Selective vaccination?

I really dislike giving my dogs shots as much as I dislike it for my kids. I delayed and selectively vax'd my kids and I was wondering if anyone else did this for their pets as well. I really dislike giving shots to tiny puppies.

 

I also hate when my Homer gets a shot, but I've noticed that he is not afraid of it - I know, hard to believe - he is just very distracted when we are at the vet, my veterinarian always gives him treats . I trust my veterinarian, so I almost always agree on what he is proposing.

 

I'm a believer of vaccines for my kids and my pets. Anything preventive is a good thing in my book. Sure from time to time there are side effects. But that can happen with anything introduced into the animal's or human's body.I don't think the risk out weighs the benefits.

 

We do not do any routine vaxx's for us, children, or pets. My husband has a few required things for his job, and we do vaxx for travel reasons (Africa has a few mandatory vaxx's for example) but that's it.

 

I understand the apprehension of getting a dog vaccinated. But if you've had a dog who had Parvo like I did and almost die from it you might feel differently. So now I make sure that my dogs receive that Parvo vaccine as a puppy. It may not seem like a fun thing to do, but believe me when you have seen a dog suffer with this ailment you want to prevent this from happening again.

 

So what vaccines are you able to opt out of? I thought they were all required? And how long can you delay them and they still be effective? Do you know offhand?

 

Jessi, I'm not sure, but I think Rabies vaccine is the only one required by law. Then, there are those the veterinary body (whoever oversees these things) recommend.

I have only opted out of vaccines for my dog once. That was when Sierra hit 13. She had medical issues that last year. I spoke to the vet and she decided that possible side effects weren't worth the risk because of her age and issues. She stayed mostly indoors or in our yard at that point so her exposure was very slim.

I believe in vaccination for pets. Though, I am skeptical about the efficacy of the kennel cough vaccine. My Lab was fully vaccinated when she contracted kennel cough. We think she got it at the vets when she went for a bath and nail trim. The treatment was very easy. One pill took care of it.