Anyone Vaccinate their own Pets?

[Schifference]

I was curious if anyone vaccinated their own pets. I really don't care if my pets meet requirements for getting a local pet license. I want to insure the health of my pet while spending as little as possible. A quick google search revealed this site http://www.jefferspet.com/single-dos...100250/c2c/ln/ that appears to sell single dose vaccinations to just about any state. What do you think? A vaccine for $5 plus shipping or ?? at the local vet?

[carmaphob]

I tried but it was harder than i thought it was going to be. Using my poor dogs as testing subjects didn't work out that well. I'm not that comfortable with needles anyway.

[angelatc]

I do, have done it for years. Vaccinate the stray cats, too. Only thing you can't get is rabies - that has to be done by a vet.

You can buy vaccines at any local farm supply store, FYI.

[donnay]

Because, by law , we have to have our dog vaccinated for rabies we do it ourselves. If I am not mistaken we use that company and have had no issues with them.

[angelatc]

Because, by law , we have to have our dog vaccinated for rabies we do it ourselves. If I am not mistaken we use that company and have had no issues with them.

You buy the rabies vaccine via mail order?

eta - holy crap. It's just MIchigan that won't take it unless a vet does it, I guess.

[Schifference]

I just got a new puppy and called my local store they said they have everything but rabies. Please tell me what I should get to protect this precious little puppy.

[Natural Citizen]

You can do your own titer testing as well.

[angelatc]

I just got a new puppy and called my local store they said they have everything but rabies. Please tell me what I should get to protect this precious little puppy.

If you do not care about getting the tag, then order the rabies by mail. Or you might be able to find a clinic at PetsMart or something - we get our rabies there for $8.00, because we need the tag.

[Schifference]

If you do not care about getting the tag, then order the rabies by mail. Or you might be able to find a clinic at PetsMart or something - we get our rabies there for $8.00, because we need the tag.

So what should I be looking for in regards to vaccinating the puppy less the rabies vaccine? What would the vet administer to my puppy now and then again in xxx weeks or whatever?

[angelatc]

So what should I be looking for in regards to vaccinating the puppy less the rabies vaccine? What would the vet administer to my puppy now and then again in xxx weeks or whatever?

I don't know, but I have lots of friends that live a little deeper in the dog world than I do. I can find out. How old is your pup?

[donnay]

You buy the rabies vaccine via mail order?

eta - holy crap. It's just MIchigan that won't take it unless a vet does it, I guess.

Yes, and I just double checked, it is Jeffers. http://www.jefferspet.com/search.asp...arch-submit=GO

[Schifference]

7 week old Doberman the mother jumped a fence and got hit by a car so the pups were sold a little early. She appears to be in very good health and has adjusted to our home very good in the last 2 days. We have a 3 year old very friendly boxer and the puppy and boxer have acclimated well.

[donnay]

Personally, I only vaccinate my dog for Rabies and nothing else. If it were up to me, I would not vaccinate my dog. I have to pick and choose my liberty fights.

Why I don’t Vaccinate My Dogs At All
http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com...y-dogs-at-all/

How Much Money are You Wasting on Pet Vaccines?
http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites...cinations.aspx

Over-Vaccination - Dog Owners Beware
http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/iss...s_20036-1.html

The Truth About Pet Vaccinations
http://www.healthypetjournal.com/def...px?tabid=17929

Stop the Shots! - Are Vaccinations Killing Our Pets?
http://www.stoptheshots.com/


ETA:

I have my dog diet on 1/2 raw food and 1/2 organic kibbles. I also put diatamaceous earth (food grade) mixed with organic yogurt to help my dog have a good gut and rid of any parasites.

[donnay]

As per a request in a private message I will post this information for others to view:

Look into the BARF (biologically appropriate raw foods) programs. Just like us, if the dogs digestive system is in trouble so will their health. A healthy immune system is key for optimum health for our pets.


The Dog Food Project
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/?page=grading_kibble


More sources:
http://www.animalhomeopathy.net/id19.html
http://petfoodtalk.com/dogfoodreviews/
http://dry-dog-food.findthebest.com/d/d/100%25-Organic

The best Kibble I found is Buffalo Blue and Nutro.

Source:
http://dry-dog-food.findthebest.com/...ult-Dry-Kibble

[Schifference]

As per a request in a private message I will post this information for others to view:

Look into the BARF (biologically appropriate raw foods) programs. Just like us, if the dogs digestive system is in trouble so will their health. A healthy immune system is key for optimum health for our pets.


The Dog Food Project
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/?page=grading_kibble


More sources:
http://www.animalhomeopathy.net/id19.html
http://petfoodtalk.com/dogfoodreviews/
http://dry-dog-food.findthebest.com/d/d/100%25-Organic

The best Kibble I found is Buffalo Blue and Nutro.

Source:
http://dry-dog-food.findthebest.com/...ult-Dry-Kibble

What brand of Diatomaceous Earth do you use? How much do you buy at a time? How much do you give your dog? How often do you give it to your dog? What do you do to control Tic's? Regarding the Raw diet, where do you get your meat? What kind of meat do you use? What is the cost per pound? How much raw meet do you feed your dog per day? How big is your dog?
Ever heard of Taste of the Wild dog food? I decided to pick up a couple of bags one for the puppy another for the adult dog.
Thanks,

[chudrockz]

I never considered doing vaccinations myself. We go to a rural Minnesota vet who is VERY reasonably priced, so for me it is just easier to take our new dog there.

That said, our old dog who went to doggy heaved about five weeks ago or so was diabetic. We gave him insulin injections every twelve hours like clockwork for well over a year. I can say that giving a dog a shot is nothing once a person is used to doing it.

[chudrockz]

What brand of Diatomaceous Earth do you use? How much do you buy at a time? How much do you give your dog? How often do you give it to your dog? What do you do to control Tic's? Regarding the Raw diet, where do you get your meat? What kind of meat do you use? What is the cost per pound? How much raw meet do you feed your dog per day? How big is your dog?
Ever heard of Taste of the Wild dog food? I decided to pick up a couple of bags one for the puppy another for the adult dog.
Thanks,

Taste of the Wild is supposed to be pretty good. When we adopted our dog, we fed her Blue Wilderness Evolutionary Diet for about a month. That stuff was about $60 after tax for a 24 pound bag. Yikes.

We've since switched to Natural Balance LID duck and potato formula. Our doggy, the vet says, has grain allergies so all her food and treats are grain-free.

[Schifference]

Called a local feed store. They sell single dose 5 way vaccine for $6 which includes the needle.

[Lindsey]

My dog has a reaction to the vaccines. We only do rabies, to fill the legal requirement, so we torture her every 3rd year.

She's 4, so this was a vaccine year - I made the mistake of making an appointment late in the day, so we lost a full night of sleep caring for a sick dog - I was forcing benadryl down her throat every few hours, hoping her throat wouldn't swell shut and on the phone with the e-vet, while my partner spent the night cleaning the floors. (Yes she had benadryl before the vaccine and still reacted.) This was last Tuesday, and she's still paranoid whenever I hand her food, that I am trying to sneak a pill into her food - she has only taken food from my partner for the past week.

THere's a bill in our state house to get medical exemption, but so far it's not looking promising...

Edit:
I stand corrected, it looks like the bill was with the PA state senate and it was passed last week, to go into effect in 60 days - so this will be our last time vaccinating. We just need the vet to write and file an exemption 1x/year.

[chudrockz]

My dog has a reaction to the vaccines. We only do rabies, to fill the legal requirement, so we torture her every 3rd year.

She's 4, so this was a vaccine year - I made the mistake of making an appointment late in the day, so we lost a full night of sleep caring for a sick dog - I was forcing benadryl down her throat every few hours, hoping her throat wouldn't swell shut and on the phone with the e-vet, while my partner spent the night cleaning the floors. (Yes she had benadryl before the vaccine and still reacted.) This was last Tuesday, and she's still paranoid whenever I hand her food, that I am trying to sneak a pill into her food - she has only taken food from my partner for the past week.

THere's a bill in our state house to get medical exemption, but so far it's not looking promising...

Wow that's too bad. Our dog has skin issues and we are giving her *3* benadryl three times daily. Sheesh. That's more than I would take I think, and I weigh almost six times as much as our dog!

[donnay]

What brand of Diatomaceous Earth do you use?

I buy a fifty pound bag of DE from these people: http://www.shadowridgedonkeys.com/ds_pg_cart.htm

How much do you give your dog?

Two tablespoons in his dog food daily.

What do you do to control Tic's?

I use DE. I rub it in his coat, in his ears and I sprinkle it all around and inside his dog house. So far so good.

Regarding the Raw diet, where do you get your meat?

I buy my grassfed beef from a rancher who lives in my town. So I get lots of good meat from what they butcher as scraps just for my dog. Lots of bones too!

What kind of meat do you use?

I give him chicken, lamb and pork from local farmers and ranchers.

What is the cost per pound?

It varies. But for the most part, around $1.99 to $3.99 per pound.

How much raw meet (sic) do you feed your dog per day?

In the winter time, I feed him about 1/2 to 1 lb of raw and two to three scoops of Kibble with organic raw yogurt and DE mixed. In the summer time it is about half of that.

How big is your dog?

I have a big Newfie. He weighs in around 150. He is very muscular.

Ever heard of Taste of the Wild dog food?

I have not, until today. I researched it and it looks pretty good. The Roasted Bison & Venison I would like to try.

I even found some coupons: http://www.squidoo.com/taste-of-the-wild-coupons

[Working Poor]

I feed my good girl "barf" diet. I wish I did not have to vaccinate but it's the law. I do notice that her beautiful coat dolls and her eyes get matted whenever she has vaccine. I give her yogurt almost everyday so I am sure that helps her body fight the ill effects.

[Schifference]

I have been using Canidae dog food for years. It is not cheap either and doesn't seem to be as good as Taste of the wild. I bought 2 bags of TOTW dog food on Amazon 30# each with free delivery for under $97. I read some testimonials stating that you don't need to feed as much of this premium food to achieve great results thus negating any extra cost over discount dog food.

[Schifference]

Well I vaccinated both my dogs. Bought 7 way vaccines for less than $6 each. Bought Lyme vaccine for $120 (10 dose bottle) will use 3 right away and maybe find a friend or coworker that wants to use some and also purchased microchip 5 pack for less than $40 which includes free online registration. Bought some heartgard online but just today I realized that I can purchase the same medication in Heartgard for a fraction of the cost. A 50ml bottle of Ivermectin http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=A6PBAW567PCQ0 for $32 and a 32oz / 50mg bottle of Pyrantel http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...A3DN2RAAWFOO1B from Amazon for $36.66 with free shipping. I only need to use 0.1ml per 10# of weight of Ivermectin so that bottle would last a long time. A 50# dog would only use 0.5ml per month. 1/100th of the bottle. Much less expensive than $8 per pill for a 50-100 # dog. Furthermore if I wanted to legally use heartgard I would need to have an office visit and obtain a prescription thus adding to the fees.

[brandon]

I'm sure with a couple weeks of research any smart person could figure out dosages/schedules for vaccinations. I wouldn't feel comfortable doing my own puppy/kitten vaccinations though. If they have a bad reaction to the shot I'd have no clue what to do or what to look for. Rather be with a pro for that one.

[brandon]

Since we are talking about food... I had to get my dog on grain free high protein food to keep his coat looking nice. It was getting all dried out and irritated on chicken and rice formulas... even the high quality ones like blue buffalo.

[dannno]

Because, by law , we have to have our dog vaccinated for rabies we do it ourselves. If I am not mistaken we use that company and have had no issues with them.

Can't you just pretend to do it yourself?

[dannno]

Taste of the Wild is supposed to be pretty good. When we adopted our dog, we fed her Blue Wilderness Evolutionary Diet for about a month. That stuff was about $60 after tax for a 24 pound bag. Yikes.

Ya I tried those for a while and my dog really likes them both, but if it is too expensive for anybody to do the high end foods I highly recommend Costco's Lamb and Rice formula. It's $28 for a 40 lb. bag and has much better ingredients then any of the iams/science diet walmart type brands and as cheap or cheaper than them.

[LibertyEagle]

Guys, check on the preservative used in the vaccines. At least in the one for cats, it differs between the 1 year vaccine and the multiple year vaccine. One had a lot of mercury in it and the other didn't.

[LibertyEagle]

Ya I tried those for a while and my dog really likes them both, but if it is too expensive for anybody to do the high end foods I highly recommend Costco's Lamb and Rice formula. It's $28 for a 40 lb. bag and has much better ingredients then any of the iams/science diet walmart type brands and as cheap or cheaper than them.

Yeah, when it comes to pet food, more expensive does not necessarily mean better. At all.