Some of you may know I am 17. Anyways in April it will be time for Gunner to get his shots again. I was hoping we could just give him the flea/tick, heartworm, and a 3 year Rabies. I don't want my parents to give him anymore than that. He is not in the best health: Chronic Ear infection in both ears, lumps all over his body that may be cancerous, he is fed horrible food (Purina, Beneful, Pedigree),and possible HD in one or both of his hips. When I get a job soon the first thing I will buy is start him on Raw and get him some supplements.

Anyways I was telling my mom the only Vax we needed was the Rabies and she kept yelling at me telling me how one of her dogs got Parvo and it was a horrible way for it to die. Then she kept telling me how Gunner and all our other animals get full vax's and "nothing has ever happened", aka they think there will be no side effects. Then we both started researching and she found out that in GA Rabies and I think a couple other shots are MANDATORY and you HAVE to get them done. So then I tell her fine we just get the ones that last a couple years instead of going back every single year. Well in Ga, according to my moms research, there re NO places that give 3 yr long vaxs!!! Can anyone tell me if this is actually true? To top it off my parents are not too big on money at the moment and we can only afford the COMBO shots. I feel SO BAD for Gunner, I really do. I need a job now so I can help him .

PS How do I downsize Guns pic?

When you say "again." how many vax has he had?


Here is a minimal-vax protocol that's widely followed:
http://www.weim.net/emberweims/Vaccine.html

About vax for a dog who is not well:
In order for a vaccination to provide effective protection, your pet must be in good health when the vaccine is given. If they have an underlying disease process or illness, their immune system will not generate the appropriate response to the vaccine, therefore, rendering it useless. In a worst case scenario, vaccinating a sick pet can make them worse. It also is a waste of your money. It is critical that a complete physical examination be given prior to vaccinations. In certain circumstances, we advise to not vaccinate your pet. In these situations, it is still crucial they continue to have regular physical examinations.
from http://www.coppellvet.com/vaccinations.htm as well as vet med handbooks and the actual vax package inserts.


See step 6 here for testing rather than automatically re-vaxing:
http://www.dogs4dogs.com/blog/2009/04/22/no-unnecessary-dog-shots/

About rabies vax law in Georgia:
http://health.state.ga.us/pdfs/epi/zvbd/Rabies%20Manual%202007%20Final%20with%20Cover.pdf
Dogs, cats, and ferrets. All dogs, cats, and ferrets should be vaccinated
against rabies and revaccinated in accordance with the Compendium of
Animal Rabies Prevention and Control (See page 58).

Page 58 lists several triennial vax products, by Merial, Pfizer, etc.

In fact, EVERY STATE now allows a three-year protocol.
http://www.happytrailsandwagntails.com/RabiesGoodFor3YearsInAll50States.html

“Georgia does recognize the 1 year and 3 year rabies vaccination as long as the vaccination is current for the time period.”
QUOTE from http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/animals/animal_import/downloads/ga.html

 Quote: Caitlin Beaumont

PS How do I downsize Guns pic?

I'm not good at that, but someone will help. Meanwhile, please use a link (Photobucket is easy, and free) instead of the actual picture because it forces scrolling on many computers. Thanks!

 Quote: Caitlin Beaumont

.... Chronic Ear infection in both ears, .... he is fed horrible food (Purina, Beneful, Pedigree) ...

You can do better than these foods for the same money. I would do the research and present your mother with the comparable prices of better foods.

How frequent are the ear infections, and how treated? What did the vet say about whether they are yeast, bacteria, or a combo? Do you have the Otomax-type drops to use at the first sign of inflammation (way before a full-blown infection starts again)?

There is an underlying factor when there are chronic ear infections, but at the very least, until that factor is determined (allergy, other chronic problems), you can be vigilant about examining the ears with a flashlight regularly. Ear infections are miserable for the dog.

" .... lumps all over his body that may be cancerous .... "


What has the vet said about this, or has s/he seen them? Want to link us to pictures?

Georgia's law allows for the 3 year rabies vaccine (see below).

GEORGIA -- http://www.health.state.ga.us/pdfs/epi/zvbd/Rabies%20Manual%202007%20Final%20with%20Cover.pdf which states as follows:

All dogs, cats, and ferrets should be vaccinated against rabies and revaccinated in accordance with the Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control (see page 58) or as described on the vaccine label.

The Merial Imrab 3 vaccine label for dogs and cats, click here: http://merialusa.naccvp.com/prodlist.php?mannum=1111&u=country&p=msds and then click on IMRAB 3, then on "label": "INDICATIONS: IMRAB® 3 is recommended for the vaccination of healthy cats, dogs, sheep, cattle, horses, and ferrets 12 weeks of age and older for prevention of disease due to rabies virus."

Pfizer Defensor 3 Rabies Vaccines under Precautions: http://www.pfizerah.com/PAHimages/compliance_pdfs/US_EN_D5_compliance.pdf

"This product has been shown to be efficacious in healthy animals. A protective immune response may not be elicited if animals are incubating an infectious disease are malnourished or parasitized are stressed due to shipment or environmental conditions are otherwise immunocompromised or the vaccine is not administered in accordance with label directions. "


For Rabvac 3 http://wyethc.naccvp.com/view.php?prodnum=1157122&u=country&p=msds click on "label" "Rabvac 3 is a killed virus vaccine for the vaccination of healthy dogs, cats and horses against rabies."

This link http://www.knowbetterdogfood.com/dogcare/health/vaccinations.php will take you to an article by Dr. Moira Drosdovech entitled Pet Vaccinations - A Time for Change, in which she states what all the veterinary medical schools and vaccine companies declare, that: "Although I have stated this in previous articles, I cannot emphasize enough that any pet receiving a vaccination should be 100% healthy. This excludes vaccinating pets with any health problems whatsoever, including diseases in "remission" such as skin diseases, cancer, thyroid problems, to name a few, and especially not those with a history of autoimmune disease. Please understand that you are not benefiting your pet at all by vaccinating while unhealthy."

From Understanding Vaccines published by the University of Nebraska Lincoln Extension, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/live/g1445/build/g1445.pdf, it states: Stress can lead to immune suppression and may reduce the animal’s ability to mount an immune response. Stress could include environmental extremes, handling, inadequate nutrition, parasitism, and other diseases. While it is common to vaccinate stressed animals, these animals are more susceptible to adverse vaccine reactions and frequently do not develop an adequate immune response. Immune stressed animals develop limited protection from vaccination. Frequently high stressed animals may be incubating disease at the time of vaccination. Although the subsequent sickness and death loss mimics a vaccine reaction, the underlying disease is to blame. Unless using the vaccine to stimulate immediate partial immunity, delaying vaccination of stressed animals is advisable.


Risks of Vaccination: a Review Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases On-line version ISSN 1678-9199 J. Venom. Anim. Toxins incl. Trop. Dis vol.15 no.1 Botucatu 2009 http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S1678-91992009000100003&script=sci_arttext&tlng=en "More often, reactions are consequences of disobeying label instructions, particularly their restrictions against using vaccines only in healthy animals."

2011 American Animal Hospital Association's Canine Vaccine Guidelines https://www.aahanet.org/PublicDocuments/CanineVaccineGuidelines.pdf
p. 21 "It is reasonable to avoid administration of any vaccine to patients with a history of systemic disease suspected to be associated with previous vaccination (e.g., immune-mediated hemolytic anemia, immune-mediated thrombocytopenia) or known to be caused by vaccine (vaccination-site cutaneous ischemic vasculitis after administration of rabies vaccine)."
p. 28 "As with pregnant dogs, veterinary medicine has advised against vaccination during illness, due to concerns about suboptimal protection, or worse, vaccine-induced illness."
p. 29 "Manufacturers only recommend administration of vaccine to healthy dogs. Dogs receiving immunosuppressive chemotherapy should not be vaccinated. Doing so may result in a suboptimal immune response or may aggravate (reactivate) an immune-mediated illness."

On Page 24 of the 2006 American Animal Hospital Association's Canine Vaccine Guidelines, its states under the "Sick Dogs" heading that: "As with pregnant dogs, veterinary medicine has advised against vaccination during illness, due to concerns about suboptimal seroconversion, or worse, conversion of vaccine to disease." In other words, if you vaccinate a pregnant or sick dog, not only do you run the risk of a less-than-desirable immunological response, but you run the risk of your dog contracting the disease it is being vaccinated against!

Under the "Immunological Factors Determining Vaccine Safety" column on page 16 of the American Animal Hospital Association's 2003 Canine Vaccine Guidelines it is written that: " ...an attenuated pathogen in a host which is severely immunosuppressed, or genetically more susceptible, may result in the vaccine causing the disease for which it was designed to prevent." Further on that page, under "The Immune System and Frequency of Revaccination," it cautions that: "When vaccinating an animal, the age of the animal, the animal's immune status, and interference by maternal antibodies in the development of immunity must be considered. Research has demonstrated that the presence of passively acquired maternal antibodies significantly interferes with the immune response to many canine vaccines, including CPV (parvo), CDV (distemper), CAV-2 (hepatitis) and rabies vaccines."

Hey Caitlin I just moved from Georgia and there is a program called luv my pet that does separate vaccines they carry the 3 year rabies. The price is 19 bucks they go to different petco's and they are very nice I have used them multiple times.

http://www.luvmypet.com/prices.html