I'm putting this here as I don't want to intrude on the sad loss of a member's dog, but there were some statements in the thread that cannot go unchallenged.
There is a lot of chat on the internet about vaccines, especially the L4 vaccine for dogs. Most of it is just that, chat plus scare stories. The L4 vaccine was introduced because there has been a change in the leptopsirosis types present in the UK, millions of doses have been used and the real incidence of adverse reactions is tiny. There are no reports in the vet press, nor on the vet social media sites that would make one realise there is a problem. When reports come in, the link to vaccines is very tenuous and a survey done in 2006 showed no association of vaccination with the timing of the onset of disease.
Vaccines do not do more harm than good, they are probably the biggest single contributor to imporvements in animal and human health. Parvo virus and Distemper are almost unknown for many young vets. I dealt with lines of puppies destined to die back in the early 80s.
There are legitimate questions on the frequency of vaccination, why humans get one dose for life and animals don't. Some of this is due to the testing of the product, it wouldn't be right to keep exposing a series of dogs to a potentially fatal disease to see if still works. So we boost every year, or every three years depending on the product. It is highly probable that the immunity to Parvo, Distemper and Hepatitis is lifelong, we just don't know. Lepto is a problem, like many bacterial vaccines, it's a poor vaccine and to maintain immunity, the immune system needs re-priming. This mimics natural, "field exposure," which is exactly how how the immune system is reprimed.
You can do titre tests to see if there is still immunity, but you need to be precise with which test, as exposure antibodies are not protective antibodies.
I boost my dogs annually. It's less hassle and cheaper than titre testing and there is no real evidence that the boosters cause harm.
There is a lot of chat on the internet about vaccines, especially the L4 vaccine for dogs. Most of it is just that, chat plus scare stories. The L4 vaccine was introduced because there has been a change in the leptopsirosis types present in the UK, millions of doses have been used and the real incidence of adverse reactions is tiny. There are no reports in the vet press, nor on the vet social media sites that would make one realise there is a problem. When reports come in, the link to vaccines is very tenuous and a survey done in 2006 showed no association of vaccination with the timing of the onset of disease.
Vaccines do not do more harm than good, they are probably the biggest single contributor to imporvements in animal and human health. Parvo virus and Distemper are almost unknown for many young vets. I dealt with lines of puppies destined to die back in the early 80s.
There are legitimate questions on the frequency of vaccination, why humans get one dose for life and animals don't. Some of this is due to the testing of the product, it wouldn't be right to keep exposing a series of dogs to a potentially fatal disease to see if still works. So we boost every year, or every three years depending on the product. It is highly probable that the immunity to Parvo, Distemper and Hepatitis is lifelong, we just don't know. Lepto is a problem, like many bacterial vaccines, it's a poor vaccine and to maintain immunity, the immune system needs re-priming. This mimics natural, "field exposure," which is exactly how how the immune system is reprimed.
You can do titre tests to see if there is still immunity, but you need to be precise with which test, as exposure antibodies are not protective antibodies.
I boost my dogs annually. It's less hassle and cheaper than titre testing and there is no real evidence that the boosters cause harm.
