What dog vaccinations are really necessary (other than rabies)?
June 3, 2015 1:42 PM Subscribe
What vaccinations does my dog really need to get each year? It seems my vet has at least 4 different boosters not including rabies and sends me reminders every 6 mos it seems. Which are vitally necessary?
My dog is 2 yrs old and a mostly indoor dog and no longer meets other dogs regularly nor is he ever kenneled (sry no pic as I am at work). I like my vet and am willing to support his business but the amount of vaccines seems like overkill considering I don't go for annual or biannual boosters of my own vaccines. Of the following, which do I really need just to keep my couch potato dog healthy? He has always had all shots FYI.
DA2PL (I don't know what this is exactly though I am sure google can assist me)
Bordatella
Parvovirus
Corona
Any others?
Thanks!
My dog is 2 yrs old and a mostly indoor dog and no longer meets other dogs regularly nor is he ever kenneled (sry no pic as I am at work). I like my vet and am willing to support his business but the amount of vaccines seems like overkill considering I don't go for annual or biannual boosters of my own vaccines. Of the following, which do I really need just to keep my couch potato dog healthy? He has always had all shots FYI.
DA2PL (I don't know what this is exactly though I am sure google can assist me)
Bordatella
Parvovirus
Corona
Any others?
Thanks!
You can ask your vet to do vaccine titers. My dog was also a house dog, no boarding and no dog parks, etc. The only vaccine that we needed for him based on his individual risk was against rabies, and after the first year, we just did titers to test whether his previous rabies vaccine was still active. His remained active for 8+ years. Overvaccination is not benign in pets. It increases risks of cancer and other serious disease. Most licensing bodies will accept titers and/or letters from your vet.
We also didn't have to do heartworm prevention meds as his actual risk based on our geographic location and local incidence of disease-carrying insects was close to zero.
Overmedicating and overvaccinating dogs is harmful. It sounds like you like your vet, but I'd have a hard time trusting someone who is so aggressive about something that could do real harm.
posted by quince at 2:09 PM on June 3, 2015 [5 favorites]
We also didn't have to do heartworm prevention meds as his actual risk based on our geographic location and local incidence of disease-carrying insects was close to zero.
Overmedicating and overvaccinating dogs is harmful. It sounds like you like your vet, but I'd have a hard time trusting someone who is so aggressive about something that could do real harm.
posted by quince at 2:09 PM on June 3, 2015 [5 favorites]
Anecdata: never do the "three year" rabies vaccine for any animal. Most U.S. municipalities require annual vaccinations/certifications anyway. The three year vaccine nearly killed my mother's beloved cat.
posted by yesster at 2:12 PM on June 3, 2015
posted by yesster at 2:12 PM on June 3, 2015
I don't see lepto on the list. (Unless that's what the L stands for in that first one? Pretty sure the first one is distemper, but I'm not an expert.)
My vet and my breeder had pretty good explanations for me for lepto(spirosis). Apparently this is a thing that outdoor scavenger critters like raccoons carry? And if they pee on something and you eat that pee then you can get it too? So if you live in an area where raccoons and rats are a thing (which is approximately everywhere) and have a dog who might do something like decide to taste anything he finds on his walks, there's a chance your dog could get it. And it's also one of the ones that's transmissible dog to human, so it protects you, too. Now that my dog is older and has grown out of the taste all the things phase, I'm less concerned about it.
Bordatella is an optional one. That's for kennel cough. Think of it like a flu vaccine for your dog. If your dog is pretty much only going to be around himself (no doggy day care, no boarding) then you really don't need it. I didn't bother getting my dog a bordatella vax until a few weeks before I knew I was going to need to board him.
posted by phunniemee at 2:13 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
My vet and my breeder had pretty good explanations for me for lepto(spirosis). Apparently this is a thing that outdoor scavenger critters like raccoons carry? And if they pee on something and you eat that pee then you can get it too? So if you live in an area where raccoons and rats are a thing (which is approximately everywhere) and have a dog who might do something like decide to taste anything he finds on his walks, there's a chance your dog could get it. And it's also one of the ones that's transmissible dog to human, so it protects you, too. Now that my dog is older and has grown out of the taste all the things phase, I'm less concerned about it.
Bordatella is an optional one. That's for kennel cough. Think of it like a flu vaccine for your dog. If your dog is pretty much only going to be around himself (no doggy day care, no boarding) then you really don't need it. I didn't bother getting my dog a bordatella vax until a few weeks before I knew I was going to need to board him.
posted by phunniemee at 2:13 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
We have two dogs that walk all around NYC, including parks/dog parks, and are occasionally boarded. This is our vaccine schedule:
-DA2PP every 3 years (this includes parvo)
-Rabies every 3 years
-Lyme disease every year (we'd probably skip this if they didn't run about in known high-lyme-disease areas)
-Bordatella every 6 months (this is an oral vaccine for kennel cough; if they weren't around other dogs ever, we'd probably skip)
-Leptospirosis every year (this is a serious illness and is also transmissible to humans so I wouldn't skip it; a friend's dog just got it and, since they have an infant, the dog had to stay at a relative's house for several months during its recovery) - it used to be a 6 month booster, but they updated it to annually a few years ago
We also do a heartworm pill and a flea/tick pill (they now have a chewable one that lasts 3 months, instead of the topical goo you have to apply monthly -- SO worth it).
posted by melissasaurus at 2:14 PM on June 3, 2015
-DA2PP every 3 years (this includes parvo)
-Rabies every 3 years
-Lyme disease every year (we'd probably skip this if they didn't run about in known high-lyme-disease areas)
-Bordatella every 6 months (this is an oral vaccine for kennel cough; if they weren't around other dogs ever, we'd probably skip)
-Leptospirosis every year (this is a serious illness and is also transmissible to humans so I wouldn't skip it; a friend's dog just got it and, since they have an infant, the dog had to stay at a relative's house for several months during its recovery) - it used to be a 6 month booster, but they updated it to annually a few years ago
We also do a heartworm pill and a flea/tick pill (they now have a chewable one that lasts 3 months, instead of the topical goo you have to apply monthly -- SO worth it).
posted by melissasaurus at 2:14 PM on June 3, 2015
As for heartworm, I would like to give two thumbs up to Sentinel Spectrum. It's a monthly thing and takes care of heartworm, fleas, ticks, and maybe something else. Comes in a little chewable that my dog will eat with only a little bit of coaxing. It's very reasonably priced (I think it's maybe half the price of Trifexis, which is the same niche drug) and there's no ooky stinky goo.
posted by phunniemee at 2:17 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by phunniemee at 2:17 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
You want Distemper, Parvo, Rabies, Adenovirus at a minimum. Bordetella is also a common one, but not considered a core vaccine. Corona is more for puppies. Leptospirosis is common in areas with more wild animals (Leptospirosis is spread through wild animal waste like deer, so my vet in Southern California doesn't offer it, though the vet we visited on an extended stay in rural Michigan highly recommended I give it to him).
I would also give a Heartworm preventative. It's a terrible way to die for dogs and often found too late.
The DA2PL you cite has Distemper, Adenovirus, Parvo, and Leptospirosis.
posted by cecic at 2:27 PM on June 3, 2015
I would also give a Heartworm preventative. It's a terrible way to die for dogs and often found too late.
The DA2PL you cite has Distemper, Adenovirus, Parvo, and Leptospirosis.
posted by cecic at 2:27 PM on June 3, 2015
The American Animal Hospital Association has put together a pretty comprehensive (and fairly technical) set of recommendations. [pdf] That said, this is exactly the kind of thing your vet should be happy to discuss with you at your annual visit. Every pet has a set of differing factors (breed, age, lifestyle, etc) that your vet should take into consideration when suggesting vaccines. You should feel free to question their recommendations, and they should be willing to explain their rationale and their decision-making process. If you don't trust that their recommendations are in the best interest of your pet, you should take your business elsewhere.
posted by Rock Steady at 2:31 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Rock Steady at 2:31 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
I just realized you said DA2PL not DA2PP. You may want to discuss separating out the lepto vaccine since that's the one part of the grouping that needs more frequent boosters. Instead of DA2PL annually, you could do DA2PP every 3 years and just lepto on an annual basis.
posted by melissasaurus at 2:44 PM on June 3, 2015
posted by melissasaurus at 2:44 PM on June 3, 2015
Hi there. Regulatory toxicologist specializing in vaccines (especially veterinary ones) chiming in.
These are all important vaccines and should be administered at least once in your dog's lifetime. Maybe not all at once, if that's a concern, but, yes, vaccinations may confer protection to your dog that lasts longer than the stated label is allowed to claim (more on that in a moment). The only legally mandated routine, repeated vaccination is for rabies, if we're talking federal regulations, but your municipality may require others.
To strike down the anecdata about avoiding vaccines with stated multi-year label claims, that's nonsense--single-year and multi-year vaccines are generally the same components, but multi-year versions are sold by a manufacturer that has actually performed a duration of immunity (DOI) study longer than one year.
This is a key point in response to what you're asking: does my dog need all this stuff? Well, yes, your vet knows what illnesses are common in your area and vaccine-preventable. Hence the list you've brought to Ask. Veterinary vaccines require manufacturers to demonstrate experimentally that vaccines provide long-term protection if they want to claim as much. Unlike with human vaccines, the veterinary vaccine version of this is extremely crude: animals are given a vaccine, a group of control animals are not given a vaccine, then X years later both groups are exposed to the disease in question. If the vaccinates survive and the controls die, then the manufacturer can claim X years duration of immunity.
Clearly, not a lot of manufacturers are going to do DOI studies because they take forever and the public doesn't like to hear about killing cats and dogs. But this is a big deal for rabies because, remember, it has a federal regulation stating that domestic animals need to have a demonstrated current rabies vaccination on record. If there's a vaccine shown to be effective for X years, then all the better--fewer revaccinations required.
For non-rabies vaccines, DOI studies are relatively rare. That doesn't mean that your vet knows that a given vaccine is only good for one year, it just means that vaccine hasn't gone through a longer DOI test. So it's pretty likely that your dog is protected for some period of time longer than a year for almost anything he's received a vaccine for.
Hope this helps!
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 4:44 PM on June 3, 2015 [6 favorites]
These are all important vaccines and should be administered at least once in your dog's lifetime. Maybe not all at once, if that's a concern, but, yes, vaccinations may confer protection to your dog that lasts longer than the stated label is allowed to claim (more on that in a moment). The only legally mandated routine, repeated vaccination is for rabies, if we're talking federal regulations, but your municipality may require others.
To strike down the anecdata about avoiding vaccines with stated multi-year label claims, that's nonsense--single-year and multi-year vaccines are generally the same components, but multi-year versions are sold by a manufacturer that has actually performed a duration of immunity (DOI) study longer than one year.
This is a key point in response to what you're asking: does my dog need all this stuff? Well, yes, your vet knows what illnesses are common in your area and vaccine-preventable. Hence the list you've brought to Ask. Veterinary vaccines require manufacturers to demonstrate experimentally that vaccines provide long-term protection if they want to claim as much. Unlike with human vaccines, the veterinary vaccine version of this is extremely crude: animals are given a vaccine, a group of control animals are not given a vaccine, then X years later both groups are exposed to the disease in question. If the vaccinates survive and the controls die, then the manufacturer can claim X years duration of immunity.
Clearly, not a lot of manufacturers are going to do DOI studies because they take forever and the public doesn't like to hear about killing cats and dogs. But this is a big deal for rabies because, remember, it has a federal regulation stating that domestic animals need to have a demonstrated current rabies vaccination on record. If there's a vaccine shown to be effective for X years, then all the better--fewer revaccinations required.
For non-rabies vaccines, DOI studies are relatively rare. That doesn't mean that your vet knows that a given vaccine is only good for one year, it just means that vaccine hasn't gone through a longer DOI test. So it's pretty likely that your dog is protected for some period of time longer than a year for almost anything he's received a vaccine for.
Hope this helps!
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 4:44 PM on June 3, 2015 [6 favorites]
For our pets, we always keep them up to date on rabies so they can be licensed & not euthanized in case of a bite. After they've had their puppy shots and one booster a year later, we go a 3 yr schedule for boosters. We do HW testing annually along w/a physical exam. We had two elderly dogs we dutifully kept vaccinated annually, one of them almost died after her last shots at approx. 12 yrs old. We started studying vaccine schedules after that.
If you have certain diseases running rampant in your area, definitely consider keeping up annually with boosters for that disease. But many vets are going to a standard 3 yr schedule due to ill effects of over-vaccinating.
posted by RichardHenryYarbo at 5:33 PM on June 3, 2015
If you have certain diseases running rampant in your area, definitely consider keeping up annually with boosters for that disease. But many vets are going to a standard 3 yr schedule due to ill effects of over-vaccinating.
posted by RichardHenryYarbo at 5:33 PM on June 3, 2015
Also consider must vaccines do not have to be given yearly after the first few times. I had never seen vets early boosters on anything after the first shots and booster series as young dogs until I moved to the US, my Australian vet would go up to years for some of them. When I asked my US vet why they did them yearly she said it was done simply so people wouldn't forget.
posted by wwax at 5:26 AM on June 4, 2015
posted by wwax at 5:26 AM on June 4, 2015
I was just having this conversation with a veterinarian family member yesterday. Unfortunately, I didn't get a lot of detail, but she told me (when I mentioned my vet's insistence on 6 month boosters of parvo and bordatella) "that is not necessary and bordering on malpractice." Take that for what it is worth.
posted by raspberrE at 8:19 AM on June 4, 2015
posted by raspberrE at 8:19 AM on June 4, 2015
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posted by handful of rain at 1:50 PM on June 3, 2015