Quote Originally Posted by Tanya View Post
interesting idea. Maybe in the future we'll get there.

it is more expensive for the pet owner. my vet does titer testing in house and it's $60 (for the DHP2 or whatever it's called). Plus cost of bloodwork. And yes then the average dog owner would need to understand that that is and how do they deal with kennels and daycares wanting proof (what if they don't agree with vet?). The only reason I did it for Rocky is he was already getting bloodwork done so it was "only" the added $60. I think just drawing blood is $30 or $33 at the clinic I use.

I don't remember what the shots (DHPP2 or whatever) costs but I think it's $30-40? I could be way off. plus it's that for three years not yearly.
Actually on a per dose cost, even the better manufacturers' DHPPv vaccines only run ~$4 ea w/ the overnight shipping included for me.

I've had this talk years ago w/ my vet. Here are some things to consider... For those of us who have our dogs "out and about" (long walks, dog parks, hunting, trialing, etc), our dogs' immunity / memory is always being challenged by what is out in the environment. So for us, the 3 yr (maybe more) is just fine for the DHPP aspect. Remember that Lepto and bordetella vaccines have a shorter duration, and 1 yr is really pushing it on them. So for the folks who are hunting, swimming, etc in areas w/ bad Lepto, you'd really not want to push that one at all. Many bordetella vaccines are now proven good for 1 yr, but even the training place I've used a bit around here says 6mos (they've never asked me and I even pointed out to the one owner that 6mos is off label for brands like Nobivac which I use and he just shook his head and said doesn't matter... they'd had too much trouble w/ their doggy daycare folks).

So that covers the active dog owners whose dogs probably have decent immune systems. Now you've got the elderly etc, whose dogs live in the 12th floor apartment bldg and rarely get out. Or the dogs who are quite elderly, or who've been undergoing chemo or such. That is a different story on vaccine effectiveness. For them, their risk is that their dogs die of preventable puppy diseases. Vets are not going to risk that liability, so therefore will default to the annual booster suggestion.

That's it in a nutshell from my discussions and from listening to webinars on the topic. There is not a one size fits all program that people would like to see, and until/ unless you have developed a really close relationship w/ a vet, they'd not know your situation. I remember a few years ago when Lepto first started showing up around here (C. WA) and my vet apologized to me for "dropping the ball" on me. My dogs had been running hunt tests in W. WA for years and they should have been vaccinated all along but were not! I had to work on some of my field friends to get that point thru to them too as they were really at risk where their dogs were training/ running tests/trials. Just not a simple subject. Btw, the Lepto stand alone vaccines are the most expensive ones I buy... nearly double the cost of my combos because the expiration / shelf life of the products are so much shorter than the DHPPv combos. One has to wonder how effective the lepto component is in the 5-7 way vaccines in reality, knowing this. Anne