I've read all the talk about not vaccinating your dog after it's puppy shots. I must say that I am leaning towards this line of thinking along with an all natural diet. What about this Lyme desease vaccine they have out now? One vet told me that it is 85% effective in dogs. He said the dog shot is more effective on dogs than the human shot is on humans. Any thoughts on this? Lyme desease is a legitimate concern in my neck of the woods. Any comments?

I've heard that the Lyme vaccine is supposed to be one of the worst. It can have some horrible side effects and my vet told me that it can even cause Lyme disease. I had one of my dogs vaccinated for Lyme because I was also concerned due to where I live, and he started having health problems within 2 weeks after his Lyme vaccination. Our new vet believes that the vaccination & the health problems were related. I will never vaccinate either of my dogs against Lyme again. I'd rather take the chance and treat them later if they happen to get it.

As mentioned above the lyme vaccine is one of the worst ones out there even when given as a single vaccine. I find it hard to beleive that your vet has not heard the controversy around it. Many veternarians are refusing to give it to dogs.

I beleive there are actually several law suits pending regarding it as well. It can and does cause lyme disease in its host but it doesn't stop there. It is one of the vaccines that side effects are worse than the actual disease! The biggest problem is that once your dog gets the disease from the vaccine it is much more difficult to treat than actual lymes disease.

It is way SAFER to take precautions around ticks. Ticks actually have to be on the dogs body for over 24 hrs. before they can cause lyme disease (if that particular tick is infected with it). SO....prepare a natural solution that you can use on your dog if you are going to go for a walk in the woods or in tall grass etc. It can be as simple as oil and water,so that the tick cannot get a hold. Carefully check your dog out every day for ticks etc.

I live in a 'tick' area , and the lyme vaccine here is not even for the tick that we have here. As well, in the 15 yrs. I have lived here, only once have any of my dogs ever had a tick on them. (and it was one tick on one dog). And in case you are wondering...my dogs go everywhere! In tall grass all the time. I do herding and tracking mostly , so I spend lots of time in feilds , around other animals etc.

Really, lyme disease is very preventable , if one takes the time to go over thier dogs on a regular basis after activities where they are more suseptable.

I don't doubt that this vet has heard the controversy. These two replies are pretty much what I expected to read. It seems to me that the lyme vaccine is just another scam used to make money. I guess the risk from the shot seems more dangerous than the dog actually getting the disease and being treated in the early stages. I value the knowlege that is presented on this board and between that and my own common sense, I don't think I will be getting my dogs vaccinated against Lyme.