is a crime in my opinion that the kennels have to insist on vaccination being yearly - but it would take a whole deifferent way of educating from the vets to the majority of people that they are not necessary every year and should be a 3 year gap minimum :( 

It isnt the kennels that insist, it is the insurance companys that insure the kennels. The insurance would be nul and void if they took in unvaccinated dogs.
Lea :)

I think you will find it says up to date vaccinations, as the vaccine manufacturers now say three years is the protocol, I don;'t see how they can say anything if the dog has been vaccinated within that time for the major diseases and should only require Lepto and Kennel cough to be within the year, and maybe Para influenza (not sure the protocol/longevity of that vaccine).

Well, the temptation to type a string of curse words is ever so strong!  Just got back from the vet with Soli and Opi (round two with Remy and River is this afternoon), and the vet wouldn't just booster Opi, she insisted on starting again.

I did ask why, and she explained that you have to keep up with annual boosters because the white blood cells "forget" their immunity without the reminder of the attenuated vaccine.  Oh, and that means "killed", basically.  I did have to resist the urge to highlight my biology A-level, and the anatomy/phsyiology part of my current course (and the same on my BSc) and that I would understand the complicated words, considering that a lot of her clients probably wouldn't!

I also resisted asking how that would affect those of you who booster every 18 months, or 2 or 3 yearly, though I may ask this afternoon. I am very irritated though - I now have to negotiate driving 200 miles with Opi, staying somewhere for the night (though I should be able to stay with my brother), and having her with me while I visit - no trouble for him and family as Opi knows them and they have a dog she grew up with, but the friend I should be staying with wanted a girly afternoon out (as did I).  So that sucks.  And, I'm supposed to be meeting another friend in London for lunch the following weekend - but Opi'll be with me then, too.  AND, I'm supposed to be bringing a car full of another friend's stuff back with us on the first run.

Why oh why can't vets get up to date, and why oh why couldn't I just not be laid off right before all my bills are due?    Then she'd have been done in time.  Now she won't be sorted till two days after everything happens.

I sugest you go online to the protocols section on the site of the vaccine you are using and show it to yoru vet.  Or go to another vet.

This probably fits the bill it is the datasheet for the vaccine I think http://www.intervet.co.uk/Products_Public/Nobivac_DHPPi/090_Product_Datasheet.asp

I think this is the bit we ahve all been talking about "Primary coursevaccination:

A single injection should establish active immunity to canine distemper, infectious canine hepatitis and disease caused by canine parvovirus infection in dogs of 10 weeks of age or older."

As only one shot is required to establish immunity to the main diseases there cannot be a justification to have to give two in adult animals that have already been imunised before.

Even with the parainfluenza they only advise yearly boostering because they don't know how long immunity wil last.

Thanks.  I'll check it's the same one and print it off, and take it to the vet this week.  I really don't want to get Opi injected again if I don't need to.

Your vet sounds as though he or she could do with some re-training or revision on vaccines/boosters.
It really has annoyed me that she willingly puts dogs at risk by over-vaccinating.  You need to walk away from this vet and find a decent one - quickly.

Couldn't agree more. 

Another prime example of this vet over-vacinating malarky...:rolleyes:

There is no justification whatsoever to 'restart 'a course of vac, i.e a double vac, in an adult dog.

I've had an email from the manufacturers of the vaccine - my lot are on the Quantum 7 vacc - saying that in adult dogs, overdue animals need to be restarted with a 2-shot course.  I don't buy it but unfortunately, it doesn't give me anything helpful to pass on to the vet.

Quantum 7 is a live vaccine, isn't it?

Can't think why they would instruct a 2 shot course for overdue adult animals unless for cases with vaccination status unknown.  There is an argument to say that all this over-vaccinating was to ensure as many dogs were covered as possible.  In other words, if the first one doesn't work then the second one will.  This also supported a case for annual vac.  Vac sometimes doesn't take, however, on the other hand dogs that have a certain number of circulating antibodies at the time the vac is given, the antibodies neutralise the vac and no further stimulating of memory cell immunity has occurred.  I suppose there really isn't a wrong or a right here when vac blind just vets/peoples views and what they feel is acceptable.  I'm very much against over-vaccinating which is why I titre to determine the immune response rather than an antibody count.  My 2 were titered in 2004 and based on the results and an informal chat with Hal Thompson at Glasgow uni, we decided no more vac.

Whe we had our rescue dog in June his history was unknown, he had ONE vaccination from the kennels/vets and a certificate showing he is covered for everything - this is regardless of his previous vacciation history!

Nikkita if you do not change vets then you will just be over vaccinating and only you can make that decision.

I'm not saying I agree with double shots in adult dogs with unknown vac history and not all vets re-start a course in a dog with an unknown vac history.  I don't agree with over-vac full stop.

But I can see why some may feel it is edging on the side of caution in case the 1st one doesn't take without a titre to prove otherwise in a dog with an unknown vac history.  

I can understand it from that point of view - that's why I didn't question Fletcher having the start course, as I'd only been told he was vaccinated as a pup but never received the card.  But Opi has been vaccinated from 8 weeks, it's only last year's booster she missed.

Thing is the only reason two jabs are given is in case of maternal antibody interference which doesn't apply to older dogs.  As I understood it some dogs will just not take a vaccine no matter how often it is given, so if it doesn't take then another isn't going to make it take???

>As I understood it some dogs will just not take a vaccine no matter how often it is given, so if it doesn't take then another isn't going to make it take???

That can happen certainly but not necessarily, vac may not take for any number of reasons when given at a particular point in time in a particular individual.  Stress being a case in point.  If the 1st one doesn't work, the 2nd one should or vice versa.

1 vac may stimulate a certain number of circulating antibodies (max immune response at a particular point in time with 1 vac).  Give a second shot 2 weeks later when the immune response has reached its peak, in theory a further booster may stimulate a further immune response indicating more stimulating of cellular memory immunity.   It's the immune response and those memory cells that are important in immunity. 

On the other hand, it may not work that way of course because the antibodies from the 1st vaccine may neutralise the 2nd vaccine and no further stimulation of memory cells has occurred. 

But this is all theory and problem is, is there are just no hard or fast rules.  It's difficult when vaccinating blind.  No one really knows whether a vac has taken or not without a measure.