[lil fu fu girl]

Originally Posted by mk97

I've worked at 2 vet clinics--the last one, the Vet raised yorkies-we used Pfizer vaccines and started with the DHLPPCV at 6 weeks, boostered it every 4 weeks until 18-20 weeks--in all the many litters of pups we did, we didn't have any allergic reactions. Lepto is a nasty disease and can kill your pet--most allergic reactions show within an hour--so schedule your tyke early in the morning and hang at the clinic to make sure there won't be any reaction(and if there is, you are there and it can be treated right aways). The clinic I work at now-she uses a DAP vax(which is a 3 year) and separate lepto, Bord, and 3 yr Rabies--my girls weigh 4.2lbs and 3.8 lbs--they got all 4 vaccines at the same time this week, all is well. Was it in the back of my mind--4 shots is alot at one time?? Yes-but I've seen what lepto and not vaccinating for it can do to an 80+lb lab, I can't imagine it in a 4 lb yorkie and what the outcome may be. I think it's a personal decision--but know that we've seen alot more cases of lepto and if your vet thought it wasn't in your pet's best interest-they wouldn't reccommend it. Good luck to all.

Excellent post!
I give mine the lepto shot (solo) as well, due to the current outbreaks in our area. I can, most definitely, understand the concern surrounding the shot in respect to the anaphylactic reaction that it produces.

However my interests lie in the undiagnosed cases where animals have the disease without their owners knowledge. In these cases, the infectious spirochetes target the liver and kidneys specifically, and in numerous cases do irreparable damage to both these organs. The Michigan 2007 study documented 25% of their control group of pups, which did not have the vaccination, still had acquired antibodies; which means that these pups had been exposed to leptospirosis without the owners knowledge, and without treatment.

My queries and research currently, have been directed into questioning the abnormal quantity of cases of Liver/Kidney disease which are being diagnosed in our pups do to unknown reagents. Could in fact, lepto be the underlying cause of the explosion of these two chronic diseases? To date, the leading cause of kidney failure in dogs is CIN (Chronic Interstitial Nephritis), and CIN is one of the major chronic illnesses perpetrated by the Leptospirosis infection.


[QUOTE=dwerten;3100929]this was very interesting - vets get titers but then they are controversial for dogs ??

Thanks for posting, definitely an interesting view! Will have to research their site.

Ellie Mae, I have been researching through the AVMA archives to try and find any clinical research documenting permanent disabilities caused by the vaccine, however, as of yet I have not.