With regards to the Wormers, there are certain kinds that are more gentler to the dog, but the drawback is that it may not remove encrusted cysts from the inside of the dog. The more powerful wormers remove everything, therefore being the better of the two.

I was always led to believe that Drontal was was the most powerful and treated all worms, until recently, when I spoke to a Vet at a Seminar, who informed everyone that NO it doesn't remove everything, but vets recommend this one as it's the most popular and reasonably priced !!!

He also told me the same about the vaccines, as they have caused epilepsy and other problems in some dogs. Basicaly the reason is that their system is overdosed on vacciness unecessarily.

Vets are a business and apart from costly major surgeries, they have to keep things ticking over in other ways, with small regular income................vaccines and wormers !

I don't use boarding kennels & it looks as though its a good thing, apart from the bit of the standard vccination that coniains kennel cough vaccination I've never had mine vaccinated. One of Cals puppies was vaccinated every year by his owner yet every time there was kennel cough in the area he caught it yet his mother in spite of being in the same area & on one occasion travelling to the vets with him while he was coughing never had it in all her nearly16 years.
As for injections my vet puts booster due & its 2 years each time so if you could get your vet to do something like that wouldn't the pets as therapy people except it.

I don't know... I may need to speak to the vet about what vaccines they do...
I'd never forgive myself if something happened as a result of not being vaccinated but on the same token I refuse to overdo it, by the looks of things most vets do most of the vaccines three yearly anyway now...

With the makes of vaccs that cover 3yrs and where it is the manufacturers reccomendation then if you have the full lot done 3yearly you are keeping an up to date vaccination schedule and kennels can't argue with that and are most likely in the know about it anyway and it shouldn't create a problem.

Regarding the KC vaccine you would just have that done in addition prior to them using kennels if it is definitly a requirement of the individual kennel.

KC is included in the parainfluenza (PI) part of the routine vaccines so in effect you are getting a double dose - I asked our vets about this but they said to still always get PI done as it would be better to double up as sometimes the KC vaccine doesn't always take anyway. Other people will know more about this than me.

Good information as ever mys..thanks.

For those you aren't as 'clued up' as mys, here in laymans terms is my understanding of the new proposals with the Goverment Veterinary Department

A yearly health check should be continued with your vet (some will actually do this for free) and if your dog is at risk by going to public parks and very public place then an annual vaccination may still be recommended after the health check.

If your dog doesnt go to many public places and is deemed at a low risk then after a yearly health check and a chat with the owner it is likely that the yearly vaccination doesnot have to be continued. (after all primary vaccination have already been given of course)

For all those with pet passports the yearly vaccination will continue.

If from Western Europe such as France etc then a rabies vaccination is likely to be discontinued.

However if from eastern block which is still considered to be high risk then the vaccinations will continue as they are now.

If your pet is to be placed in kennels then it will be adviseable to get a yearly vaccination.

Much of this will be down to what YOU tell the vet, if you say that your dog doesnt really venture out then the risk quite obviously is low, on the other hand if you go to the park daily and then meet and chat with other owners the risk will be increased.

Some vets that still tell you that a yearly vaccination is necessary, that is for you to consider, as if the Goverment are saying its not necessary given your particular circumstances then perhaps you may wish to consider changing vets!

Sooo true..they are business people at the end of the day

I find this surprising advice from the government as it seems to be the opposite of what my vet has advised me though I'll admit a lot of the advice is about 5 to 8 years ago. Yheir advice has always been to get puppies out locally after their first injection, though only to places where you know all the other dogs are injected, then as soon as they are fully injected get them out & about as much as possible to build up natural imunity. They said that my bitch who travelled the country with me & was at shows every weekend would have more natural immunity than her son who only ever went out locally & they were happy to give her boosters every other year but said if he went on holiday with us to another area he needed annual boosters as he wasn't getting the exposure & natural immunity she was. When I had Dax I asked their advice as I knew he had at some time had injections & boosters but as far as I knew had not had any for over two years. They said they advised a full booster as he had changed areas & because I knew there was parvo in the area, & were quite happy when I said I wouldn't have another booster, unless he was still alive in 2 years time. In other words my vets are saying the more you go out & about the more likely you are to pick up natural immunity & the longer your injections will last.

I absolutely agree. The best immunity is a natural one. The vets I've spoken to also say the same thing.

The more your dog is exposed to, the more immunity is built up.

If you keep a dog in all the time, and only expose him now and again, he is less likely to be immune to something he has never encountered.

Hi, I know where your both coming form on this but like I said at the start

"For those you aren't as 'clued up' as mys, here in laymans terms is my understanding of the new proposals with the Goverment Veterinary Department"

I may well be wrong, but this is from a very clued up vet that carries out a lot of Defra work, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see what comes out from the new proposals.

Not sure about the more they are exposed to though, persoanlly I'd prefer to keep them well away from any chance of distemper, lepto, parvo and any of the other nasties unless I was certain thast they were fully innoculated. But, I won't be innoculating every year either, just following the manufacturers guidelines. Just my personal preference though

Not sure if this has been covered already....

Yesterday I was speaking to someone at agility about vaccinations who reminded me that unless a dog is vaccinated, and given boosters yearly, then most insurers won't insure your dog and if you are already insured, won't pay out if you have to make a claim.

As far as I know, most insurers won't insure a dog who has not been vaccinated or who has not had regular health checks, like the annual one when the boosters are administered.

I'm with PetPlan and I know if I didn't have my dogs vaccinated, they wouldn't pay out if I had to claim. I don't know if all pet insurers are the same but it's worth checking out your pet insurance.



Edit: When I first went with PetPlan, I was under the impression that if my dog wasn't vaccinated then I couldn't have her insured.

It turns out that they will, in fact, insure dogs who aren't vaccinated but will not cover any illnesses that vaccinations could protect against.

That is good news for those of you who don't have or want your dogs vaccinated!