Annual Vaccines

I do rabies every 3 years, DHPP every 3 years, bordatella intranasal about twice a year. I hesitate on that one every time, but it's a necessary evil if I want to send Missy to daycare. Plus all the flyball, she's around so many dogs. There was a kennel cough outbreak in June and thank goodness she didn't get it. The rabies and DHPP are not given at the same time. We didn't switch to DHPP every 3 years until this past year because I made a fuss. So she got rabies in April 2014, not due until 2017. She got DHPP in April 2015, so she's not due for that until 2018. I haven't looked into titering.. our vet is more conservative, so that might be an option. I just haven't asked yet.
 
Sorry for the extreme threadomancy here, but I had an intriguing recent case which may have some interest.
I do not titer for Rabies, simply because it is required by law and a titer does not waive that requirement. So I do not have a lot of experience with what to expect.
(Oddly, I have myself titered.)
However we had a dog going to Hawaii, and they require a titer to avoid quarantine.
This dog received rabies vaccination 9/26/ 2011, and 9/10/2012.
I boostered him last week, and ran the test, expecting we would be all right - but the test came back FAILED with less than .5 IU/ml.
Note that while this dog was in fact overdue, he was only a little over 6 months overdue, and had no rabies protection.
So the commonly repeated statement 'We know that the rabies vaccine protects for much longer than the 3 year requirement' was, at least in this case, simply not true.
 
I've heard of several dogs just in my neighborhood who were titered and have come back needing vaccines. I personally work in pharmaceutical research and believe that vaccines have the potential to do FAR more good than harm. I agree that vaccines CAN last longer than originally thought, but they don't always (individual immune responses always vary) and therefore either a titer or simply a re-vaccination is necessary. And definitely, the blanket statement that "we know that the rabies vaccine protects for much longer than the 3 year requirement" is false and misleading. They MIGHT last longer than 3 years in YOUR dog. They might not.
 
The Quahog said:
Sorry for the extreme threadomancy here, but I had an intriguing recent case which may have some interest.
I do not titer for Rabies, simply because it is required by law and a titer does not waive that requirement. So I do not have a lot of experience with what to expect.
(Oddly, I have myself titered.)
However we had a dog going to Hawaii, and they require a titer to avoid quarantine.
This dog received rabies vaccination 9/26/ 2011, and 9/10/2012.
I boostered him last week, and ran the test, expecting we would be all right - but the test came back FAILED with less than .5 IU/ml.
Note that while this dog was in fact overdue, he was only a little over 6 months overdue, and had no rabies protection.
So the commonly repeated statement 'We know that the rabies vaccine protects for much longer than the 3 year requirement' was, at least in this case, simply not true.
Click to expand...

Interesting that this thread came up again because I was JUST talking vaccines with a vet at a trial this weekend and she told me a similar story. Out of interests sake I'm going to titre at 3 years and see what we get! Rabies may need to be a re-vaccination next year anyway if we decide to trial in the states.
 
My dogs are always titered and I've never had one come back negative...until last week. Ruffles, age 2 1/2, had a failed distemper titer. She got all her puppy shots on time and her parvo level -- given as a combo vaccine with distemper -- was fine. I had to have her revaccinated for distemper.
 
I read a study or three pitting "challenge" against "titer". They found that even though the titer lasted say, 7 years, by challenge it was 5 years. Rabies titer was longer than 3 years but it was 3 years by challenge. Fortunately, my state is a 3-year state rather than a yearly state. It somewhat looks like I am falling into a 3 year rabies, 4 year everything else cycle. Melli, though, is done except for rabies being she is at least 9 at this point. The shepherd will get 1 multi & 2 rabies more lifetime. Cubby probably will end up with 2 mid-life boosters, maybe 3 depending on how he ages. I describe myself as "moderate" in all the preventives. I want it all, full coverage but the least amount of vaccines, preventives, and such to get it. The "non-responders" are problematic. That's when you rely on community coverage. If the whole community vaccinates, the non-responders likely will squeak through.
 
The Quahog said:
However we had a dog going to Hawaii, and they require a titer to avoid quarantine.
This dog received rabies vaccination 9/26/ 2011, and 9/10/2012.
I boostered him last week, and ran the test, expecting we would be all right - but the test came back FAILED with less than .5 IU/ml.
Note that while this dog was in fact overdue, he was only a little over 6 months overdue, and had no rabies protection.
So the commonly repeated statement 'We know that the rabies vaccine protects for much longer than the 3 year requirement' was, at least in this case, simply not true.
Click to expand...

Do you think the dog will ever titer properly?

I sent a dog to Hawaii in 2009. Hawaii requires two Rabies vaccines 90+ days apart, plus a positive titer. He had one rabies vaccine, we ran the titer three weeks later, PASSED, then still had to have a second one before he could be shipped. He had two Rabies vaccines like four months apart, which sucked. But as he's now an island dog, he's never again had to have one. Those puppies are almost 8, he was 10 months at his second Rabies shot, I wonder what he would titer now? ...hmmm...
 
That is an interesting question.
We know, for instance , that Rotties and Dobes tend to have a hard time building up protection against parvo, so there can be significant individual variations.
Getting a dog to Hawaii can be a nightmare, especially avoiding a lengthy quarantine. The timing on the various procedures is pretty strict with small windows, and the lab tests can take time.
It is recommended that a titer be taken 20-40 days after vaccination, so we will be redoing that and hoping.
 
We do titres with my sheltie and so far have never given the rabies vaccine as it's not legally required where we live and our vet feels the potential for harm is greater than what he described as a very low risk of contracting Rabies. With that said, we are about to complete our provincial service dog exam that requires a rabies vaccine. Our vet is going to write a letter explaining why he feels my dog shouldn't be vaccinated (my dog already has a sensitive immune system). If the province insists then our vet will divide the vaccine into multiple doses to minimize the stress placed on my dog's immune system. He does the same thing with my dog's anual bordatella vaccine and so far so good.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top