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Originally Posted by MyTrixie143  I am so sorry to hear Barney isn't well. I hope all the tests come back good and that he doesn't have lepto. I am glad to hear he is feeling alright, poor little guy, give him a hug for me!!
How is the new lepto vaccine different from the old one?
Does it cover more strands?
Last I was told, lepto has several strands of the virus and the current vaccine only protected against one of those. So even if you got the shot you could still end up with lepto with the strands that weren't covered plus you still had the added worry of a reaction to the shot.
The local vets here don't give the lepto vaccine in toy breeds because of the dangers of a reaction to it. |
Thank you Tracey for your kind words and I will be happy to pass along a big hug to Barney which he will just love
The older vaccine for lepto only covered two of strains of bacteria. The newer vaccines from both pfizer and fort dodge/wyeth cover 4 strains. Two of the four strains now covered are those emerging in dogs in the United States currently. The older vaccine had a higher incidence of reactions but newer technology makes a cleaner vaccine so I'm finding info that says about 1% of dogs have reactions. The vets here all routinely administer the 4-strain vaccines. If your dog has had the DHLPP vaccine, the lepto portion in these combos is usually the 4-strain vaccine.
Even if Barney had been vaccinated, which he hasn't been in quite a few years, we would have to do this blood test anyway since there are other strains of the bacteria that also could cause disease.