Leptosprirosis

[F, Calla & Luca]

I have my dogs vaccinated for leptospirosis. My vet had a dog die from it a year or two ago, so when I asked her about it a couple of years ago she agreed it was a good idea. A breeder just posed this on another forum. It's about a 16 week old puppy she had sold to a family at 8 weeks , who had been extremely ill recently.
"Contacted it right in this woman's back yard. She lives in the city, has a fenced in backyard, but has many squirrels and wildlife there too.
Louie is on two different antibiotics, has to have titers done now to
check his kidneys and is going to be a close watch for a few weeks
still. Something to consider whether or not having your puppies
vaccinated for Lepto..."

[shelly]

Boy! This is just so confusing... Tori had this shot last year... had a really bad reaction... vomited and her eyes swelled to almost shut... needed benedryl shot and came home w/ meds... so I not only had the bill for the shots, but the extra meds now as well.....My vet said they recommend it, have NOT had any cases, but it was "up to me"... so w/ all of her issues.. I chose NOT to vaccinate - reassuring myself that she's only in our yard always under close supervision, but now.....

[Lesley, Wellington & Bingley]

Same here - I have recently decided to have the puppy shots and then the first booster at 1 year and not vaccinate after that.

However, our new pup had a bad reaction to his puppy shots, so I don't want him to have even the first booster.

It's a minefeild of information. Apparently the lepto vaccine is the one that is most likely to cause a bad reaction, and it's also the one that doesn't last long. Immunity can be as little as 3 months - but those studies are a few years old now so it might have altered since then.

There are also meant to be many many forms of the virus out there - for which the vaccine (in this country) covers just 2.

It's a very tough decision!

[shelly]

The women I spoke to in depth about this (actually 2 breeders - of 2 different breeds - aussiedoodles & labs) both had the same things to say... there are many strains out there and the shot doesn't coverall, the chance of her getting it is so low, but the damage it could do to the liver? out ways the prevention, and they said it is treatable, but I DON'T KNOW... who do you trust, and I saw the bad reaction she's had, and I don't know how much if any, 'damage' was done to her liver from her episode of pancreatitis... the vet says her enzymes levels will always be bit higher b/c of it, but not in danger....it's almost like you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't....

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

For the "core" vaccines, (distemper, parvo, etc, but not lepto), once the dog is an adult, you can do blood titers to check his immunity rather than automatically vaccinate each year. Most of the time, the blood tests will show full immunity to the diseases that they would have been needlessly vaccinated for.
It is considerably more expensive to do the blood titer than to just get the vaccination cocktail, but it averages out over 2-3 years that you don't give the shots. Plus you have the peace of mind of knowing that you are not giving your dog vaccines he doesn't need and there is no concern about adverse reactions. This was recommended to me by Jack's immunology specialist, and I'm very comfortable with it. Doesn't solve the problem of whether or not to give the lepto vaccine, though.

[shelly]

Hmmm... Last year Tori had her Rabies shot and the vet said he gave her the one that lasted 3 years...

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Right- that's what I do, too, the three year rabies. But the rabies shot is always separate from all the other vaccinations, anyway.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Believe it or not, some vets don't even give you the option of a three year shot or tell you it's available. Mine didn't. I heard about the three-year option in another forum and had to ask my vet about it.

[shelly]

What do you think???? Is it too much at once???? When you say 'your vet' - do you mean the specialist?
I'll tell you - I feel like I did when my kids were infants and got their shots... never failed - they always had a reaction with a high fever!!! I thought that worry was over - LOL

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Oh no, not the specialist; she was the one who told my regular vet in no uncertain terms that Jack was to get the three-year rabies and titers for everything else. She was shocked that he hadn't given me the option, especially with Jack's issues.
I don't know enough about how the immune system works or whether it's true that too many different vaccines at once can "overload" it; but I just feel better giving everything separately. That way, if there is a reaction, I know what caused it. We do Heartgard on a day when he isn't getting anything else, same with Frontline, same with his intranasal bordatella vaccine, same with his immunotherapy shots. Sometimes it takes a little juggling, lol.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I'm not so sure about the overload theory, either. But I do agree if you do one thing at a time it's easy to pinpoint the cause of a problem if you have one.

[Pat & "Tucker"]

Here is one thing to consider with titers. Immunity wanes over time so if you wait a year it is possible that you may have a period of time when no or very low immunity exists between shots. This is why the vaccines are repeated.
With lepto- there are 250 strains. The manufacturers try to keep up with the "most prevalent strains' to put in the vaccines. However, many cases go untested because they are mild or can even be asymptomatic- so do they have the circulating strians correct- who knows for sure. When considering lepto for the dooodles- one important consideration is yourself and others- it is contagious from animal to human- just another thought to consider.

[Adina P]

In an excellent article about the guy who invented the rotavirus vaccine...he essentially said that humans could get 100 vaccines (for example) in one shot and be fine. From my reading there is little to no evidence about any such 'vaccine overload' -- I think it comes down to whether THIS individual dog will/could/might have a reaction to some aspect of the vaccine (small risk) but the shear number of viruses/bacteria inoculated against is a different issue, I believe.

One thing that has recently intrigued me is the incidence (or do I mean prevelance?) of Gillain Barre (sp?) syndrome as a result of flu vaccine. From my limited reading it seemed like one could also get it (small risk again both ways) from actually contracting the flu. So it left me wondering (and maybe someone has an answer I just haven't run across) if perhaps the risk of getting GBS is about the same from flu vaccine as it is from the flu itself.