Originally Posted by Stitcher317

My hubby is a veterinarian. If you ever sat and watched an animal die from Parvo or Distemper you might change your opinion. Vaccines prevent this. States require vaccination against rabies for a reason, it works and it saves lives! All veterinarians practicing in this country today are trained and licensed to provide every service ranging from basic health exams to complicated surgeries covering almost every specialty. Yes, good medicine is costly. In over 40 years of practicing small animal medicine he tells me he has never had an animal die from a reaction to a vaccine.

Originally Posted by Zhillslady

As a former vet tech I agree with you. I have watched animals die from so many preventable diseases. Parvo is somethig horrible to waste away from. I've also had to treat cats that were bitten by some type of animal and they were not up to date on rabies vaccines so had to undergo a series of shots "just in case". My cat is highly allergic to the FVRCP vaccine so she has it separate from all other shots and takes an allergy injection prior. Sounds crazy but having almost lost her to pneumonia twice I get her vaccinated instead.

FYI - one post talked about heartworms just in dogs. Cats are just as much at risk as dogs. In fact a firned has a pet monkey which also gets heartworm prevention.

Originally Posted by Sunnie

For nearly 20 years I haven't given annual shots to any of my dogs. It has been proven that annual shots contribute greatly to immune related illnesses in dogs and cats. For the first 10-12 years we gave boosters every 3 years, then additional research indicated that most all shots give lifetime immunity. If you are concerned about the efficacy of your dogs immunity to certain diseases you can ask your vet to do a titer test to ascertain the level of protection. In my state I still have to give rabies every 3 years.

I have 8 healthy dogs in my house and when we lose one it is usually to old age (some around 16 years.) We also tell our puppy buyers to save themselves some money and NOT vaccinate after the 3 puppy shots (except for rabies as it is the law.) And if their vet "requires" annual shots to do themselves and their puppy a favor and find a new vet.

Annual boosters are a huge $$$ to vets and many don't want to give that up. Plus, by giving annual boosters they know that many of their patients will be back with a more serious illnes (often the result of too many vaccines.)

Consider this - did you or your children get annual boosters for life?

OK = off my soapbox. PM me if you need additional info.

Originally Posted by Brenda Sue

My Tessa is an eleven year old short haired daschund. She got her puppy shots and did okay. When she was a year old I took her in for her shots. She got sick within a few hours, threw up several times and swelled up so much she looked like a shar-pei. We had to rush her back to the vet and she took medicine for a week. The next year I was in a different town and I told the vet what happened. They gave her a shot before the vaccines and said she would be okay. Wrong!! Not as sick as the year before, but still looked like a shar-pei again. More medicine for the reactions. No more shots for my girl. New vet has information in file and does not pressure me for any shots. Tessa is a good healthy 11 year old dog now. My mother's daschund gets her shots every year and has health issues all the time. I think I might suggest to my mother that maybe Ginger is over vaccinated. Worth a try. Ginger is 12 now, blind and has skin problems that make her smell and itch like crazy. Momma loves Ginger dearly and tries all she can to make Ginger's life better. Any suggestions how to get her skin to stop itching? The girls have bad breath. What do you suggest for that?