Vaccinations

[RockysMom]

Rocky is going for his rabies vaccine on Thursday (finally found someone who will do the 3 year vaccine).  Rocky is 18 months old.  Very healthy with the exception of a grain allergy.

They want to give him a raft of other vaccines beyond rabies (with the exception of Lepto as I told them no way no how) and I was just wondering which ones the experts here recommend.  The Hep B one is a bit of a puzzle for me.  I'm a nurse and understand the modes of transmission, but not sure just how a dog is going to contract Hep B easily.  He never goes to off leash parks as he is way too much of a loon and plays too rough (I'm afraid he's going to get eaten by another bigger dog  :shock:   But maybe I'm missing something here......  
 
They were also recommending the heartworm and flea and tick prophylaxis....but again, I'm a bit concerned about putting all these chemicals in or on his little body.  I just read a very disturbing report about the flea and tick solution you put on the back of their necks.......some animals had very serious reactions to it.  The vet gave me all these statistics, which quite frankly I didn't feel made a case for giving the heartworm treatment.....if I had the total population of dogs in the area they were talking about and figured out what percentage the 600 dogs infected represented, I doubt it would make a strong case for heartworm prophylaxis.....but again, I could be very wrong....and that is why I turn to all of you!!

Ultimately I want a healthy Pug.  If that means all these vaccines and prophylactic treatments then so be it....but I am not convinced!  Any advice would be very welcome.

[blanche]

Rabies is the only one that is mandatory--and I give the three year.  then there is the cocktail vaccine--DHPP which stands for distemper, hepatitis, parainfluenza and parvo.  Distemper and Parvo are killers in dogs and I do vaccinate for that when dogs are younger.  hepatitis and parainfluenza are less problematic.  The problem is finding a vet that will order JUST the distemper and parvo vaccines.  So we usually give the DHPP (soemtimes called DAPP).  Again, I only do those every three years and I don't do rabies and DHPP in the same year.
With a young dog, I usually do vaccinate until age 6 for DHPP (every third year) and after that I don't bother except for rabies and I do get titers done on Distemper and parvo.
I don't do any other vaccines--not lepto not kennel cough.  And I give a benadryl the night before vaccines and again 30 minutes before vaccines.
I do give my guys Revolution.  It's covers a host of problems including heart worm, fleas, ticks, intestinal parasites and mange.  Given the number of strange dogs I have coming in my house and how much time my dogs spend in a public dog park, I do use Revolution.  So far, I've never had an adverse reaction.  But I have had one with the heart guard tablets that they eat--this was years ago.

[pugmetender]

Blanche, what are titers?

Maureen

[blanche]

Blanche, what are titers?

Maureen

It's a blood test that checks whether immunity is still present.  If it is, then you don't need to vaccinate, if it isn't or is low then your dog is at risk of contracting the disease.

There's a fair bit of controversy about titers/titres and their efficacy--and I know that some vets do trust them and some don't.  For me, it's up to the owner to educate themselves about the whole issue of vaccinating and titreing to make an informed decision for themselves.

I'm VERY cautious about vaccinating in general, and paranoid about it with some of my dogs--Tank especially--due to allergies, reactions and the impact on immune systems.

[pugmetender]

Thanks, Blanche!

This forum has opened my eyes to a lot stuff about vaccinating that I wasn't aware of before.

Maureen

[blanche]

Thanks, Blanche!

This forum has opened my eyes to a lot stuff about vaccinating that I wasn't aware of before.

Maureen

There is a whole section on this forum on vaccines and medication.  It's worth reading through some of the old posts to learn about them.

Let me be clear that I don't think vaccines are wrong--I just think that we need to be careful about them and how often and which ones.

Parvo and distemper are horrible diseases and I've had dogs die in my arms from both over the years--usually puppies that were at risk for a variety of reasons.  
And I've shot my fair share of rabid dogs and wildlife on my dad's farm years ago.

So I don't want to make light of the actual diseases we vaccinate against.

[RockysMom]

Blanche:
Rocky weighs 16 or 17 lbs.  Can I give him 25 mg of Benadryl or should I give him half the dose?

Thanks for all the advice.  It is much appreciated!

[blanche]

Blanche:
Rocky weighs 16 or 17 lbs.  Can I give him 25 mg of Benadryl or should I give him half the dose?

Thanks for all the advice.  It is much appreciated!

25 mgs is fine.  And I usually schedule vaccines so I can hang around the vets for a bit after in case of a reaction.