hi i just thought i would let people know that on my street there has been a dog die last night of parvo,  she was 6 years old, i have been told there has been a few cases in mansfield clipstone area  nottinghamshire, my dogs have been vaccinated but i am still worried incase they get it , i am not sure what i should do,

Was the parvo confirmed S/H?

I can`t see why you should worry, even if its confirmed, your dogs been vaxed so you`ve nothing to worry about :)

ps theres nothing more you can do

When we had an outbreak of Parvo in our area it was killing fully vaccinated dogs,  my vet advised to stop walking them until it had all calmed down

>>>When we had an outbreak of Parvo in our area it was killing fully vaccinated dogs<<<

What does that say about the efficacy of the vaccines

Parvo can & does remain in the environment for up to a year, how does it calm down?

You beat me to it there Christine!

As a general note, I really wish there was a national database of confirmed parvo and other serious disease cases which the general public had access to so that people could be aware of the risks in their own areas.

Yes A, that`s be a good idea :)

What does that say about the efficacy of the vaccines

It says the virus mutate into new strains as they do. :(

I wonder if it was parvo, how was this confirmed?  There are quite a few viruses around with similarities to parvo but from what I've heard they haven't been when the dogs have been properly tested.

Whether this case is or it isn't Parvo is a very nasty disease that was responsible for many deaths in the 70s and early 80s and vaccination has helped to reduce that tremendously.  Here is what Intervet have to say on the subject.  As no vaccine is 100% quaranteed for any individual for various reasons it makes sense to be extra careful when we are made aware of an outbreak, or even possible outbreak, in the area for as long as is practicable. 

Yes I think the majority of people are aware of what parvo is.

Just highliting from that link.

>>You'll be pleased to know that some vaccines use a special strain (called C154) that sets the standard in terms of protection against canine parvovirus. It has proven protection against both types of virus (CPV-2a and CPV-2b) and offers a duration of immunity of three years. This means your dog is protected for a full three years against parvovirus.<<<

Protected for a full 3 years.

>Protected for a full 3 years

I think most people have that information already too :)

I do think the word parvo is bandied about too much though Isabel where cases are unproven (of course we don't know in this particular case) and it can cause huge perhaps unnecessary worry to people like the OP.

Then why haven`t the manufacturers made a vaccine to cover these *new* strains

According to a couple of virologists, no *new* strains of parvo have been established apart from the existing ones :)

Now Im confused. if its been long known that the vaccine protects for 3 years, why do vets give a booster of this every year? I always thought (before CD) that it didnt have quite a 12 mth protection, which is why when confirmed parvo struck around here about 20 ish yrs ago, I was off to the vet to vaccinate just short of the due date.

According to vaccine companies, they should only be giving lepto every year calmstorm.  Parvo/distemper/adeno is supposed to give protection for 3 years.  Did used to be given every year though before vaccine companies revised their guidelines fairly recently and I believe some vets do still give it annually despite this.

They don't, although if there was a serious outbreak in my vacinity I might consider taking it sooner rather than later to be on the safe side.  The receommendations are just that and a vet can use their professional judgement.
I think you may be getting confused with the Leptospirosis vaccine which is still recommended to be boostered annually.

Now Im confused. if its been long known that the vaccine protects for 3 years, why do vets give a booster of this every year?

I'm not so much confused by this as extremely angry, our old vet re-calls every year and gives all 3 irrespective of what the manufacturers advise.  This is what killed our dog Spangler.   Another case of bad practice.

Hopefully so far our new vet seems to be totally different.

As for the protection not lasting for quite 12 months - I think this is for lepto! 
Maria

I think tht the majority of vets still call for dogs every year, money in their pockets, me thinks :d

I think they are called every year because some vaccines are due every year.  Suggesting it is to do with money rather than welfare considerations would be no better than suggesting people don't vaccinate because of money rather than welfare considerations, not very nice :(

The ones that dont vaccinate but titre test instead are not saving money.......and the vet charges for these. i think it is a bit of a money making thing, if not needed for each year. Especially when you compare the actual cost of the vaccine to the bill you get for it. :)

>Especially when you compare the actual cost of the vaccine to the bill you get for it<

Even a cut-price vaccination clinic has costs to cover other than purchasing the vaccine.  A vet that didn't make money from his clients would not be able to keep his surgery open.

Of course, they are in business like any other, which means they need to make money to keep going. Last I heard, the vaccination its self was under £10 each.

The vaccinations are less than £10, well they are in Ireland anyway and as they are from the same manufacturers I'm sure that our vets pay the same.  Strange how the costs can be extortionately higher in some vets than others with even a £20 difference with local vets!

It depends in part on how many vets and staff the practice has to support.

I suppose vets are a bit like supermarkets in that respect, they have to cover their overheads and it is up to each practice how these costs are apportioned.

My friend in America pays $1.50 a shot! :(   I'm sure that it's cheaper to buy in quantity.

Oh yes, 5/6 yrs ago they cost a couple hundred pesetas in Spain, a quid or less Terrific mark up on them:rolleyes:

Then, if you multiply the number of dogs and cats vax in a year by the mark-up on the vax, and the 10 min max slot they take, its not bad ;)

Think how much higher their profits would be if they got everyone to titre-test! ;)

Yes JG, can see that, but it would save an unnecessary dose of vax though? Which is more to the point than the price, although £15-£25 per jab for 10 mins max work is a good top up ;)

Still less than a call-out fee for a plumber or electrician - and they don't even take your pulse (though perhaps they should after you get the bill!) ;)

If we call them out, then that's fair enough JG but most of the time, they see patient after patient every 5 minutes in the surgery! :rolleyes:  It takes no more than 5 minutes to take temperature and listen to the heart, look for clean ears and eyes, ask about worming/fleaing and selling more products regardless of the reply and give a subcut injection.  When I did used to vaccinate, my Vet would just say "OK Val?" and vaccinate without any sort of check. :(

Last year I took a friend and her dog to a surgery with 4 consulting rooms (always reminds me of a Whitehall farce!) and while I sat in the waiting room, every single client coming out was escorted by the nurse to the Hill's food stand and each one bought a bag of Hill's food to take home with them!  Not a surgery that I would consider using. :(

Have to say that I took a neighbour and his dog to my choice of Vet 3 weeks ago, out of surgery hours but during the day.  The 16 year old JR was on his last legs.  There was no nurse on the premises and so I helped with tests etc because the owner insisted on knowing what was wrong with his companion, rather than just accepting that the old boy was worn out.  We were there for an hour and a half before the inevitable deed was accepted and accomplished with great difficulty due to collapsed veins, shot kidneys, liver but strong heart etc! :(  We brought the dog home.  I saw the owner yesterday and he'd just received the bill - £100, which I thought was exceptionally good for an hour and a half of the Vet's undivided attention, blood tests and euth.

If it were possible to take a leaky pipe to the plumber the charge to mend it would probably be more like vet's consult fee - roughly £20 + VAT. A vet's call-out charge - like the plumber coming to the pipe - would be around £60 + VAT.

Your friend got a very fair bill. I was told today of a client complaining about being charged £106 for the vet to come to the house after hours to euthanase a large dog.

I pay £25 call out to the plumber here.  And when I had a leaking tap, he told me how to take the tap off, which I took to him.  He fitted 2 washers, took 55p from me and sent me home with instruction about how to put it back! :D

I had no problem paying £80 consultation fee for Homoeopathic Vet 10 years ago for an hour and half, including examination, tests, education for me and medication, which costs peanuts, plus telephone support and answering any questions that I had.

It's not earning a living that concerns me, we all have to do that.  It's "extracting the urine" and selling unnecessary stuff that winds me up. :(

We have a tame plumber like that too. They are to be cherished! :D Others will charge £50 call-out.

I don't think I have ever been at my vets for just 5 minutes, it takes that long to do the simplest of procedures let alone conduct all the Admin such as marking the records, calculating and taking payment etc.  Money taken during surgery hours, which can be very short, has to finance the estate costs for every hour of the day, all the ancillary staff, the on call staff, possibly expensive locums to meet the new EC directives on the limiting of staff working hours, when there may be no revenue actually earned in fact, or the time and staff spent checking and order new stock etc, maintenance and capital for high tech equipment that may only bring in revenue sporodically. It all adds up and at the end of the day the returns should be good because otherwise how can we expect the best applicants to come forward for the very demanding training before continuing in a demanding and stressfull job. 

Junior takes all the admin detail before you get to the Vet and takes the money afterwards.  And I expect the owners who use the expensive equipment to pay for it, not me! ;)  The same goes for the on call staff - if you call them out, then you need to pay a loaded fee -  who by the way are not well paid.  The Principle Vet and owner of the practice are the only ones who have a healthy bank account.  Junior Vets are supplied with a car, sometimes a flat and are paid so poorly that they can rarely can afford to get a mortgage! 

The only time I have every spent more than 5 minutes in the surgery with my dogs (except when working) was the time when the Vet killed my dog! :(

And we all have different experiences.

I expect the junior wants paying all the same plus a computer to calculate the payments etc as young people today cannot add up in their head :)  If expensive equipment was paid for purely by those that used it rather than spreading the cost also to those of us that might want to call upon it the future it would not be there for us when that unfortunate event does happen.
I am very sorry that you feel your vet killed your dog :( but I think most of us see them as an asset for our dogs health and I doubt many people will not call on a consultation of much longer than 5 minutes at some point, perhaps for an elderly dog even if they have been fortunate enough to have lived their lives without illness or accident, as I say even the most routine visits I have experienced have been double that at least.

I've learned an awful lot about how a vet's practice works over the past couple of months. (And it isn't the practice where I have my dogs treated! ;)) The receptionist/assistant post (ie mine!) is a shared post - at the moment three of us share the hours (and pay) of the working week. After September it'll be four sharing ...

I'd certainly expect to pay a share of maintaining or replacing high-tech equipment so that it was available in case I needed to use it, for example. The consult times are a nominal 10 minutes per appointment - but if it overruns people don't get charged extra. So the more people talk and ask questions the better value they're getting (but they might get glared at by the people waiting their turn)!

I don't know if you feel that you know them well enough JG - I wouldn't dream of ask such personal things - but when I mentioned how much I used to earn and how badly the junior Vets were paid in the practice where I used to work, to the just qualified (and brilliant!) Vet in my practice, she told me that she was paid minimum wage + her car and flat!  And of course, she also did emergency cover 5 nights a week for that flat rate.  That's the way it's always been! :(

It's certainly not a job you do for the money - it's got to be for love, because it certainly isn't an easy life. I've seen one vet in tears at the way she was spoken to at a housecall.

I would expect, like junior Doctors, that will be different under the new EC directives.  They are also benefiting from training and experience which will enable them to take senior posts and indeed businesses, if they can face the hassle , in the future.  So are you saying the partners should pay them more and pass the cost on to the customer? ;)

No, it's the way that it's always been and everyone knows that before they start their training. 
I'm saying that wages are not as high as might be assumed when considering the overheads of a Veterinary Practice . ;)

It may have been the way in the past but I think the hours will have to be reduced under the new directives, junior doctors can now only :rolleyes: work 48 hours a week.  Of course this will push up costs as senior vets or even locums will have to be used more.

It was 3 weeks ago that the Vet told me that she was on minimum wage and works 5 emergency nights!

A good argument for increasing fees then or sourcing revenue elsewhere such as food and accessory concessions :)

I would have no problem with any Vet selling the food that he considered best, even if opinions differed.  Unfortunately, it's always the one on which they make the most profit! :(

There is ample profit going into the Principle's bank account with unnecessary vaccinations, wormers and flea treatments at the cost of the animals' immume system.  But then that keeps the wheels turning and brings in more business.  :( 

But hey, it's a free country - just :) - and we all make our own choices based on our own experience.  Perhaps I've been involved with this field involving greater numbers than most with 100 quarantine, 100 boarding dogs, 60 boarding cats + owners' dogs.  And more recently with 250 grooming dogs coming in regularly at any one time. ;)

And this is now off topic.

Yes it is :)  Thats a lot of dogs but thinking that vaccinations etc are unecessary is a very personal choice.  My vet sees more and doesn't share it :)

Yes and of course the University Vet Hospital sees even more again - and Hal ain't buying it ;)

I think you could say that those who use the hi-tech equipment are paying for it - eg the fee for scanning.  Val's money could be put towards the non-slip floor - I'm sure she uses that. :-)

On a more serious note, I think some of the variation in fees is to do with the level of service provided.  I have seen veterinary practices in rural Ireland, where the facilities on offer were very limited and fees were much lower.  The practice I go to is more expensive than that but has qualified nurses, on-site lab testing, scanning etc. which I hope never to need again but am glad they are there.