shots....please watch!

[Tonkamama]

Thanks for posting Diane. I couldn't agree more. Our pug breeder believes the same and gave us that advice when we got both our pugs from her.

[frankoliverlucy]

What about yearly rabies? Do you guys reccomend this?

[Pugpillow]

What about yearly rabies? Do you guys reccomend this?

Absolutely unequivocably NOT!!! If your vet still does annual rabies shots, get another vet. Here's the protocol:

First rabies shot at 24 weeks or older (unless the law in your jurisdiction mandates an earlier date). The vaccine can be either a one-year or a three-year vaccine.

Second rabies shot one year later (and at least 3 weeks away from any other vaccination or surgery and only if the dog is healthy). You should insist this vaccine have a three-year Duration of Immunity(what it says on the label). You can tell because there is always a "3" at the end of the name of the vaccine - e.g. Imrab-3.

A full three years after the last shot, another 3 year booster, again with a 3 year vaccine. And so on every 3 years to comply with the law until your dog is old/ill enough to get a medical waiver from the vet.

[Pugpillow]

And let's be really, really clear when we talk about vaccinations. They are not all the same. The only type you have to legally give your dog is the rabies shot. All the others are discretionary.

Now you don't want your dog to contract parvovirus which is the most worrisome disease around for dogs right now (at least that you can vaccinate against) and you want to avoid distemper. So, your dog should be vaccinated against these 2 diseases according to this schedule:

Puppies should be vaccinated at 9 weeks, again at 12 weeks and again between 16 and 20 weeks. Then once more a year later. No revaccination is required after the one year mark.

If you acquire a dog over 20 weeks old who has never had any vaccinations against parvo and distemper, you give them one shot as soon as possible and a booster shot a year later. No revaccination is needed.

Unfortunately, not too many clinics carry the distemper and parvo combination only and until we customers start insisting on it, this is unlikely to change because clinics buy in batches of 25 doses and unless they have clients who want only these 2 vaccines, the lot will expire before they use up the vaccines. In the place of the DPv (distemper, parvovirus), most clinics carry the "combo-wombo" DHPP (aka DA2PP) which covers distemper, adenovirus (aka hepatitis), parvovirus and parainfluenza. There is no need, however, to vaccinate for adenovirus and parainfluenza.

The information in the study posted is very powerful, especially to pug owners and we must advocate on our dogs' behalfs.

[MushusMommy]

This is such an interesting thread. We got Mushu his shots in September (rabies, bortatella and...something else. I'm a terrible mom). We went to a low cost vaccine clinic through our vet so they gave him all of the shots at once. BIG mistake. He wound up having an allergic reaction to one of the shots (we still don't know which one) and we had to rush him to the doctor at 8:00pm. Needless to say, we didn't save any money. Emergency vet trips are expensive!

We took him to PetCo the other day to get his nails trimmed and they told us that his rabies shot needed to be updated. After reading this, I'm going with "No way, Jose!" Our vet trims nails for the same price...we'll just take him there.

However, I am curious as to what the opinion on the kennel cough shot is. Is that to be given yearly? Mushu hangs out with other dogs frequently, so I want to make sure he's safe.