[Neko]

I know we have a ton of opinions here about the vaccine and when to give it. I asked the vet if we could do it a few weeks apart from others and he said "Sure, but unless a dog had previous reactions or has health issues, there is no reason to separate it". He mentioned that he has never seen an issue...

I really never heard of an issue ether until the forums.

I don't know...

Any feedback?

Also how long after the 4th set should we wait before we can go to other heavy dog areas? It's not the dog park that I am dying to go to, it's the beach that allows dogs!!! =)

 

[onyx'girl]

I would still separate the rabies vax with the other ones. Your vet may have never 'seen' an issue because owners may not relate the vax'ing to what side effects the dog may have, and many vets choose not to acknowledge what is obvious.

The dog beach would be dicey, IMO(water consumption should be limited!)...but your dog is probably protected from what he was vaccinated for.

 

[Neko]

I would still separate the rabies vax with the other ones. Your vet may have never 'seen' an issue because owners may not relate the vax'ing to what side effects the dog may have, and many vets choose not to acknowledge what is obvious.

The dog beach would be dicey, IMO(water consumption should be limited!)...but your dog is probably protected from what he was vaccinated for.

Well it's the ocean so I hope he wont drink too much...

 

[martemchik]

Listen...I know that some members are very knowledgeable and have their own very well researched opinions on these things. But sometimes I wish people would maybe trust their vet a little bit more. You picked the guy, you're going to go to the guy, why question each one of their statements on an internet forum?

Think about it...that vet sees more dogs in one day and gives more rabies vaccines in one day than most of us will give in a lifetime.

I usually give all the vaccines in one day...I refuse to pay another $30 fee just to see the vet and have him give a vaccine. If I split up all my vaccines, on a yearly basis it would probably cost me at least $150 more a year to do them. And sure, no one wants to say that money isn't an issue...but that's a large amount of money to pay to decrease the already small risk that he'll have a reaction (on top of that he's never had a reaction so there's no reason to worry now).

 

[Neko]

Are there any good articles on the rabies thing? I tried searching and all I am finding is other pet forums with this info, but no valid information on the reasoning. Someone said it was to prevent over stimulating the immune system, but that was on a forum post. I just want to show my husband. He is a pharmacist and he is the "Pro Vaccination type" so I need proof to fight him with lol, actual studies and warnings!

 

[RiverDan]

We just had Barons done together. Rabies and last vaccine shots. I wish we had of separated the two. Here's why. The morning after Baron had a little eye discharge, and his left eye was slightly red. So I worry like crazy, and read nonstop to figure it out. Thinking allergies/ food/negative response to shots. Turns out I worried for nothing, his eye was better 48 hours later. It could have been one of a hundred things.
But with the shots being done together, I couldn't eliminate either or.
Just my 2 cents.

 

[Neko]

Listen...I know that some members are very knowledgeable and have their own very well researched opinions on these things. But sometimes I wish people would maybe trust their vet a little bit more. You picked the guy, you're going to go to the guy, why question each one of their statements on an internet forum?

Think about it...that vet sees more dogs in one day and gives more rabies vaccines in one day than most of us will give in a lifetime.

I usually give all the vaccines in one day...I refuse to pay another $30 fee just to see the vet and have him give a vaccine. If I split up all my vaccines, on a yearly basis it would probably cost me at least $150 more a year to do them. And sure, no one wants to say that money isn't an issue...but that's a large amount of money to pay to decrease the already small risk that he'll have a reaction (on top of that he's never had a reaction so there's no reason to worry now).

I do agree with you, I REALLY like our vet, he is an older guy and he talks to my husband on medical level about everything, I just sit there and let it go over my head. He has been so super with everything so far.... He asked us when we wanted to neuter! He said 6 month wont hurt your dog, but after a year will let him muscle up more... you decide and if he starts being bad around the house, bring him in. With Pexy, he said he likes the surgery, but it's not 100% just an fyi. I asked about the rabies he said he won't charge me another office visit to come get it later, but he does not see why in the world I would want to do this.

 

[NancyJ]

I figure there is zero harm in separating so why not? Most healthy dogs can apparently "handle" the combos - but if my dog has an issue I would rather be able to link to one thing or another.

My fellow is still slowly adding muscle going on 2. A lot of GSD lines mature slowly -mine last dog was 3 before fully muscled.

 

[martemchik]

We just had Barons done together. Rabies and last vaccine shots. I wish we had of separated the two. Here's why. The morning after Baron had a little eye discharge, and his left eye was slightly red. So I worry like crazy, and read nonstop to figure it out. Thinking allergies/ food/negative response to shots. Turns out I worried for nothing, his eye was better 48 hours later. It could have been one of a hundred things.
But with the shots being done together, I couldn't eliminate either or.
Just my 2 cents.

And here is the issue...do you have proof this was due to the vaccines being given at the same time? Or did your dog get into something that same day that you didn't notice and caused the redness in his eye?

Since people usually don't take the time to get HARD proof that X caused Y...you don't get many studies on this type of stuff. You get stories here and there with people making their own connections, spreading it to others, and so starts a chain of unsubstantiated information.

Correlation does not equal causation.

 

[Neko]

I figure there is zero harm in separating so why not? Most healthy dogs can apparently "handle" the combos - but if my dog has an issue I would rather be able to link to one thing or another.

My fellow is still slowly adding muscle going on 2. A lot of GSD lines mature slowly -mine last dog was 3 before fully muscled.

We will only neuter early if he starts having a hard time with his back foot, the 3 toe one. To keep him from getting too heavy.

 

[RiverDan]

And here is the issue...do you have proof this was due to the vaccines being given at the same time? Or did your dog get into something that same day that you didn't notice and caused the redness in his eye?

Since people usually don't take the time to get HARD proof that X caused Y...you don't get many studies on this type of stuff. You get stories here and there with people making their own connections, spreading it to others, and so starts a chain of unsubstantiated information.

Correlation does not equal causation.

That's my point. I'll never know what it was. No way to prove any thing.

 

[Neko]

And here is the issue...do you have proof this was due to the vaccines being given at the same time? Or did your dog get into something that same day that you didn't notice and caused the redness in his eye?

Since people usually don't take the time to get HARD proof that X caused Y...you don't get many studies on this type of stuff. You get stories here and there with people making their own connections, spreading it to others, and so starts a chain of unsubstantiated information.

Correlation does not equal causation.

Are you relater to my husband LOL sound just like him!

 

[NancyJ]

Correlation does not equal causation but it opens the door to hypotheses which need to be tested.

 

[mego]

I told my vet I was concerned and he agreed to separate them by 2 weeks even though they usually do them all at once.
Since the next time I came back it was for one shot they did not charge me an office visit because it was discussed before I left on the day she got 4th booster. I would just ask them if you could work something like that out, your concerns (no matter if they are scientifically based or not) should be their top priority.

 

[Neko]

Hi mego, I asked, they have no problem, because the shots are a "package" with office visit, I just have to pay for the whole thing and come back later to get just the shot. Jeff is researching this more, but If he can go to the beach without the rabies shot than that's all i care about I am just trying to take him places. I see puppies everywhere I go and I think we are being way to protective... By the time I take him to PetSmart he will be full grown lol!

With the beach, there are alot of wild animals and raccoons, but I am sure if I saw anything going towards my pup I would go WARRIOR on it.

 

[martemchik]

I told my vet I was concerned and he agreed to separate them by 2 weeks even though they usually do them all at once.
Since the next time I came back it was for one shot they did not charge me an office visit because it was discussed before I left on the day she got 4th booster. I would just ask them if you could work something like that out, your concerns (no matter if they are scientifically based or not) should be their top priority.

See I don't agree with this. It's great that your vet didn't charge you, but I don't think we should be expecting vets to not charge us because of a concern we get from reading a couple of internet forum posts. You are in fact taking up some of the vet's time that he could be devoting to other people that will pay for that time. To start expecting vets to start catering to each one of our needs and false concerns isn't fair, they are in the business of making money after all.

As to the comment about testing a hypothesis...that was my original point. A vet does this hundreds of times in a week, sees hundreds of dogs, and has thousands of dogs to base their opinions on. We (on the forum) have our dogs and just our dogs to base this off of, and then we get to hear the horror stories of others (since no one comes on to post "went to the vet today and everything went great" types of threads).

If the chance of your dog reacting is .01%, is it really worth the worry? That's like saying, I have a headache and I won't take Tylenol because there's a chance of a reaction. I'm sure that I love my dog just as much as everyone else on here and I don't want to put him at any extra risk, but sometimes, I feel like people get way too paranoid over the simplest of daily procedures.

 

[NancyJ]

My vet is very well paid to give the vaccines I could buy at the feed store or get at the mobile vaccine clinics for much less money.

 

[mego]

See I don't agree with this. It's great that your vet didn't charge you, but I don't think we should be expecting vets to not charge us because of a concern we get from reading a couple of internet forum posts. You are in fact taking up some of the vet's time that he could be devoting to other people that will pay for that time. To start expecting vets to start catering to each one of our needs and false concerns isn't fair, they are in the business of making money after all.

As to the comment about testing a hypothesis...that was my original point. A vet does this hundreds of times in a week, sees hundreds of dogs, and has thousands of dogs to base their opinions on. We (on the forum) have our dogs and just our dogs to base this off of, and then we get to hear the horror stories of others (since no one comes on to post "went to the vet today and everything went great" types of threads).

If the chance of your dog reacting is .01%, is it really worth the worry? That's like saying, I have a headache and I won't take Tylenol because there's a chance of a reaction. I'm sure that I love my dog just as much as everyone else on here and I don't want to put him at any extra risk, but sometimes, I feel like people get way too paranoid over the simplest of daily procedures.

I gave my puppy lepto. They wanted to do lepto, 4th parvo booster, and rabies at the same time, and she had just finished up a round of antibiotics for vaginitis. I don't think it's expecting too much to not want to pound my puppy, who just got off antibiotics, with 3 vaccines at once. I think that it's better practice to space them out, and yes I would have paid for another office visit, but the fact that the vet told me "oh yeah you can just come in I can give the shot and it takes 2 minutes" why on earth would I pay an hour long office visit that would literally take him 2 minutes? As for taking up other people's time to cater to my needs...it takes them at least 5 minutes to weigh, take temperature etc with vet techs, it wasn't putting anyone out.

I didn't space them out because I was worried about the rabies vaccine reacting poorly, I spaced them out because I didn't want my puppy feeling like absolute crap all day because she was stuck with so many needles.

 

[I_LOVE_MY_MIKKO]

Are you going to Fort de Soto? I love that place! I wish I lived in day-driving distance.

 

[khigh]

See I don't agree with this. It's great that your vet didn't charge you, but I don't think we should be expecting vets to not charge us because of a concern we get from reading a couple of internet forum posts. You are in fact taking up some of the vet's time that he could be devoting to other people that will pay for that time. To start expecting vets to start catering to each one of our needs and false concerns isn't fair, they are in the business of making money after all.

As to the comment about testing a hypothesis...that was my original point. A vet does this hundreds of times in a week, sees hundreds of dogs, and has thousands of dogs to base their opinions on. We (on the forum) have our dogs and just our dogs to base this off of, and then we get to hear the horror stories of others (since no one comes on to post "went to the vet today and everything went great" types of threads).

If the chance of your dog reacting is .01%, is it really worth the worry? That's like saying, I have a headache and I won't take Tylenol because there's a chance of a reaction. I'm sure that I love my dog just as much as everyone else on here and I don't want to put him at any extra risk, but sometimes, I feel like people get way too paranoid over the simplest of daily procedures.

With the first paragraph, it doesn't take up the vets time more than a few seconds to just get a shot. When I worked as a vet tech, the techs did all the vaccines and at the Saturday half price clinics, the vet didn't even see the dog. They don't even draw up the vaccine. All they do is sign off on the chart at the end of the day. Again, this is if you are only going in for shots and not for an exam.