Aa
Vaccinate -or what?
Misty's vaccinations were due end of January. I have had two reminders from the vet's office about it, and I realize if I leave it too much longer, boosters won't be sufficient.
She is doing remarkably well with her kidney issues. Her energy is like a dog half her age, she eats well, sleeps well, loves life, and runs around like a young 'un. Her BUN and Creatinine, at her last bloodwork (November) had come right down to upper "normal". She's holdng her own really nicely.
But she also has to have a large lump removed next week. The vet said a while back that it was benign (after needle biopsy) I made the decision not to have it removed but to "keep an eye on it", but it has grown horribly, so we are going to have it taken off now and sent to the lab. (Let's hope and pray it's not turned cancerous)
Well, with this, and the early-stage kidney failure, my gut feeling is NOT to add vaccination into the mix, especially right now.
The vaccination protocol here is Parvo/Leptosirosis/Hepatitis/Distemper (those are the main ones, -kennel cough is optional)- and she is due for the full four this year. Last time she had the full four (2 years ago) she was sick for at least 48 hours, and it got to the point when she went off her legs for a few hours, which scared me. She recovered just fine, but it took a lot out of her. And at the same time the vet's office said her being sick couldn't have had ANYTHING to do with the vaccines.....(again my gut feeling at that time was that it WAS the vaccines. She started being sick about 36 hours after vaccination)
There is no way I want to lay that added stress on her system under these circumstances right now.
But I am not sure I'd be doing the right thing.......?? Would I?
I thought I'd run this past people here, see what you all think. I just need to be clear.
She is doing remarkably well with her kidney issues. Her energy is like a dog half her age, she eats well, sleeps well, loves life, and runs around like a young 'un. Her BUN and Creatinine, at her last bloodwork (November) had come right down to upper "normal". She's holdng her own really nicely.
But she also has to have a large lump removed next week. The vet said a while back that it was benign (after needle biopsy) I made the decision not to have it removed but to "keep an eye on it", but it has grown horribly, so we are going to have it taken off now and sent to the lab. (Let's hope and pray it's not turned cancerous)
Well, with this, and the early-stage kidney failure, my gut feeling is NOT to add vaccination into the mix, especially right now.
The vaccination protocol here is Parvo/Leptosirosis/Hepatitis/Distemper (those are the main ones, -kennel cough is optional)- and she is due for the full four this year. Last time she had the full four (2 years ago) she was sick for at least 48 hours, and it got to the point when she went off her legs for a few hours, which scared me. She recovered just fine, but it took a lot out of her. And at the same time the vet's office said her being sick couldn't have had ANYTHING to do with the vaccines.....(again my gut feeling at that time was that it WAS the vaccines. She started being sick about 36 hours after vaccination)
There is no way I want to lay that added stress on her system under these circumstances right now.
But I am not sure I'd be doing the right thing.......?? Would I?
I thought I'd run this past people here, see what you all think. I just need to be clear.
COMMUNITY LEADER
Sorry I can't do a "best answer" because you ALL gave me brilliant answers and it wouldn't be fair
Good Plan & Good luck to you both......Keep us updated......I'll be wondering about her....... Karla
COMMUNITY LEADER
OK that does it. My mind is made up. She shall NOT have the boosters, no matter how many raised eyebrows I get in the vet's office.
I shall ask the vet to take some blood while she's under for her surgery, and run titers on it (taking blood generally is really stressful for her. She is like a wild thing at the vet's! So I'll ask him to get a couple of blood samples while she's asleep, do her kidney values -which are due this month anyway-, and her titers done as well)
Thank you everyone for your comments and support. SO appreciated. I am a bit nervous, mainly about the tumor analysis. However, she seems very fit and well, so MAYBE what you see is what you get.....I don't know.
HAHA! The "after surgery garment" lol! I am working on it. I am not the world's best seamstress.....and it's going to look a little "Punk" when it's finished. But never mind....the Catwalk never was Misty's thing anyway
I shall ask the vet to take some blood while she's under for her surgery, and run titers on it (taking blood generally is really stressful for her. She is like a wild thing at the vet's! So I'll ask him to get a couple of blood samples while she's asleep, do her kidney values -which are due this month anyway-, and her titers done as well)
Thank you everyone for your comments and support. SO appreciated. I am a bit nervous, mainly about the tumor analysis. However, she seems very fit and well, so MAYBE what you see is what you get.....I don't know.
HAHA! The "after surgery garment" lol! I am working on it. I am not the world's best seamstress.....and it's going to look a little "Punk" when it's finished. But never mind....the Catwalk never was Misty's thing anyway
I am in total agreement with everyone.
I would not do the boosters.
Have titers done......do not stress Misty's body anymore than necessary.
I hope the surgery goes well.....Have you created Misty's after surgery garment yet....?
Connie
I would not do the boosters.
Have titers done......do not stress Misty's body anymore than necessary.
I hope the surgery goes well.....Have you created Misty's after surgery garment yet....?
Connie
It's great to have Ghilly and Karla reply, as they know so much about this and have opened my eyes to the way forward when considering annual boosters. And it must be reassuring for everyone to be of the same opinion too. Like everyone else, I'm hoping all goes well with Misty's operation - do let us know how the surgery goes. Tony
Absolutely NOT!!!!! Isn't Misty around 10 years old? The package insert states to only use on Healthy Animals & your Vet should follow that!!! Kidney Disease & Possible Tumor Growths does not qualify for completely healthy in my books.....IMO, you will add fuel to the fire if you allow any Vaccines at this point....
My Pack here get Titers for Parvo & Distemper and we're at 5 years on the oldest dog (She's 10), 4 years on the middle guy, 3 years on the youngest (He is almost 8).....Each of their tests have come back with very high immunity (STILL) for each disease....
As far as Rabies.....The oldest girl just got vaccinated (With only Half the normal dose) because it has been 5 years.....One guy was just vaccinated for Rabies because he came from a very bad background and I had only vaccinated him once......My middle guy guy will have his check up in April and he has not had a Rabies vaccine in 4 years, so we will see......
On a side note: Each of them get a full blood panel YEARLY and always have.....They also get a Kidney Function Test YEARLY that detects Kidney problems at 25% instead of blood work that finds it at 75% loss......
Have you ask your Vet about Titers???? This truly is the way to go.....
Please keep us updated on Misty's Surgery...I'll be praying for you BOTH!!! Sincerely, Karla
My Pack here get Titers for Parvo & Distemper and we're at 5 years on the oldest dog (She's 10), 4 years on the middle guy, 3 years on the youngest (He is almost 8).....Each of their tests have come back with very high immunity (STILL) for each disease....
As far as Rabies.....The oldest girl just got vaccinated (With only Half the normal dose) because it has been 5 years.....One guy was just vaccinated for Rabies because he came from a very bad background and I had only vaccinated him once......My middle guy guy will have his check up in April and he has not had a Rabies vaccine in 4 years, so we will see......
On a side note: Each of them get a full blood panel YEARLY and always have.....They also get a Kidney Function Test YEARLY that detects Kidney problems at 25% instead of blood work that finds it at 75% loss......
Have you ask your Vet about Titers???? This truly is the way to go.....
Please keep us updated on Misty's Surgery...I'll be praying for you BOTH!!! Sincerely, Karla
Ginger, I would most definitely NOT get the boosters for Misty right now. If you have had her vaccinated on schedule since you got her, she has probably got one rompin' stompin' immunity to EVERYTHING right now! In fact, if you were to run titers on her, she probably has enough immunity to last her for the rest of her life.
While it's true that the very young, the very old and the sick need more protection than everyone else, even though Misty is somewhat compromised right now due to her kidney issues, since her kidney values are SO good at this point, I wouldn't consider to be a sick dog. Because of that I would treat her just like any other healthy dog and just maintain the status quo. Since she has a lifelong immunity to parvo at this point, and that would really be your main worry, that's a major part of the battle right there.. Lepto may or may not be a problem in your area, you can do a Google search for incidences of leptospirosis in your town/city/county/what have you and that will tell you how vigilant you need to be with regard to watching Misty when you're outside with her and making sure she doesn't drink from standing water where wild animals could have urinated or defecated. This is one of the main ways lepto is spread.
It seems that vaccine protocols in the UK are quite different from those in the US right now. Perhaps you could pull up some sites on new vaccine protocols from this side of the pond, print them out and show them to your vet to back up your decision. At least then you would have a professional opinion to back up your decision so that the vets there can see that yours is an opinion formed by doing research and not one that you just decided to pull from thin air. Who knows, maybe they will agree with at least some of it, which would be great because vaccinating would become safer for UK furbabies.
Ghilly
While it's true that the very young, the very old and the sick need more protection than everyone else, even though Misty is somewhat compromised right now due to her kidney issues, since her kidney values are SO good at this point, I wouldn't consider to be a sick dog. Because of that I would treat her just like any other healthy dog and just maintain the status quo. Since she has a lifelong immunity to parvo at this point, and that would really be your main worry, that's a major part of the battle right there.. Lepto may or may not be a problem in your area, you can do a Google search for incidences of leptospirosis in your town/city/county/what have you and that will tell you how vigilant you need to be with regard to watching Misty when you're outside with her and making sure she doesn't drink from standing water where wild animals could have urinated or defecated. This is one of the main ways lepto is spread.
It seems that vaccine protocols in the UK are quite different from those in the US right now. Perhaps you could pull up some sites on new vaccine protocols from this side of the pond, print them out and show them to your vet to back up your decision. At least then you would have a professional opinion to back up your decision so that the vets there can see that yours is an opinion formed by doing research and not one that you just decided to pull from thin air. Who knows, maybe they will agree with at least some of it, which would be great because vaccinating would become safer for UK furbabies.
Ghilly
Hi, i am not a vet or scientist, just someone who lost my dog best friend to kidney disease almost 3 months ago. Please do not get your dog boosters until you have had time to read some of the information available on the internet. This is from the leading vet schools with high reputations. Their research indicates overvacccinating elder or sick dogs is not recommended and can even be dangerous. Routine vets do not question vaccinations because it is a huge part of their revenue stream. Your dogs kidneys are already stressed. Please research it this. I wish i had known better.
COMMUNITY LEADER
Thank you Tony. I am definitely not going to let her have he Parvo -whatever happens. She has lifelong immunity, as far as I know, as she contracted Parvo when she was about 3 (before she came to me)
Unfortunately I never quite got a straight answer about that in the past, when I knew an awful lot less. My vet's practice is a "group" so we often used to see different vets. And it was only a couple of years ago I started to insist on seeing the same vet -the head vet there- every time we went.
I TOLD the vets every single time, that she had already had Parvo in the past, but was never 100% sure that element had been left out of her annual boosters. I presumed so......
Well after her "bad turn" 2 years ago I really laid into this, and when I insisted on seeing the head vet there, made it CLEAR she should not have the Parvo booster.
But the thing is -they do not really think the vaccinations can be harmful! They really think it is "weird" of me to question vaccination at all!
Now our vet is very good and has saved Misty's life 16 months ago. But even so, it's hard to convince HIM.
He also told me Leptosirosis doesn't "titer" well at all. In fact, he said it is almost impossible to Titer.
Phew! This little doggy is a worry at the moment!
Unfortunately I never quite got a straight answer about that in the past, when I knew an awful lot less. My vet's practice is a "group" so we often used to see different vets. And it was only a couple of years ago I started to insist on seeing the same vet -the head vet there- every time we went.
I TOLD the vets every single time, that she had already had Parvo in the past, but was never 100% sure that element had been left out of her annual boosters. I presumed so......
Well after her "bad turn" 2 years ago I really laid into this, and when I insisted on seeing the head vet there, made it CLEAR she should not have the Parvo booster.
But the thing is -they do not really think the vaccinations can be harmful! They really think it is "weird" of me to question vaccination at all!
Now our vet is very good and has saved Misty's life 16 months ago. But even so, it's hard to convince HIM.
He also told me Leptosirosis doesn't "titer" well at all. In fact, he said it is almost impossible to Titer.
Phew! This little doggy is a worry at the moment!
Hi Ginger. I think you probably know about as much about this as I do, so you may not be surprised by me saying - if I were in your shoes - I would skip the boosters. But wait for Ghilly to reply, which I'm absolutely sure she will, as she certainly knows much more about these issues.
I would say, given Misty's other problems, skipping the vaccinations would help alleviate any additional stresses on her systems. Once the lump is sorted and her kidney disease is under it's best possible control, then you can reassess the vaccinations and decide whether or not to do titers first, to find out what immunity is already present. I am assuming you are not immediately planning to put Misty in boarding kennels or subject her to any danger from parvo, etc., so I would prioritise by saying deal with the most important things first - then deal with vaccinations, if required, later.
Tony
I would say, given Misty's other problems, skipping the vaccinations would help alleviate any additional stresses on her systems. Once the lump is sorted and her kidney disease is under it's best possible control, then you can reassess the vaccinations and decide whether or not to do titers first, to find out what immunity is already present. I am assuming you are not immediately planning to put Misty in boarding kennels or subject her to any danger from parvo, etc., so I would prioritise by saying deal with the most important things first - then deal with vaccinations, if required, later.
Tony
Have an Answer?
You are reading content posted in the Dogs Community
Members of our Pet Communities share their Halloween pet photos.
Like to travel but hate to leave your pooch at home? Dr. Carol Osborne talks tips on how (and where!) to take a trip with your pampered pet
Ooh and aah your way through these too-cute photos of MedHelp members' best friends
A list of national and international resources and hotlines to help connect you to needed health and medical services.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
