Vaccinating Pets

[zen_monster]

I recently brought home a 2 month old lab/husky puppy from the pound. She had her first round of shots before I got her, and is due for a booster March 1and her rabies on April 1.

I don't vaccinate my ds and am inclined not to immunize the puppy, with the exception of rabies, which, I believe, is required by AZ law.

I don't do boosters with the other pets, but should the initial vaxes be given? I look forward to your feedback. Also, any ideas on how to find a homeopathic vet? Google didn't turn up any viable leads.

TIA

[Deborah]

A quick note on searching techniques, just in case you don't know this one. Rather than searching for homeopathic and vets, search for veterinarian associations or veterinarian directories. A lot of stuff within sites, particularly within directories isn't always well indexed. Once you have a directory or other list you will probably be able to search geographically.

Good luck!

[sweetasalemon]

try http://http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/ it's a great site for people and animals.... LOVE THIS PLACE. It helped me located HEAPS of information!:

[Tracy]

my friend's cat who I loved..was given a vax. He developed cancer from the vax and died.

I have zero interest in vaxes for my own cats.

[gwynthfair]

I think there are also homeopathic treatments for after vaccinations.

[AikeaGuinea]

The only vax I really think is a necessity for pets is a rabies vax. Most come in a 3 year version so they don't have to be given every year. The other ones are convenient if your dog might be exposed to a lot of other dogs who are not well cared for and might carry disease, but for a house dog, or a yard dog in the suburbs, not really that important. Also, if you want to board your dog, they usually require a kennel cough (bordetella) vax in addition to the rabies.

[twinsplusone]

Wel before having kids, I got a Golden puppy. I gave her the required vax's.
Right after her second dose of Parvovirus she came down with it. She spent over a week in the animal hospital. At one point I was called in to say goodbye.......she ended up surviving.
I remember thinking.....it figures she got it.....if only she could have gotten that 3rd dose.

Hindsight now..........OMG.... just unbelievable. Even after I researched more for my kids, I never put it together for my puppy, 7 years earlier

[Cinder]

Originally Posted by Tracy

my friend's cat who I loved..was given a vax. He developed cancer from the vax and died.

: My dh's first bosses cat got a tumor at the injection site and died. He convinced us to not continue our cats vaccinations after we adopted him (he was 4 weeks old) and that's actually what convinced us to question vaccines for my kids when I was pg with #1.

So our first cat we got when he was 4 weeks from the humane society and he'd had one round of vaxes, our second cat we got at 6 weeks, found her on the side of the road, we've never gotten her any shots. Our third cat was the one when we told DD she could pick out any kitty at the humane society last february. She picked an 18 month old cat (we have no clue why she didn't want a kitten, the cat she picked is amazingly small, has lost an ear to frostbite, chirps...) who has had had 3 rounds of vaccines when we adopted her.

We got #1 and #2 neutered/spayed and told our vet we did not want to vax and why and they actually told us they can't legally suggest that to people, but they are always happy when someone makes that decision on their own.

[sorteep]

our cat has had no vax since we got hm at 12 wks.. rabies is a state law in all states (I believe) but if you want to get around it you can use an out of state vet (like we do) it is some kind of loophole, or LIE and say the dog/cat got a free rabies vax at one of those free walk in PetSmart clinics.. a lot of people who get all other care at a vet will get the rabies there to save $$ , vets are used to this (thye might question you tho if you are refusing all other vax's)

vets are really up in arms about overvaxing pets right now and they are seeing the horrible damage it is doing to their immune systems (nobody is questioning this either! it is common knowledge! why not the logical jump to people !! ) MANY are moving away from yearly vax and are very aware of the cancer connection (but , of course, human vax could NEVER do THAT,, heavy sarcasm implied..)

I would not vax except maybe maybe rabies depending on area pet kept and how kept (rural vs urban, indoor vs outdoor etc) try to undo vax damage thru homeopathy and definitely the BARF diet or similar

[bbrandonsmom]

I pretty much agree with everyone else. And most vets I know do 3 year vax's or will test the titer levels if you ask before giving any because they may not need them. Also look for a homeopathic vet in your area.
For us, I have a husky and a malamute, both get the 3 year rabies and the intranasal bordetella, mainly because we go to the dog park, where who knows what those dogs are carrying around,( wich of course isn't going to protect against anything but that), but we also board and those are the 2 that are required here.
I will say that I did work at both a shelter and private vet and at the shelter so many more sick animals of course than the vet. If one dog even had kennel cough, every single dog was quarentined even if vaccinated, same with the cats with, crap I can't recall it. But it is like the dogs version of kennel cough.And most dogs with parvo I saw did not recover in both practices. I have seen a ton of reactions to vaccines too.
I haven't done a lot of research on the alternatives of it and need to over the next year, but sometimes I think it's a harder decision not to vax your pet because I think they are exposed to more than our kids. (please don't blast me for that) Just walking in some infected poo like parvo can transfer the disease to your pet.

[twinsplusone]

I forgot to add, my mom just had a kitten that passed away, after trying to nurse it back to health for quite some time. She had adopted it (with his sister) & they had just been vax'd

[thundersweet]

We don't vacinate our pets. We did but stopped. I can't understand why vets vaccinate on a yearly schedule. Money, I suppose. As far as boarding the dog. Find a pet sitter! If we go out of town, we have a pet sitter to look after our pets in our home. No need to worry about having to vaccinate just because you are boarding. It's not that much more expensive. Especially if you have multiple pets. My holistic vet gave me the name of a great pet sitter.

[PerennialMom]

Originally Posted by Cinder

We got #1 and #2 neutered/spayed and told our vet we did not want to vax and why and they actually told us they can't legally suggest that to people, but they are always happy when someone makes that decision on their own.

Ours too! I was surprised, I thought I'd get a fight over it and then they'd deny to groom one of our kit-babes, but the vet was REALLY supportive and happy about it. Especially the feline leukemia vax. I remember in college my roommate's cat was diagnosed with leukemia and got really sick AFTER her vaccine. She ended up being fine and 2 months later, when they were going to put her down, they tested her again and she was negative....made a full recovery. Hmm....DUH! Sick from a vaccine? No kidding.

[bbrandonsmom]

Most vets do a 3yr now instead of a yearly and you could always ask for that since it's very well known, or ask for the titer levels. A pet sitter is a great suggestion. But I'm so picky about our huskies since most people I run into have no clue about the breed and plus neither ds or I are comfortable with someone coming to our house 2x a day to check on them, nor do I think it's fair to the girls.

[Naiad]

We have 4 cats and a dog, and don't vax them. We did run into problems recently while trying to find a vet to neuter the youngest kitty-- several outright refused us unless we vaxed first. We eventually went to the spay/neuter clinic run by the city where they did the op, albeit reluctantly, without vax's.

Purely anecdotal, but I've seen so many cats who are vaxed to the hilt that eventually get cancer and pass away, and our oldest are going on 13 yrs in perfect health!

Good luck with your search for a homeopathic vet!!

[L&IsMama]

We have a cat who is indoors only,and she was vaxed cause we got her from a shelter and they vaxed her before we got her. We will not give her any future vaxes,though.

[AikeaGuinea]

Originally Posted by bbrandonsmom

Most vets do a 3yr now instead of a yearly and you could always ask for that since it's very well known, or ask for the titer levels. A pet sitter is a great suggestion. But I'm so picky about our huskies since most people I run into have no clue about the breed and plus neither ds or I are comfortable with someone coming to our house 2x a day to check on them, nor do I think it's fair to the girls.

we had to board at the vet's office when my dog got older because he was just generally so old and his health so fragile, we did not trust a pet sitter to be able to get him to the vet in time if he needed medical attention.

I will say that our vet weighed our elderly dog's health against more vaccines. He had a poor reaction in his 11th year to his vaxes (he was a greyhound, 11 is very old for them). For the next two years until he died last month, they let all the vaxes slide, because they knew he barely left his bed, and never left the yard. We took him off his heartworm preventative also. They still gave us a rabies cert. to show in case someone asked. When we boarded him they just kept him apart from the other dogs as best they could. We LOVED our vet. If you get a good one, they will work with you on the vaccines...

[QueenOfThePride]

I think all puppies should be put through 'puppy kindergarten' classes and brought out to all kinds of public places to meet people and other dogs. This is very important to socialize puppies at a young age because it prevents a lot of behavior problems.

So I think that puppies SHOULD get the standard puppy vaccines, which are required for puppy training classes anyway. Yes, there are risks, but I think that proper socialization is way more important to the lifelong health and happiness of the dog.

After the first year though, just go with the three year rabies shot unless the dog is really at risk for something else (like Lyme disease for hunting dogs).

Indoor cats should never be vaccinated. They will never get exposed to anything. Cats can get a vaccine-induced cancer. The risk increases with the number of vaccines they get. This cancer has never been found in any other species of animal or human.

[mjw2003]

veterinary vaccines

We just got a puppy. Although we don't vax ourselves, the rabies shot is required by my county to register the dog, and if you board a dog anywhere they want the vaccine records. We'll probably have to do the rabies, but are any of the others really necessary?

[lokidoki]

How old is your puppy? I would 'probably' recommend one round of puppy shots to help prevent parvo and distempter. After one year I do not vax my animals other than with the Rabies vaccine. As for parvo -- I have read conflicting reports -- but rarely does it ever (if ever) infect healthy adult dogs. It usually occurs in puppies (and more likely in puppies that have intestinal worms). Parvo is found in the dirt...and is carried by birds...so it can be anywhere it the outdoors.

I do not vax my kids...and do not vax my adult dogs!