If you don't vax your DC, do you vax your pets?

[Love]

We don't vax our DC for both health reasons, and moral reasons. Now we are getting a Havanese puppy, who allready has a lot of puppy vaxes. I need to decide if we are going to continue vaxing her. Is it different for dogs? I assume there no moral issues there (that they are not making dog vaxes out of aborted human babies, etc), so this is just a health issue. How do I explain to DC that the dog needs vaxes, if she does, when they know (in part) why we don't vax them? I don't know very much about dogs, so... :scratch

[SingingPraise]

Happy reading lol

http://www.thepetcenter.com/exa/vac.html

[Sanveann]

Well, I don't have kids yet, and I haven't decided how I feel about vaxing them, but here's my 2 cents on pets ...

Distemper and parvo are VERY common and VERY dangerous. In fact, I have a friend who just this year didn't vax her puppy early enough, and she got parvo. They spent a LOT of money, but she pulled through, thankfully (she has four little boys that would have been heartbroken if she'd died!). I don't know much about coronavirus, hepatitis or parainfluenza in dogs. I personally skip the leptovirus vaccine for my dog, because Maltese are often known to have bad reactions to them. You might want to talk to your breeder about this, because Havanese are very closely related to Maltese. Lepto is generally contracted from visiting dog parks or swimming in lakes, two things Macy never does, so I don't have a big concern about her getting it, nor does my vet.

We generally don't do bordetella (kennel cough). It's common, but it's not fatal, and Macy doesn't usually hang out with large numbers of other dogs. If you plan to board your dog or take an obedience class, though, it may be required.

[Dana Joy]

I guess it would depend on why you choose not to vax. We choose not to because in addition to its harmful effects we feel that vax are ineffective and basically do not work. If you feel as I do that they do not work- why bother for pets?
OTOH since we rescued our doggie from the pound we had no choice.

[Sanveann]

Unfortunately, my rescue group experienced a tragedy where it was made obvious that vaccines DO work -- at least on kittens.

A foster mom unknowingly took a kitten with distemper into her home. Every kitten who had not yet received vaxes died. Every kitten who HAD been fully vaxed stayed completely healthy. And those who had received some but not all of their shots got sick, and about half died and half survived.

[Epieikeia]

We don't unless they are going to be kenneled and it's mandatory--so basically yes we do as we travel for 2-3 weeks per year.

[ArmsOfLove]

we don't.

[Sanveann]

Forgot to add that I don't vaccinate against feline leukemia or rabies, as my kitties are strictly indoor only. However, I do think it's advisable to vax outdoor kitties for those things. I lost a beloved kitty to feline leukema -- she had contracted it as a kitten, before we had her, and her test was a false negative -- and that was just awful.

[Irene]

Oh Man! so much to think about! :doh

[Amber]

I do selective vaccines on my pets. For my dog, I make sure she gets a parvo and distemper vaccine, and she has to have rabies to get her license, but I skip everything else. I have helped to treat way too many parvo dogs to skip that vaccine, it is a nasty, expensive and potentially deadly disease. I don't do Lepto because many dogs have reactions to it, and it really isn't that effective.


I don't vaccinate against feline leukemia or rabies, as my kitties are strictly indoor only. However, I do think it's advisable to vax outdoor kitties for those things.


Same here.

[babysoft_2004]

I vax my dogs. They received all their puppy vaxes. Tyson had 1 puppy shot and then got sick with parvo but he pulled through (after hospitalization and intensive care) and a month after he fully recovered he got his final puppy series. I have done yearly boosters before but now the vet we see does them every 3 years (rabies in my town is every 3 years as well). Parvo and distemper are horrible horrible diseases and I much rather vax my pets than see them die becuase of those diseases. I dont do a lepto vax though ebecuase many pets react to it. Our vet doesnt give corona vaccines routinely either.

[frank1ncense]

We don't have a choice here. It has been that way in every township I have lived in in NJ. You can't keep an animal without a license and you can't have a license with certain vaxes. Rabies is an absolutely must, pretty much state wide.

I also did animal rescue for awhile & vaxing was really important. We (as with most rescues) wouldn't adopt to people who didn't vax their pets. They left rescue with a rabies shot & a 5 in 1 shot. (not to mention spay/neutered)