Tri-Annual Vaccinations.

It seems that most vets are still avccinating dogs annually for distemper, hepatitis and parvoviur even though the Australian Veterinary Association has advised its member vets that Tri annual vaccinationfor these diseases still gives ample immunity . There is a lot of discussion,particularly in USA ( who say every 7 years is ample....if needed at all)on this topic and I have copies of articles from The Dog News monthly "magazine" outlining the thought for this change in vaccination protocol ( Mainly the increase in cancers, auto immune diseases and allergies, particlarly in little dogs being linked to this over vaccination regime) Many beeders have known about this for years and it is now ( although the recommendation has been around for a couple of year)that the Aust Vet Assoc has supported such information. I asked a vet nurse about it and she said " we have known about that for years but people tend to forget to get their yearly hartworm vaccination injection, so we just send out their injection notification as they have always done""" Food for thought !!!!! I give my clients a copy of the release by the AVA and they make up their own mind wether they want the "extra" shots or wish to save themselves some money....

Yep, my vet is the same - I just ignore the reminder. Partly, I believe, this is due to the fact that there is only one company that offers a 3 year vac. All other vacs have been registered as yearly - so to give them tri annually would be using them "off label".

Just to make the debate more complicated - I have been reading recently (I think New Scientist - but don't quote me LOL) about the link between the the widespread use of worming treatments (which occurred in th 1970s) in humans and rise of autoimmune diseases - there are studies underway which are reintroducing a "worm burden" to the gut as part of treatment with positive results so far. Very intersting whilst also being a bit ewww - not sure I could take a pill that contained worm eggs

How interesting Fluffy. .....I love all this stufff and the science behind it all. It may suit my friend who has cronic irritable bowel syndrome LOL and has had it for years. She has had no end of tests and is currently on an elimination diet ( which basically means rice/rice products and very bland things only) but she doesnt think she'll be able to stick it for 6 weeks before re-introducing other foods ( all under guidance of a specialist immunologist!!!!

Ew worm eggs...doesn't bear thinking about does it lol

Re vaccinations i discussed with my vet whether or not to vaccinate my girls this year and we concluded that heartworm is essential abut the other since they have been vaccinated every year for their life they should be safe.

Hi guys, Fluffy has a very good point, there is only one company offering a vaccine that is registered for use every 3 years, if a vet uses a vaccine that is only registered for use yearly but advises the client that it will last 3 years if there are any problems i.e the dog gets parvovirus after the first 12 months the company cannot be held responsible for the vaccine not working, most dogs will keep the immunity for the 3 years but some don't that is where titre testing comes into it.

We can run a blood test (titre) for 2 of the 3 viruses to see if the dog has immunity against it and then decide if a vaccination is necessary. This is just as expensive as vaccinating though. The 3 year vaccine only does parvovirus, distemper and hepatitis and does not include kennel cough and this still needs to be done yearly as should a health check.

The vet I work at encourages people to get the 3 year vaccine but it is more expensive and some people just don't have the cash upfront.

Hope this helps

Just curious, is the three year vaccine just a lot stronger, and therefore give the dog a stronger hit at one time, which kind of defeats the purpose of not giving the dog less vaccine?

The problem is that for all those yearly vaccs to be re-registered as Tri would be extremely expensive so the manufacturers won't do it. My dogs simply get the 12monthly vac every 3 years - my dog who had seizures when he was younger will never be vacc'd again - he was done at 3 and 5 years and seemed to have some sort of reaction. My dogs do not get KC vaccs (same as I don't get a flu shot) and I use monthly heartworm. We do, however, go to the vet for yearly check ups. JMO

Do you do the titer test Fluffy?

I have never bothered - all my reading has suggested that if you have had a least 1 vacc as an adult then you should have life long immunity to the core diseases. My dogs mix quite often with foster dogs which are always vacced when they come into care unless their vacc history is proven - these dogs are shedding antibodies so my dogs should mount an immune response on a fairly regular basis. When Acey first had seizures we were going to obedience and were required to show a current vacc certificate. My vet at the time wrote a letter saying that as an epileptic dog Ace had been moved to a 3 yearly protocol and should not pose a disease threat to other dogs. The club was happy to accept - luckily there was another epi dog there so they were aware.

With my show dogs - they are both young so had 12 monthly vaccs - not sure what I will do later although I am aware that a large percentage of showies are not in favour of yearly vacs

What about you. I did actually ask my vet a couple of years ago but they weren't keen