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Hi We have a little toy dog, some kind of a miniature pincher mixture. Our vet has us on a yearly schedule for shots and this time it is a Rabies Booster, DHP+Parvo, Parvo and Corona. So I believe it is four shots. Two friends who have senior dogs suggest that I not get these shots and that their dogs have never been to the vet and perfectly healthy etc etc. What's the verdict? The dog has had all the shots at its birth and up to 1 year old. Should continue with all these shots? Every year? Or is there some drops or pills at the pet store that will replace all these shots? Thanks for any comments Rovers

You can get a titer

i actually just had titer tests done on my dog instead of vaccines. the only thing we vaccinated for was rabies, since it's required by law. whether titers or vaccines are better for your situation is something you need to think about. titers are not 100% accurate so there is a chance of fasle positive. my dog has absolutely zero contact with other dogs, so the likelyhood that she would ever contract anything is minimal. for me, the chance of a false positive is not a big deal. if your dog goes to the dog park or plays with a lot of dogs, you should do some research before making a decision.

I discussed this with my own vet and with the vet who bred one of my dogs.  For my youngest dog, I will give him a rabies booster a year from his original shot, then every 3 years as allowed by my state.  The rest I will do titers for and vaccinate when they drop, but what I want to work out is a rotation with one shot each year, covering everything within the three year rotation.  Until studies now in progress on the effective lifespan of vaccines now used has been completed, then I will work from the results.... I have already moved my almost-7yo dog onto this schedule... and my 11yo will get his rabies only from now on, on a 3 year schedule... but if we have an outbreak of distemper or parvo, beyond the normal level for the area, will booster the old guy. All of that said... I will still make certain my dogs have an annual physical with a heartworm check, and other lab work for the age of the dog. In humans, all vaccines do not give effective coverage for life... so I have no reason to believe that they do for dogs.  But I also believe that annual boosters are not needed for every disease which we vaccinate dogs against. Jo Wolf Martinez, Georgia