Gun Dog Forum

I am interested in hearing the opinions of bird dog owners concerning the new Lymes vaccine available /pushed? .... by certain veterinarians.
My Brittany is on tick control medicine......dooes he also need the vaccine? Are there other concerns about " over vaccination"?
Thanks

Effectiveness depends on what you read and who you talk to.
Many dogs will test positive for lyme disease but never show symptoms.
I prefer to keep an eye out for the symptoms and get my dog on an antibiotic quickly if symptoms show.

Your choice. You either trust your vet's opinion or not.

There is not a single person on this forum that can answer your question as well as your local vet. If you are doubting that then you need to find a different vet.

Ezzy could not of said it better.

There is a thread floating around here somewhere that has quite a bit of info and opinions.

Edit: here it is. viewtopic.php?f=88&t=48665&p=451584&hil ... te#p451584

My mothers dog had the lyme vaccine and her whole face swelled up. Her gums were so swelled it looked like she had hotdogs stuffed in her cheeks.

I got the vaccine for my pup with no problems.

dottie wrote:I am interested in hearing the opinions of bird dog owners concerning the new Lymes vaccine available /pushed? .... by certain veterinarians.
My Brittany is on tick control medicine......dooes he also need the vaccine? Are there other concerns about " over vaccination"?
Thanks

Cornell's Vet School does not recommend the vaccine and this is a pretty typical position of the other schools as well. Using only your Vet as a resource is not something I would do. Like in any profession, one person may have motives that conflict with what is scientific fact.

"We cannot recommend vaccination of dogs in endemic areas with the whole-cell bacterin until questions are resolved about clinical Lyme disease developing in dogs that have been properly vaccinated. The risk of not vaccinating is minimal since the disease in dogs is probably self-limiting in the majority of cases and is effectively treated with antibiotics, even in cases of recurrent disease. Furthermore, the risk of ever developing clinical Lyme disease appears to be relatively low."

From Cornell....

My old vet recommended it....my new vet doesn't? And they are both employed at the same clinic. They differ on tick prevention as well lol!

My dog got Lymes while on both a topical tick prevenative and the vaccine. For several years after my vet told me I'd be wasting my money if I continued to give her the vaccine, but last year he said the school of thought had changed and now recommended I giver her the vaccine. So I started giving her the vaccine again.