How long do people leave between vaccinations?
Due to a personal loss, I did not get my boy's booster done last October when it was due.  My own vet is saying he has to start again and will only allow 1 month over, but I'm a little concerned about over vaccination (which has recently been in the press).  I can get him boostered at a local club - he is 7 years old and hasn't missed a booster until October.  Would 17 months between boosters be too long a gap?

My vet allows 3months over,so i leave it the 3months late each year.

My vet allows 6mths over the due date.

I'm exactly the same as goldie.  If I go over 3 months, my vet will only restart vaccs.  So I go almost the 3 months, and get the booster.

I don't know any vet that would just give a booster after 17 months.

Thanks - Just to clarify, it's not 17 months late, it would be five months late (actually about 4 1/2).  I know a number of people that don't booster once they've reached the age of 7 anyway.  I will check with the vet that is doing the boosters.  My own vet won't do it more than a month over which I'm a little concerned about.

I'd ask for a copy of the documentation that comes with all vaccinations for the manufacturers recommendations re vacine protocols as many are now saying once every 3 yrs not annually.

I've spoken with 3 breeders in the last 5 wks who've all lost puppies, 1 a whole litter others, single pups, within 48 hrs of their first vacinations. Non knew which product was used as the vets kept their cards until they'd administered the 2nd jab which is wrong in my book.  My vet hands over the card duly signed and labelled for each pup after their vaccine, if something goes wrong we then know which batch and product MAY have a problem.

My dogs are not done annually I follow manufacturer's recs not the vets, once my dogs are 7 they don't get any more so most have a max of 4 vacines including their 2 puppy ones, no booster the following yr, my oldest dog will be 16 in April 10 days after his pups are due and has never suffered any health issues.

Have a look at a recent post titled "Daily Mail asks if we are vaccinating our pets too often", there's quite a lot of info in that.

There's also a link to some research based evidence.

I think that vets are way to keen on advocating restarting the course and it is entirely unnecessary in a dog that received an initial course as a puppy and then it's first booster, the initial course of 2 injections is only neccessary in puppies due to maternal antibodies, boosters for all but lepto are only neccessary every 3 years.

>I think that vets are way to keen on advocating restarting the course

People don't realise that vets have to recommend following the manufacturers' instructions, or they leave themselves wide open to legal action. They cannot force you to restart, nor refuse to vaccinate at all: if you state clearly, for the record, that it's your personal decision to only have a single booster and that you accept any liability, then they will do it.

People don't realise that vets have to recommend following the manufacturers' instructions, or they leave themselves wide open to legal action.

That makes sense to me JG.  So I wonder why so many Vets are going against that and boosting dogs for everything every year? :(

>So I wonder why so many Vets are going against that and boosting dogs for everything every year?

It depends what brand of vaccine they use: not all vaccine manufacturers say the same thing. For instance, there was a shortage of one particular brand 12 - 18 months ago, so in the interim we had to use a different brand, where the recommended protocol is a full booster every year. It caused a lot of problems because we had to make sure we had enough of the same brand for all puppies to complete the initial course (they need a full booster after the first year anyway), but didn't want to overstock because we wanted to get back to our usual brand asap.

> I don't know any vet that would just give a booster after 17 months.

There is no scientific reason to give a dog with a mature immune system that has previously been vaccinated anything but a booster, whether the last one was a year, 3 years or 10 years earlier a booster is a booster is a booster.

In fact the vet in on of the dog papers wrote about this a year or so back and said this starting over again insisted on by many vets is tantamount to disgraceful conduct.

I also attended a seminar run by the South West Doberman club a few years ago, with a rep from Intervet present and this question was asked and the rep stated categorically that a booster was a booster and only one needed no matter how long since the last.

I have gone to my local vaccination clinic where they tried this on,a nd I argued it with them that I simply wanted a booster, yes I knew that the Lepto should have been yearly, but as it was a crap vaccine that didn't even give a years coverage, didn't cover the serovars most commonly found in the UK, and was the one most likely to cause issues, I would take my chances.

She gave up and gave me the booster as asked, I think one had been done three years earlier and another two.

I do the puppy vaccinations, the first booster, every 3 years and not at all once they are veterans.

I tend to try for 5 months over booster date (actually, if I could get away with it I'd be aiming to boost at 18 months), learnt recently my vets are now insisting on only permitting 3 months over. I acquired a dog recently and we had a stand down on this issue, the booster was due 4 months earlier! Have to say, my vet was the one who stood down :-)
Fortunately my vet does not boost everything every year.  Everything year 1, then lepto and parvo, then everything, etc.  There are many vets who will do everything year 1 followed by 2 years of lepto & parvo before everything again, then again who insist on everything annually. Why there is so much difference between vet practices only leaves you to imagine if costs are involved as opposed to the welfare of the dog!
You could go the route of titre testing ... if the levels show the full vaccination is required then that's what you can do, if not you've got a case to push just the single booster with the vet. I think works out more, cost-wise, than 2 lots of vaccinations, however, you're not pumping your dog with chemicals it may not require.

Brainless, thats the exact same regime I stick to.  It's such a shame we have to argue to get what we want, but sticking to our guns, they are our dogs at the end of the day, and taking the liability on ourselves, is the only way until things change.

>I think works out more, cost-wise, than 2 lots of vaccinations

That's why you know that vets aren't just recommending boosters for the money, when they'd earn more doing titre testing ...

I agree titre tests may cost as much or more than a booster but giving a vaccine is certainly quicker/easier in general than a blood draw and the labelling/sending off of samples/relaying results, maybe this is a factor.

More profit is made out of the booster than the titre test, even though the titre test costs a little more.  Most of the titre test cost is the lab fee with just  a few pound added on for the taking of the blood sending it off and then giving you the results.

My vet says every 3 years for a booster.  Titre testing should not be confused with a money saving routine.  It is to measure your dogs immunity and so you judge whether a booster is necessary.  It may end up costing more to titre test then have to booster but at least you are only giving a booster if its needed.  I follow this routine with the support of my vet: Puppy vacc - booster at 12-15 months then leave it for a year or so until the titre test results come back with a requirement to booster. My eldest dog hasnt had a booster for years now and the titre test says he still doesnt need one.
I went to a seminar last year with a specialist from London Vet School who said it is 'never' necessary to start a course of vacs again after a break.