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Post by Dobereich on Apr 10, 2012 18:36:13 GMT -5
This is a pretty good read. I do not like giving the lepto vaccine.. actually I don't give it at all. Although I don't recommend it for others, I realize its hard to tell someone the consequences if their dog did contract lepto, and to contradict their vet who is pushing the necessity of the vaccine. The problem is, as was pointed out by my vet, there are several lepto strains. The vaccine is doesn't necessarily protect against the same strain that your dog could be exposed to. In fact, around these parts a few cases were reported, and the infected dogs had a strain that was not covered by the vaccine. Its a very hard vaccine on the body, this article touches on some of the risks. www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/leptospirosis-vaccine/
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Post by hooligan on Apr 11, 2012 10:56:18 GMT -5
Yes, a very interesting article. Thanks, Monica. I will definitely reread more carefully. As with the whole heartworm-tick-flea treatment protocol, I am very conflicted about the lepto vaccine -- and so is our vet. She herself has told us that it doesn't cover all the strains of lepto.
Despite her reservations, she leans toward giving the vaccine to Jack because he frequently visits the country and he regularly hikes in the bush, where he is exposed to all kinds of wild animals (and is obsessive about investigating every urine scent he comes across).
We reluctantly give the vaccine because our previous guy very nearly died after picking up what was probably full-blown lepto. I say "probably" because this was never confirmed via testing -- and I notice that the article points out that once a dog has started treatment, it's impossible to pinpoint lepto for sure.
This is what happened with our guy. When Fred was 11, he got very sick, very quickly. His kidneys shut down, so that at first, our vet suspected that he had gotten into something poisonous. Of course, she started treatment immediately, and it was only after a couple of days that she began to lean toward lepto as the culprit. As far as we knew, Fred hadn't ingested anything squiffy, but like Jack, he spent a lot of time in the country and in the bush and in and out of creeks, rivers and ponds.
Fred spent a week in the clinic on IV antibiotics, fluids and food, and for the first few days, things were definitely touch and go. This is not something I want to experience again.
But I wish the decision were more clear-cut. Sigh.
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