Self Vaccinations for a puppy

[KMS050308]

So I got a German Shepherd puppy. She is almost 4 months old. Our local vet wants a lot of money to take her in for a "check-up" and vaccines.

She is healthy, eats well, within her weight range for age and breed size, energetic, gets proper exercise. I just want her shots.

Has anyone ever done self vaccines on their dogs? I am thinking about getting my vaccines from a local Tractor Supply, it is much cheaper, but I just want some input :)

[Margot49]

Whoops.  ah, make that in *her*.  :-)

[Margot49]

I hope this puppy, being 4months old, has had some shots already!!  If the pup got any immunity from the mother, it will have been worn off by now so I certainly would be giving shots and soon. Ghilly's advice is spot on.  I have given my dogs shots also.  As Lepto is really not a problem in my area, I did not give the combo with the Lepto.  Often, if a dog is going to react, it will be to the Lepto.  A word of advice, even though I gave my own shots, I never gave them unless I knew my Vet's office was open.  You never know if/when a dog might have a reaction.  I've had two react and I had to rush to the Vet.  If you're not sure how to give a shot, ask someone with knowledge to tell you how to load the syringe and how and where to give the shot. These shots can be given sub Q and not in the muscle.

As to the other reply, when one gets a pet, they do have to plan for Vet care, probably at some time or another.  I don't have pet insurance but I do keep an account for the animals.  You might want to start such an account and put a few bucks a month into it.

Good luck with the puppy and I would really limit where you take him until he has 2 or 3 shots in him.

[KMS050308]

Thanks to the first person's response. To the 2nd person.....I came here for advice, not for someone to be rude and tell me I do not deserve a dog.

[lindapalm]

Excellent answer.

[heartfluttersflyawayplz]

Sad to say but no one should take on a fur-baby unless they can afford them. am sorry but i see to many getting them , than they dont give shots or if they get sick they dont take to dr because they cant afford them. and they are always the last to get anything done if they need something.

i saw two sweet puppys die because the vet would not take payments. hello if you get a pet put money up for them or dont get one.

[Ghilly]

There is no reason you can't give your puppy shots yourself as long as you know how to do it.  If you give them incorrectly you can cause the puppy unnecessary pain, so if you are unsure, let the vet do it instead even though it will cost you money for the visit.  The only vaccine you cannot purchase to give on your own is the rabies vaccine, and most municipalities require that every dog over the age of 6 months be vaccinated for rabies.  So in another couple of months you will HAVE to make an appointment with your vet to get her rabies vaccination.

There are, of course, other drawbacks to not having the vet administer the vaccines.  One, and this is especially important with her being a German Shepherd Dog, would be so that he could give her hips a going over to see whether or not he feels she is dysplastic to any degree.  The other would be to have a fecal exam done.  You don't have the necessary things in your home to do a fecal exam, so you won't have the advantage of having the vet be able to diagnose internal parasites if she has them.  

I have always felt it was best for the first exam (after acquiring a new puppy or dog) to be done by the vet, this way if there are any health issues that you were not aware of, you can be made aware of them and address them before they get too far advanced or you get too attached to the puppy to give it back to the breeder for replacement.  For example, do you know for sure that she doesn't have a heart murmur?   Puppies with low grade heart murmurs can act and appear to be perfectly normal, yet still have a problem.  You would not know this without a vet exam.  

If you are dead set on doing these vaccinations at home, at least call your local vet and ask them which vaccines you should purchase for your puppy.  You can overload the puppy with antigens very easily and make him quite sick if you are not sure what you are buying.   Many puppies react badly to the leptospirosis faction of the DHLPP (Lepto is the L) vaccine, so if your vet says that Leptospirosis is not an issue in your area, you can buy a vaccine without it.  Even if you don't decide to have him administer the injections, your vet is still your best bet in this case for getting the correct information on what shots to give in the first place for your location.

Ghilly