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All Things Welshie

Musings on living, loving and showing in a house full of Welshies

Photo Gallery

Canine Vaccine Protocols

7/21/2013

7 Comments

 
Picture
This week's topic is about vaccines, since I am thinking ahead to getting the litter vaccinated in a few weeks. There have  been a lot of changes to the way that vaccines are administered to dogs in the past 36 years since we got our first dog. Us 'old-timers' remember bringing our dogs to the vet yearly for the full vaccine administration process, while more recent dog owners may be unaware of this 'antiquated' protocol. Over the past 10 years, there has been a significant change to the entire vaccination process, and the timing of initial and booster doses of these potent immunological agents has been modified significantly. The most recent American Animal Hospital Association guidelines were published in 2011 and are available at the AAHA website.

A change to this yearly vaccine protocol was championed in 1978 by Dr.Ronald Schultz, a pioneer and expert in the field of veterinary vaccines. That year, Dr. Schultz and a colleague, Dr. Fred Scott developed and published a new vaccination protocol calling for pets to receive puppy or kitten shots, be vaccinated again at a year of age, and then be re-vaccinated every three years or less frequently thereafter. But, it was not until 2003 - a full 25 years later - that veterinary vaccination protocols actually changed, and they incorporated many of Dr. Shultz's initial recommendations. It now is standard to have vaccine titer testing performed, and if a titer is lower than a normal range, the dog is vaccinated. Otherwise, the veterinary protocol indicates that the dog may not need to be vaccinated again for three years (or longer). Dr. Shultz's recommendation was that if the titers continue to be within normal levels, no vaccination need EVER be administered to the dog, ignoring the 3 year recommendation.

Core canine vaccines for all dogs are considered to be Distemper, Parvovirus, Adenovirus-2 and Rabies (mandated by state law to be given by 6 months and then a booster dose the following year, with repeat doses every three years for the life of the dog). These core vaccines are for diseases considered to be life-threatening for dogs and transmittable to other animals. The effectiveness of these vaccines is considered to be at least 7 years, and may even confer lifetime immunity. This means some dogs may never require re-vaccination for these diseases. Reducing the need for yearly vaccinations helps in the reduction of side effects linked to vaccination, including skin problems, allergic reactions and autoimmune diseases. 

All others vaccines are considered non-core vaccines or optional, meaning administration should occur after the pet owner discusses options with the veterinarian. These include vaccines for kennel cough, Lymes disease, coronavirus, leptospirosis, etc. Using these non-core vaccines depend on the pet's location, activities, and owner's lifestyle. And, the non-core vaccines are considered to have a reduced duration of effectiveness, requiring yearly or more frequent vaccination. If you live in the northeastern US you and your dog both have a higher likelihood of exposure to Lymes or other tick-borne diseases. You may need to consider a Lymes vaccination for your dog if you live, hunt or train in areas highly infested with ticks, or if your dog has been infected previously. If you need to board your dog frequently you may be required to vaccinate your dog (intranasally, not by injection) for Bortadella or kennel cough infections, so you need to discuss this with the vet to be sure you are optimally protecting your dog. Owners who take their dogs to conformation and performance events also may want to consider a kennel cough vaccine, and the recommendation may be for a twice-yearly administration for this vaccine. 

Now that core vaccines have been standardized and injections reduced, current research is focusing on reducing the use of rabies vaccine, and Dr. Shultz and Dr. Jean Dodd are both active in the Rabies Challenge Fund. The challenge is to demonstrate the rabies vaccine imparts immunity to rabies for longer than 3 years, and that revaccination every 3 years is unnecessary. There is an ongoing Rabies Duration of Immunity 7 year study nearing completion in the next year or two. After the results are analyzed, it is hoped that a recommendation can be made to perform rabies vaccines at 3-6 months and then not require re-vaccination for another 7 years. However, since each state sets its own rules, the change may be difficult to enact since it will have to go through the political process in all 50 states. Dr. Schultz talks about the rabies research in a Youtube video, and there is a transcript of his interview here.

For our own dogs, our vet hospital relies exclusively on titers to determine whether a dog gets a core vaccination as an adult. Most of our dogs have never needed additional vaccination after their initial puppy shots, with the exception of rabies and non-core vaccines. Even our 12 year old dog has not been revaccinated. The key to the vaccination protocol is that the titers must be monitored every three years (or more frequently), and we are happy that our vets agree with Dr. Schultz's recommendation that there may be lifetime immunity imparted by the initial puppy vaccines. For puppies that we raise, we use a modification of Dr Jean. Dodds protocol. We start puppy shots at 6 weeks of age, and then follow her recommendations for 9 and 14 week vaccinations and rabies by 5-6 months, with titers starting at 1 year and repeated every 3 years thereafter (and again, you can do them more frequently if you want confirmation of the dog's immunological status).







7 Comments
Margaret Crowl
7/22/2013 07:36:13 am

Interesting. When I first moved to NJ about 20 years ago I remember the vet explaining very convoncingly why my Golden Retriever didn't need a Parvo booster. When I moved to another town in NJ the vet there kept pushing the Parvo booster but I held firm. Now I'm in a 3rd NJ town so we'll have to see what this vet thinks when the time comes!

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Sandra Rohrbacher link
8/1/2013 04:56:24 am

Margaret, each vet makes their own decisions about what they want to test for. My vet sends titers for all the major diseases dogs are vaccinated against, and as long as they are within the normal range, we don't re-vaccinate. I have been testing titers every year, because we have dogs come and go in the pack, and I don't want to be in a position of having a dog be under-immunized from one year to another without knowing about it. However, the recommendations are that you only need to recheck the dogs every three years. At $75/dog, it's not cheap, but at least I know all my dogs are protected and we use this info to determine that we don't re-vaccinate any of the dogs during their lifetimes, basically!

Reply
Tola Murphy-Baran
7/31/2013 07:53:11 am

Since we have a shore house where our dog loved to chase birds, we always used Frontline and kept his hair short in summer, giving ticks less opportunity to latch onto him. Is Frontline still recommended as a Lyme-prevention tool?

Reply
Sandra Rohrbacher link
8/1/2013 04:52:34 am

Tola, Frontline is still one of the top choices for tick control. The preferred formula is Frontline Plus, since it contains a synthetic pymethrin product to kill and repel fleas. The fipronil is for killing the fleas and ticks. The fipronil is available more cheaply in other products now for a lower cost, such as Sentry Guard Max, which is what I use. There have been reports of some fleas and ticks developing resistance to fipronil, but it still seems to be working for my area. I purchase the product from the Foster & Smith catalog, especially when they have the product on sale-it is significant savings for the entire pack of dogs we have to treat! As long as I put it on every month, I don't find ticks on the dogs, or fleas.

Reply
Tola Murphy-Baran
8/1/2013 01:34:29 pm

Thanks, Sandy. Helpful information.

Mia Evans link
1/3/2023 09:23:29 pm

It really helped when you said that the core vaccines for our pets would be protecting the dogs from life-threatening diseases and transmittable illnesses. I will make sure to take my dog to a vet once I buy a dog this year, so I can protect it. Also, it will be for other animal's well-being as well so that I can be responsible owner.

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Eli Richardson link
5/18/2023 03:06:28 pm

I heard that my cousin wants to adopt a puppy next month and is interested in learning about the type of vaccinations that she'll need. That's why I think she'd benefit from reading your post about core and non-core vaccines for canines. Thanks for the insight on how core vaccines are for diseases considered to be life-threatening for dogs.

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    Sandy, interested in lots of things, master of none. Likes cooking, web site creation, her Nook HD+, Star Trek, Babylon 5, and The Voice.

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