I meant to solicit advice over the weekend, but forgot, now I have until this evening to decide if I give Ripley the lepto vaccine or not.

As you can see from my sig photo, he's in nasty water pretty often.

However, as the vax only protects against 2 of 7 strains, is it worth the risk?

PS...found the thread talking about this topic in February, but the website http://www.caberfeidh.com/Lepto.htm is down, apparently.

Thanks again!

Expanded my search range on this topic, and questions answered.

Thanks for discussing this in the past!

The Caber Feidh link worked just now for me, perhaps try again?... (such a great site)

In tune with that article, the Lepto vax is one that I don't even second guess not giving to my dog. Reasons stated:

1. it has the highest record of adverse reactions of any vaccine
2. as you noted, the vax will only prevent against 4 of the 6 common strains
3. the window of possible protection from any of the 4 strains will only last 6 months to a year (so if you really wanted to maintain protection - from only some of the strains - you'd be vaccinating a LOT)
4. because of the above factors, the seriousness of the infection, and the fact that lab tests can take WEEKS to deliver a conclusive diagnosis - if your dog shows symptoms of lepto, you'd have to treat for it REGARDLESS of whether he had the vax or not...

Doesn't seem like there's much point to me, though it would behoove anyone concerned to do a little research into recorded cases in their area and try to guage just how much risk their dog actually faces. Lepto is a serious bacterial infection and can lead to death if not caught and treated immediately, but in this case, you're probably better off just watching your dog's health like a hawk.

~Natalya

Edited by Natalya Zahn (04/19/2010 04:11 PM)
Edit reason: sorry for sounding redundant Meredith, sounds like you found lots of good reading with this! :)

I read somewhere, can't remember where for sure, that the reactions and ill effects of the vaccine for lepto far outweigh the good.

I've also had our vet suggest giving our Labrador the lepto vaccine jsut because he goes hunting, this was right after he had been diagnosed with hypothyroidism-something that I've found through plenty of research, no dog should be given any more vaccines than necessary if they have it, gee thanks vet.

None of my dogs have contracted lepto, and they go swimming in some pretty funky water and have drank some really nasty looking water (of course I try to stop them and redirect them to the clean water in the dish provided, lol). And like you said, the vaccine only protects against 2 of 7 strains (I'll guess the most common strains, IDK). Maybe someone else here might have more info on the pros and cons of the lepto vaccine

I couldn't find anything on the web searching for reported cases of Leptospirosis in Ohio.

I think I've got the "watching like a hawk" covered. Ripley's had a UTI in the past, so I monitor.

Natalya, I never mind redundancy when talking about our dogs. What if I don't get it the first time? :-)

 Quote: Meredith Hamilton

Natalya, I never mind redundancy when talking about our dogs. What if I don't get it the first time? :-)

Oh man... story of my LIFE!

~Natalya