Pet Vaccines?

[TiffanyPartyOf6]

Okay, I'm not sure if this fits here but we brought home our new pup yesterday from the midwife LOL (yes, I said the midwife... our midwife bred her chihuahuas).

Anyways, we got the "extended nurser" of the bunch who nursed until almost 13 weeks? LOL.

She said something about how they don't vaccinate their pets and that got me wondering LOL. I don't vaccinate my kids. Sooo, where do I begin researching vaccine info for pets?

If you do/dont vaccinate your pet, why/why not?

[N8'sMom]

I stopped vaccinating my dogs a while back when I was researching vaccines for kids and found out all sorts of bad stuff about those as well. My dogs are healthier now than when we used to give them shots.

Also, my friend used to own a pet store and she always had her dogs' shots up to date. Well, she bought a really expensive pedigreed puppy and dutifully took him to the vet for the shots. The dog had a really bad reaction and started having seizures. She said it never recovered and she had to put it to sleep a few weeks later and she hasn't given any more shots to her dogs ever since. There's a lot of info out there on dog vaccines. The shots basically have the same ingredients as the ones for kids.

[angie7]

My dogs haven't been vaxed in 8 years, neither of my cats have ever had any shots. Start researching, you'll soon find out why we don't vax our pets. My SIL just recently lost her boston terrier to rabies vaccine reaction. Very scary and very sad, and happens a lot more then people think!

[phathui5]

We don't vaccinate our humans but we do vaccinate our cat. They get so few shots and the ones that are offered seem to be for things that are a big deal, like rabies and feline leukemia.

[peainthepod]

My chihuahua puppy had a terrible reaction to his first (and only) round of vaccines. He gets a rabies shot but I just learned that it only has to be administered once every three years in my state. So we'll do that and skip the others forever.

I lost a cat last year to a rare sarcoma. I found out later that it's a common vaccine reaction. The tumor was right over the injection site of her most recent vaccination.

[knucklehead]

I don't vaccinate my children because the majority of diseases that they may contract are fairly innocuous and self limiting, such as CP, measles, rotavirus even pertussis. More potentially serious diseases such as polio and/or diptheria are something that they have a negligible chance of actually encountering.

My dog's receive their puppy series and then that is it. Canine diseases like parvo, and distemper are fairly common and serious. I used to be a vet tech and saw my share of awful suffering and death from these diseases. I'm not sure how long dog vaccines last but I figure at least 10 years (correct me if I'm wrong) so I don't see the necessity of boosters, esp. every 6 months like some recommend for the parvo vaccine!

Interestingly enough it was my vet that got me started on the whole vaccine questioning. He told me that dog cancer was through the roof and many vets attribute it to vaccines. That is why I stopped vaccinating my dogs. I then had my son and he was vaccinated up to 6 months (sorry little guy) until a light bulb went off in my head and I asked myself why am I vaccinating my child if I don't vaccinate my dog? DUH!

So began my journey...

[Marsupialmom]

The only one we do is rabies---every three years or when the city reminds us which this time took 5 years. LOL

But anyway........I figured that one rabies shot does less damage than being put down because they didn't recieve it. It is really the lesser of two evils.

I remember years ago reading about how many dogs vacines are given way to often and rabies was top on the list.

[amnesiac]

There are some threads in the archives you might like to see:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...play.php?f=149

[Magali]

All 6 of my pets are unvaxed. Well, my newest puppy came to us with a first round of shots, but I won't be getting him any more. My 4 cats and adult dog are 100% vax free (as is my child). I know that the dog/cat diseases are oftentimes fatal, but I still won't risk their health with injecting vaccines into them.

[BedHead]

Our cats were vaxed as kittens and that's all they'll be getting. If they ever went outdoors they would get rabies and distemper, but they don't. I've read about a few pretty nasty side effects to pet vaccines.

[mamadelbosque]

What about livestock? I've been thinking about this every once in a while for the past couple years (ever since I researched vaxes for my DS) in regards to our dogs/cats... but now we have goats too, and they get vaxes mostly too.

[Kiddoson]

I give 1 round of distemper and rabies around 6 months when they are bigger. rabies again in a year, then that's it. I have 2 young horses that will get there first shots around 7 months but only for the fatal diseases, I will booster them in a month. the older horses I vaccinate every few years but again, not for all bajillian things the have out there that's for sure. our pets are overvaccinated too