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Originally Posted by Ellie May  I hate that whole rabies shot thing with the dose being the same for big and small dogs. That is ridiculous.
Ultimately you have to do what you are comfortable with. I strongly believe that vaccinating every year causes a lot more harm than good. Most people won't see their dog "reacting" to a vaccine and that is good. Something has to be taken into consideration though. There are disease (particularly hemolytic anemia) that have been linked to vaccines. It is a horrible disease and if I can prevent it in Ellie by not vaccinated so often, I will do that. It also doesn't matter what most vets think to me because some of the major vet organizations/schools are going to every three years. That makes a lot more sense to me. Miss Ellie had a very severe reaction to the lepto vaccine and could have lost her life because of it. The disease is serious but so is the shot. That shot also doesn't protect against all strains and is ineffective (atleast the old shot) in about 30% of dogs. It is really something you have to spend HOURS  weighing like everything else (including food, toys). It does get old.
Titer tests measure the number of times the blood has to be diluted to see antibiodies. It is true that there isn't an exact number/reference range that people are comfortable with but I've heard some say 1:5 and some say 1:32. Most titer readings come back way above that at over 1:1000 so there is no doubt that the dog is protected. Ellie's distemper reading came back at 1:16 and she will be vaccinated against just that this year. |
I'm sorry to hear that your baby had a bad reaction to the shot. This is all so scary to have to make these kinds of decisions. I was hoping that my vet would have told me that they don't need to vaccinated so often, but she didn't. I see that different vets think so differently about the shots. I called two other vets in my area and they both also recommended getting the shots. I hope they are making different recommendations by this time next year.
You are talking about long-term effects of having these vaccines, right? That worries me even more. Next year I am going to consider getting the titer test done first.