Which shots do you normally give. Do you include Lyme? We are in Pa and I heard that we will have terrible tick year b/c of the mild winter.YUK
I give my dogs the Lyme’s vaccine but it has to be special ordered and costs me lots.
I moved to MI from TX from IA and for me, it’s a vaccine that I want to give. (that did eliminate me from adopting some dogs from certain rescues here btw!)
I feel pretty strongly about the vaccine having seen critters with Lymes and people with it too. But it’s not an “encouraged” vaccine here in my area.
We started seeing ticks about 2 weeks ago due to the warm weather I guess. I’m going to vaccinate for it again.
Horses and dogs routinely get it around here (northeastern mass), but it does not seem very effective. Both my dogs got Lyme, as well as one (or two) of my parent’s dogs. I also know of a bunch of horses who were giveb the vaccines and people who have had the disease. Right now a (human) friend of mine has it, as well as one of the horses at the barn i work at. One of my parent’s dogs is on the doxy because he was lame, but the doxy isnt helping so i dont think it’s Lyme (long story). My point is, it’s common to vaccinate for it around here, but the disease it so prevalent and the vaccine is seemingly ineffective. On a side note, one of our vets recently informed us that frontline is becoming more and more ineffective against ticks, due to increasing tolerance to it, so he suggested a mixed applicated of one month frontline, one month advantix, etc… just a thought.
My understanding from the rescue I was trying to adopt a dog from out of central PA is that the vaccine is only about 50% effective. They were shocked we didn’t give Lyme vac her in WNY to dogs routinely. At least my Cornell graduate vet doesn’t. He is a supporter of vaccinations for only what is needed and not over doing it if unnecessary.
I live in SC so not really a big deal here unless you’re going in the woods A LOT. BUT I got the Lyme vaccine done with my black labs puppy shots (he’s now 15 months). I worked at the clinic so I did spread out his non-vital vaccines so he wasn’t getting everything all at once, but pretty much if there was a vaccine for it at the clinic he got it lol. He hasn’t gotten his yearly booster for Lyme because the clinic I’m currently working at doesn’t carry it. He’s due for it at the end of April so I may see if they’ll order in a 10 dose vial just for me as it seems like when I looked at the price list that it wasn’t that expensive.
SE MA. I vaccinate. My vet recommends it for dogs in heavy tick areas, which unfortunately, we are.
BTW, per this reference:
http://www.jarvm.com/articles/Vol4Iss1/Vol4Iss1WikleV4N1pp23-28.pdf
The efficacy is better than 50%.
The vaccine has improved since it was first introduced. There are studies that suggest that those dogs who are vaccinated, if they do get Lymne recover better. I used to not do it when the vaccine first came out, but I do now. I am in a heavy Lyme area and with improvement in the vaccine I feel it is worth it. Lyme nephritis is a terrible terrible thing.
Since there have been no long term studies on the new vaccine, especially if the antigen used in the vaccine can cause some of the joint damage caused by Lyme itself, I wouldn’t be inclined to use it. In addition, ticks carry other diseases than Lyme. Prevention and eradication of ticks in the dog’s area is key here, I think.
My vet had me vaccinate my puppy because Merck (if I remember correclty) bought the vaccine and improved it.
He said its about 90% effective AND if you do the 2 loading doses and vaccinate every year with in the 12 month mark and your dog still gets lyme, Merck will pay to treat your dog.
Since I live in PA and I have a lab (they are effected worse than other breeds) I went ahead and did it. I also use Advantix 2 just to keep them off him. Double protection.
Eastern Pa- i always give the vaccine. have had friends who’s dogs have gotten lyme. I won’t risk it since there is a vaccine
Well, I had my dogs given the Lyme vaccine for the past couple of years, & one dog got Lyme Disease last year anyway. So I paid for the vaccine PLUS had to pay for the meds when she went severely lame & tested positive. Thus, I’m not sure I’ll be bothering with the vaccine anymore. If they’re going to get Lyme anyway, I really don’t see the point.
[QUOTE=LauraKY;6229576]
Since there have been no long term studies on the new vaccine, especially if the antigen used in the vaccine can cause some of the joint damage caused by Lyme itself, I wouldn’t be inclined to use it. In addition, ticks carry other diseases than Lyme. Prevention and eradication of ticks in the dog’s area is key here, I think.[/QUOTE]
I don’t and the above is why.
ditto the prior two posts, plus once your dog is vaccinated it becomes very difficult to test the dog to see if he has lyme disease or not- most vaccinated dogs will test postive on most tests forevermore after being vaccinated.
Most dogs who get exposed to lyme don’t even seem to get sick, and those who do show symptoms tend to rapidly recover on ten days antibiotics.
Most of the “reports” of dogs getting terribly ill or not responding to antibiotics cannot ever be confirmed to have actually been due to lyme rather than to some other cause.
Well jeez…I need to start researching more.
We just took our dogs to get their shots and vet strongly recommended the Lyme vaccine. Our area is crawling with ticks right now. Our vet said that the research suggested that it is 83% effective, but that newer research shows that it is actually more effective than that.
Im kinda pissed vet didnt mention joint damage as a side effect.
[QUOTE=AliCat518;6231208]
Well jeez…I need to start researching more.
We just took our dogs to get their shots and vet strongly recommended the Lyme vaccine. Our area is crawling with ticks right now. Our vet said that the research suggested that it is 83% effective, but that newer research shows that it is actually more effective than that.
Im kinda pissed vet didnt mention joint damage as a side effect.[/QUOTE]
I’m not saying there is joint damage as a side effect. I’m saying there are no long term studies that show it doesn’t and what the long term effects are. Sorry, my dogs aren’t guinea pigs. I don’t trust the pharma companies anyway to be completely honest.
Wendy, here’s a Cornell study that shows dogs do get infected, may have subclinical infections that, upon necropsy, show damage from infection:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15904927
You still need to worry about erhlichiosis/anaplasmosis.
More…how effective is 30 days of antibiotic and the dangers of steroids in dogs with Lyme infections:
[I]"J INFECT DIS: Status of Borrelia burgdorferi infection after
antibiotic treatment and the effects of corticosteroids:
An experimental study
AUTHORS: Straubinger, R. K.; Straubinger, A. F.; Summers, B. A.;
Jacobson, R. H.
ORGANIZATION: James A. Baker Institute for Animal Health, College of
Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca NY,
14853, USA. rks4@cornell.edu
REFERENCE: J Infect Dis 2000 Mar;181(3):1069-81
ABSTRACT:
Sixteen specific-pathogen-free beagles were infected with Borrelia
burgdorferi. Three groups of 4 dogs were treated with antibiotics for
30 consecutive days starting 120 days after tick exposure; 4 dogs
were untreated controls. At day 420 after tick exposure and again
before euthanasia, 2 dogs of each group were treated with prednisone
for 14 days. All dogs contracted infection and 11 developed acute
arthritis 50- 120 days after exposure. After day 120, one of 12
antibiotic-treated dogs and 2 of 4 untreated dogs became lame.
Antibiotic therapy reduced the frequency of Borrelia-positivity in
subsequent skin biopsy samples. After prednisone treatment, both
control dogs developed severe polyarthritis. At euthanasia, single
tissues of the antibiotic-treated dogs and multiple tissues of all
control dogs were Borrelia-positive by polymerase chain reaction.
Viable spirochetes were not recovered from antibiotic-treated dogs.
Two antibiotic-treated dogs showed histologic evidence of minimal
lesions, whereas all control dogs had mild polyarthritis with
periarteritis."[/I]
My dog gets the shot, got the shot last year, and last week tested positive for Lyme. Doxy here we come. I don’t know if I am in the “once they get the shot they test positive” or the “it would be so much worse if she didn’t get the shot” camp.
If it worked, I’d be all for it since we live in “Tick Central”, but after this last episode with our Coonhound, no thanks. I’ll take my chances with no vaccinations & antibiotics if the happen to catch it. And my group are indoor dogs, so their exposure is even lighter.
[QUOTE=Doberpei;6231321]
My dog gets the shot, got the shot last year, and last week tested positive for Lyme. Doxy here we come. I don’t know if I am in the “once they get the shot they test positive” or the “it would be so much worse if she didn’t get the shot” camp.[/QUOTE]
So you actually don’t know if she tested positive because she has Lyme disease or if she tested positive because she received the vaccine. And vets are treating no matter the reason?
And that is another reason I won’t give it.
