To Vaccinate or Not Vaccinate?
 

Both of my pups are over a year old now and Derby just went into the Vet for his annual check up and 3 yr vaccinations. They gave him his rabies and the distemper parvo vax as well. Sent us home with more Heartgard Plus and said he was good for 3 yrs in regards to vaccinations. He was so tired for about a day afterwards due to the vaccinations. Then over the next few days his right shoulder where the rabies vaccination was given he developed a hard bump so back to the vet he went and was on clavamox for 10 days. It has since healed and is all better. I can't believe getting vaccinations for these little guys is such an ordeal. Makes me wonder if they should get them at all....some of my friends say that they have read studies that vaccines actually cause cancer in some cases.:eek: Derby is 4.8 lbs and Jockey who will be due for his shots in a few months is 3.6lbs. This worries me!

Please let me know what your experiences have been with these vaccinations and whether you do or don't vaccinate every 3 yrs and why.

Thank you so much. I just love them so much as we all do and want to do what is absolutely best for my little boys.:):aimeeyork:aimeeyork

It's a great start that your vet only does them every 3 years.
Certain ones I'd give and certain ones I wouldn't.

Rabies should never be given on the same day as any other vaccine though.
You also don't have to give them every 3 years (except rabies by law).
You can titer or you can give pup shots, one year boosters and then never again for the rest of them which most vets won't support yet because the research is still being done.

Thank you. Just to clarify, so that I understand....they should get puppy shots when they are pups....which they did get. Then at 1 year they get the boosters for everything and then nothing more after that?

The ones that need to be done are the core vaccines (rabies, distemper, parvo and hepatitis). All others are non-core and depend on your area. The core vaccines they should get as pups, then one year later, then either every three years (like your vet is doing) or you can just titer yearly after the one year boosters or you can just stop given the core vaccines altogether (except rabies). The stopping after a one year booster thing is research that a lot of vets haven't seen or don't agree with yet, so that may not go over too good.