calliecritturs
Posted : 5/20/2014 11:02:30 PM
Rabies only as often as absolutely required by law (fortunately my county in Florida only requires 3 year rabies).
For a pup I give one round of core vax (distemper, parvo, adenovirus) at 12 weeks and one booster at 16 weeks. After that I *only* titer and vax if absolutely necessary. It is important to get a good basis in a puppy, but thereafter they now know that distemper usually lasts 12 or more years. parvo at least 7. I'm absolutely not saying that vaccines are evil --but they are over-done and if the dog shows immunity I see no reason to vaccinate, and after breaking the bank with a dog who, before we got him, was vastly over-vaccinated (I got records from the rescue -- he'd been vax'd SIX times in the 5 months prior to our getting him.) who wound up with immune-mediated hemolytic anemia (IMHA)
Billy's case was extreme -- and his IMHA was **not** triggered by a vaccine (I hadn't vaccinated him at all in the 18 months we had him prior to the onset of the IMHA) but his body was certainly set up to have the immune system fail to work as it should. and then all it takes is the merest trigger to set something like that off.