Vaccine against Lyme Disease

[BellarousasMom]

I went to the vets to pick up some flea and tick ointment and noticed on their marque they are advertising these. I'm thinking about getting Bella vaccinated. It is two vaccines about 25.00 each. But we heard that Lyme disease is really hard to treat in dogs. It is April and my husband has already found 4 deer ticks on him, and I woke up at 3 am this morning with a "regular" tick crawling on me. Bella sleeps with me.

I would appreciate any thoughts or advice on this. Thank you.

[MinniesMom10]

What are the risks associated with the vaccine? Honestly it does not sound like a bad idea if you have alot of ticks around you. I know there will be alot here in Missouri as well as fleas.

[Britster]

I am not sure how I feel about this vaccine yet.

Jackson tested positive for Lymes last year (we have a lot of ticks here in MD) and he began limping as a symptom of it. He was treated with 30 days of antibiotics and was back to himself after 6 hours of starting the antibiotics and pain meds. He was tested this year and the test came back negative, so according to that, he no longer has Lymes disease. So, in my case, it was treated really simply and easily. My moms dog also "had" Lymes disease for 4yrs and lived perfectly fine.

I believe simply testing positive for it doesn't necessarily mean they HAVE lymes disease. I don't know, the whole thing confused me. But my vet never advised me to get the Lymes vaccine and never asked me about it, etc. I don't know how much it would actually work and if it would be worth it. It still is a kind of a new vaccine and it tends to make me nervous.

[BellarousasMom]

Apparently the predictions here in Indiana is, a bad year for ticks.
I found one in Bellas ear tonight. Luckly it was still alive
but attached. I will do some research on this vaccine. My
vet didn't say anything, I had inquired since they had it on
the marque. But after finding the one tick on her, I'm starting
to consider it.

[tjdmom]

I choose not the get the vaccine as there are alot of bad reactions to it and it does not work 100% of the time either however, it can cause Lyme like reactions that can't be cured so I just make sure I check them over really good after walks and hope for the best but I think we all have to make our own decisions.

[xoxStephie]

In my experience Lyme disease is not hard to treat. My dog had it a couple years ago... He started favoring one of his legs so we brought him to the vet and she knew almost immediately to test for Lyme. He was back to running jumping and everything with in a day or two. If the vaccine supposedly has bad reactions of whatever I dont think it would be worst the risk... Just keep checking for ticks and treat your yard. Since Lucas got Lyme disease my mom has started putting special stuff on the grass. Totally pet friendly and works pretty well considering we have a good about of woods and wildlife in our area.

[jacquelinebabco]

I vaccinate all 4 of my dogs for Lyme. The vet and I feel it's worth the expense. None of my dogs have had a reaction from it.

[107barney]

We live in New England and the deer tick is a real problem. Nevertheless, I have never vaccinated for Lyme. Our dogs are tested annually for Lyme and have always been negative.

[beader]

I get a lymes shot for Cooper and he hasn't had a reaction from it. Watching them hurt from lymes is far worse than the shot.

[jp4m2]

This is an interesting article about Lyme.....

Dr. Schoen–Lyme Disease: Fact from Fiction


Kris Christine has posted about this in this link with a lot of info....

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...inate-not.html


A safer alternative is you could spritz your pup when he goes out to help repel the bugs....

Natural Flea Control and Tick Remedy. Official TripleSure Site. Flea and Tick

[BellarousasMom]

Thanks for the info. I will be rereading it again. One of the vets that work out of one of the other offices works more on the holistic side medicine. I might even call her and get her input. And do alot of praying about it. When the weather warms up and stays, I will be getting her hair to a shorter cut, that will make it easier to keep her in check.

[AlicetheYorkie]

I'm in North East PA and we have alot of deer ticks here and Lyme desease in dogs is common, but I choose not to use the vaccine for a few reasons.

The vaccine is not 100% effective (I think something around 80%)and I try to do really minimal vaccinating. You will have to repeat it every 6 months or annualy (depending on whether your vet used intranasal or injection).
Is use Frontmine Plus every 28 days during tick season and if the dogs are going to be going somewhere with a higher risk of picking on up, I also put a Virbac Tick Collar on them (it's completely safe to use in combination with Frontline) IF I didn't have cats, I would probably use Advantix instead since it repels them as well as kill, but that's too risky since my cat plays with the dogs.
I check them carefully daily, and since using the collar (when we're camping mainly) I haven't seen one on them.
If they do happen to have one attach, the Frontline (if administered properly and timely) kills it before it can transmit any disease.

***Here's the big one - ticks can transmit 4 different deseases to dogs - the other one that is prevailant in my area is Ehrlichiosis and as far as I know, there's no vaccine for that.
Since Lyme isn't the only tick carried desease to worry about, I feel that prevention and monitoring are necessary anyway.

I get them tested for Lyme annually and if it's caught quickly (luckily
never personally had a dx in any of my dogs), it's actually not difficult to treat - but if a dog does contract it, they should continue to be tested annualy since this is not a desease that will necessarily "go away" completely, the levels of it are just highly reduced, sometimes to the point of disapearing by a round of Doxycycline.

www.virbacvet.com

Here's a link to the collar I use when we go camping in addition to the Frontline. Alot of vets sell it, but you can usually pick it up at most pet stores.

[chachi]

why isnt it good to use advantix around cats? I use advantage so Im just curious

[Britster]

Originally Posted by chachi

why isnt it good to use advantix around cats? I use advantage so Im just curious

K9 Advantix is highly toxic to cats.

I use Frontline in the winter and Advantix in the summer (it's the only thing that works for us). Thankfully, I don't have cats. Though my dad does but they never come in contact with the dogs.

[AlicetheYorkie]

Originally Posted by jp4m2

This is an interesting article about Lyme.....

Dr. Schoen–Lyme Disease: Fact from Fiction


Kris Christine has posted about this in this link with a lot of info....

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...inate-not.html


A safer alternative is you could spritz your pup when he goes out to help repel the bugs....

Natural Flea Control and Tick Remedy. Official TripleSure Site. Flea and Tick

Interesting reading, thanks for posting these links I'm assuming you use the natural repelant? Are you in a area where ticks are prevaliant?
I'm very comfortable with Frontline since working for a partially holisitic vet that's what he recommended and we had drug reps from each co. that manufatured flea and tick controle give numerous presentations to us, and I feel that I've learned frontline is the safest If I could get away from the addition of the virbac collars for repelling the ticks when camping and use this instead, that would be great