After shelling out $200 at the vet to get his booster shots, I am looking into doing Trippy's vaccinations myself.  I am not sure if I can get by the county doing my own rabies, but at least I can do the rest of them.  I am looking for what vaccinations to go with, there are so many I don't know where to begin.  Trippy is a 80lb pit/lab mix.  He is 4 (we think) this year.  Also, does anyone who boards their dog when they go away get the bordatello vaccine?  We got it for him last year and he got sick anyway, I am not sure if it is worth doing this when we board him during our honeymoon this summer.

I do my own shots, except for rabies, my vet does that for $13 less 10% every 3 years after the 1st one year one.
Rabies shots requierments varies  State to State.

As for other shots ,see this link.

http://www.vmth.ucdavis.edu/vmth/clientinfo/info/genmed/vaccinproto.html

All but one state requires a rabies vaccination and you would have to see which ones require a three year vs. one year and vet vs. self administration requirements. Texas, for example is a three year, vet administration state for rabies. Also some cities and counties have stricter requirements than the state requirements for rabies so check with the city/county as well.



Bordetella is used for Kennel cough or tracheobronchitis. This is a catch all name for symptoms caused by about a dozen bacterial or viral sources, sort of like saying a person with sniffles and a cough has a cold. The vaccination is effective for about 4 of the known sources for Bordatella so isn't really all that effective, however, all boarding kennels require that their client dogs have this vaccination. If you foresee your dog boarding anywhere in the next twelve months you will need to have this vaccination.



Also, they do require proof of the other vaccinations (Distemper, parvo, etc....) and if you self administer, you have no proof that you gave that vaccine and they can turn your dog down as a client.



I never board my dogs, so I do self administer the core vaccines (except rabies) to all my dogs under six years of age. I don't give these to my veteran dogs because their titer tests show adequate coverage well into their twilight years. I never administer Bordetella and haven't had a case of tracheobronchitis here in almost fifteen years even though my dogs travel to shows all over the state and sometimes the US. The last year my dogs got sick was the last year I administered the vaccine. I have fellow breeders with similar experiences.



So the way I see it, unless you are boarding, I don't recommend the Bordetella vaccination. Unless you intend to board, I recommend administering your own core vaccines after being taught the appropriate method for giving a subcutaneous vaccination by a professional, and get your rabies done by a vet on the time frame the law in your area requires.

I do all except Rabbies.

Are Rabbies rabid Rabbits?








 

That is a good point with the Boarding situation.  I will have to talk to them the next time I stop in, see what they say.  Unfortunately, if we go anywhere for more than a day we have to board him.  No one to take care of him if we are gone.

I travel quite a bit as a judge and have successfully used pet sitters while away. They come by on a schedule up to three times a day and care for the dogs. I like it much better than boarding.

I'm a Paramedic and can give do just about about anything. Where can I get these vaccines other than rabies?

Once you decide what series of vaccinations that you want to give, you can purchase them from any number of online locations:



Drs. Foster and Smith

Jeffers Pet

Omaha Vaccine

Lambriar

Valley vet

Vetvax

i prefer fort dodge vaccines  that are once a year and the ones given are:
rabies
distemper
hepatitis
lepto
parainfluenza
parvo "every 6 months"
bordetella
corona
lyme "if your pet gets alot of ticks"
heartworm check, fecal check, pyrantel, yata yata yata
to bad your not in georgia, i could hook you up for $35.

The current recommendation for parvo/distemper vaccinations on adult dogs is every 2-3 years.