My young Leo is due his first annual booster in November.  He's in good health, and I've had no bad experience with vaccinations in the past, but for some reason I am nervous about having it done.  So, can anyone tell me how long after the due date can I leave it before he has to have the entire course again?  Should I titre test?  What's the general consensus on homeopathic vaccination, and if I want to get him passported is homeopathic recognised?  Finally, with regard to the passport query, has anyone heard of any side-affects of the Rabies jab?

Thank you

An overdue booster can be done, as long as it's within 3 months of the due date.

I let one of mine go fractionally over, and my vet insisted on the full course.

My vet told me only this morning that i can go over the due date by just  2months...that is my vets time limit anyway,maybe longer for other's.
My girls not due till feb but was curious.

There is no need to ever do a full course in an adult dog, however much you are over the limit! Puppies get two sets of shots because the second shot is just making sure that the mother's immunity has not neutralised the vaccination effect. This issue is not a problem in adult dogs as they have no maternal immunity anymore! I would never let a vet do a full course in an adult dog.

Homeopathic vaccinations aren't really vaccinations as such as they do not prevent disease, but treat it! So the dog must have contracted it first before the homeopathic nosode can kick in! And no, it would not be accepted for the pet passport.

Titre testing is certainly a possibility. I have two dogs that are titre tested on a yearly basis and so far have not needed boosters.

Vera

> There is no need to ever do a full course in an adult dog, however much you are over the limit!

Quite.  I remember Steve Dean wrote about this some time back in dog world and in his opinion vets insisting on doing a full course was tantamount to disgraceful conduct.

That's really interesting, thanks Vera.  Any idea how much I'd pay for a titre test? - and if it comes back a booster is not needed do the vets sign the vacc.cert to say so?

Very interesting thread to me too. I have been thinking of titre testing for a while now....but haven't plucked up the courage to do it.

Do vets mind titre testing.

> Do vets mind titre testing.

Depends on the vet!   Mine does!

Any idea how much I'd pay for a titre test?

I think my vet charges £78. And of course should your dog need vaccinating, you'd pay for that too! So it isn't cheap, but cheaper than dealing with health problems caused by vaccinations if your dog for example has got autoimmune problems.

if it comes back a booster is not needed do the vets sign the vacc.cert to say so?

Because my dogs get kennelled from time to time, my vet writes a letter stating why they are not vaccinated and attaching a copy of the lab report confirming the results.

My vets have no problem titre testing, if they did, I'd have to find a new vet as it would mean they are not up to scratch with latest research and treatment options.

Vera

Susieq

Just to point out in case you don't realise it but you do not need the normal vaccinations to pet passport a dog. You do need to rabies vaccinate and that is done every 3 years

I didn't know that, thanks Alison

Thanks again Vera.  I've heard some horror stories about boosters recently, but if a puppy has no reaction to it's 1st jab does that mean it's less likely they'll have a reaction to the booster, or can autoimmune problems occur at anytime?

You do need to rabies vaccinate and that is done every 3 years

Just to add, this depends on the vaccine. The one my dogs got was every TWO years. We recently lost the passports, or rather realised we had to start again if we wanted to use them. It said the booster was due on a particular date and we assumed that like with any other vacc it meant any day in that MONTH, not the exact date. We planned to do it less than a week after the date. DEFRA told us it had to be on that very date or BEFORE, so now we'd have to blood test again as we'd missed the date by a few days.

Brainless,
Here, Here, It is disgraceful that the vets get away with giving this advise. Money making! nothing more.

Denese

Vets make huge amounts of money from vaccinations, and I understand that in this country they have to be administered by vets.  I do boost mine more or less annually, though becoming more unhappy to do so and am considering titre testing, but I never boost on the 12 month date, I usually get it to around 18 months.  So far my vets have just put it down to my incompetence and not realised it's a planned tactic!  The only reason I boost is the fact I go to competitions and I've no idea of the health of other dogs they come into contact with.  I have an acquaintance who is a very eminent vet, interestingly she does not boost her dogs and does not believe in doing so, saying the puppy vaccinations are adequate. 
I'm going to pluck up courage and ask my vet about titre testing ... will have to chose which one in the practice I ask though!