[Ellie May]

I will TRY to answer this. Deworming adult dogs isn't always necessary. It is acceptable to do a fecal check and decide from there. Ellie has only been dewormed once as an adult and that was on the advice of an internist for a health issue. We use interceptor though which protects against one thing that Heartguard doesn't, whipworm. Heartworm preventatives do kill worms.

Bordetella (kennel cough) is something I have never had Ellie get. Her vet office highly recommends it but since she is so sensitive she is allowed to skip it. This is something you might want to give if your dogs go to a groomer, are going to be hospitalized, go to petstores and are allowed to sniff other dogs/walk on the floor, or go to dog parks. It is not an extremely serious disease but takes awhile to go through all your dogs which it will do and I hear it is miserable.

Rabies is, of course, required by law, so it doesn't matter what I think of it.

Lastly is the combo shot DHLPP-C (distemper, hepatitis, leptosporosis, parvovirus, parainfluenza and corona virus). Distemper and parvo are very important. Lepto, unless you are an area with an outbreak, is not a good idea for small dogs. It can be very dangerous (Ellie went into shock probably from his one), Parainfluenza is similar to kennel cough and isn't what I'd call necessary. Corona is more of a puppy problem and it is basically a worthless shot from what I have read. Hepatitis is sort of important but I don't think it lasts for three years (I could be wrong about this). I don't worry about this one.

You should all know though that I think vaccinations are used way too often and I believe they are causing a lot of damage. I would only get what you see as necessary, so you may want to hear others point of view. I believe it is the American Animal Hospital (or another really big organization) who is going to every three years for most shots.

Here is what we are doing since Ellie is so sensitive and I don't like vaccines.
Rabies every three years to comply with the law.
DHPP every three years with titers for distemper and parvo the two years she doesn't get it. Some people feel titers aren't necessary. They probably aren't but our vet office is pretty insistent on shots so this is an alternative. Ellie was low on distemper this time and she will be vaccinated for just that (not in the combo) this year.

I hope this helps.