# Important question about rabies vaccine for 1 year old dog



## mcast051 (Feb 6, 2014)

Hello. I live in Miami, FL where the rabies vaccine is mandatory. I was able to eschew it last year when I took my dog for her set of shots as a puppy. However now she is a 1 year old and everywhere I go they need to give her it. However I have read horrid things about the side effects and I am scared. Can you please give me your insights on your experience?


----------



## lalachka (Aug 13, 2013)

I'm also stalling on the vaccine. He's 17 months and I did give it when he was 4 months along with a a bunch of other shots when I didn't know better. 


My state is also rabies mandatory. I'm not sure what I'm waiting for, just scared to give it. Interested to see the replies. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Rabies vaccine is mandatory everywhere. Yes, the vaccine has side effects. The disease has ONE side effect....Death.


----------



## gsdsar (May 21, 2002)

Get the shot. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## martemchik (Nov 23, 2010)

Some states will allow you to do a titer for it and allow the vet to sign off on the fact that the dog is immune...unfortunately, you'll probably need at least ONE vaccine in the dog's life in order to have the immunity level high enough that the vet can do that.


----------



## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

It is mandatory and a horrid disease. You minimize risk when you give it separate from other vaccines and there are homeopathic things you can give if you are that concerned. The 2nd vaccine needs to be given 1 year after the first, then every 3 years. You can request a thimersoal free version of the vaccine if the vet will give it.

I have not had a bad experience with a rabies vaccine in about 30 years of owning dogs. I tend to go on the low end of things for vaccines (like titers for distemper and parvo going forward) but rabies is not negotiable.


----------



## wolfstraum (May 2, 2003)

GIVE THE SHOT!!!! If you do not, and your dog bites someone - even a nip....they will put the dog down immediately so that they can test for the disease....they MUST use brain tissue for this test...GET THE SHOT!!! You will get a huge fine and lose your dog....this is one vaccine NOT to fool around avoiding.

Lee


----------



## Shade (Feb 20, 2012)

Jax08 said:


> Rabies vaccine is mandatory everywhere. *Yes, the vaccine has side effects. The disease has ONE side effect....Death.*


:thumbup:

I refuse to screw around with such a horrid disease and my dogs have never reacted to the shot. 

As Nancy said, I do puppy shots plus one booster at one year and then titers for the others but I don't hesitate to do rabies every 3 years and I wouldn't hesitate on even a booster if they ever came in contact (heaven forbid) with a infected animal. It's not just the animal you're protecting but the humans including yourself as well.

You can deal the side effects of the vaccines, you CANNOT expect the same from the actual disease


----------



## Springbrz (Aug 13, 2013)

My girl just got her first "3 year" rabies shot today. Almost weekly, here in coastal VA, we hear of an animal testing positive for rabies. I don't want to put my dog at risk. Rabies is always fatal. Please don't risk it. GOT THE SHOT...please!


----------



## lalachka (Aug 13, 2013)

OK. I don't know about the op but I will give the rabies. 

So I'm a few months late (I got the vaccine in April of last year), does that matter?

What's a killed vaccine (I think dr Dodds suggests it)?
Besides giving it separate, anything else to minimize the risks?
Jocoyne said to ask for a vaccine without thimersoal. What's that? Anything else vaccine should be free of?

Anything else at all?


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Momto2GSDs (Mar 22, 2012)

Per Dr. Dodds: The rabies vaccine should be thimerosal (mercury) – free – i.e. Merial IMRAB TF. 
The 2 homeopathic's to give for a Rabies shot to minimize reaction is called Lyssin & Thuja.
Moms


----------



## lalachka (Aug 13, 2013)

What's a killed vaccine? I thought her or someone else mentioned that

And thank you for this. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Momto2GSDs (Mar 22, 2012)

lalachka said:


> What's a killed vaccine? I thought her or someone else mentioned that
> 
> And thank you for this.
> 
> ...


Hope this helps!

Dr. Jean Dodds' Pet Health Resource Blog | Vaccines: When too Much of a Good Thing Turns Bad (Part 2)


----------



## Colie CVT (Nov 10, 2013)

Killed vaccine means that the virus in the sample is dead. It should not be able to convert into the actual disease and cause active disease. Modified live vaccines are the virus with a slight modification that leaves them inert, but the body will fight it. The killed vaccines require an adjuvant in order to make the body react, such as aluminum or egg protein. 

Merial makes the safest vaccines, IMO. They have a line of recombinant vaccines that are extremely safe. Honestly since I started working in clinics, the amount of vaccine reactions has gone down dramatically. The companies have learned and gotten better products. 

I wouldn't mess with rabies either. The disease is basically 100% fatal, contagious to us, and because of it's extreme mortality, required by law. Titer testing can get you around it, however I wouldn't hesitate to boost after a year them test. Just to be safe. Dealing with rabies suspect animals or if your pet bites someone, it's a way bigger hassle if they are up to date versus if they aren't. You get luckier when they are up to date. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## lalachka (Aug 13, 2013)

Lol kind of. Medicine and nutrition is not my thing. I'm not interested enough in it to make myself understand it. 

I've read this before, understood a quarter)))))
I'll just ask for the rabies 3 year killed vaccine without the thimersoal. I don't have to understand it))))


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## lalachka (Aug 13, 2013)

Colie CVT said:


> Killed vaccine means that the virus in the sample is dead. It should not be able to convert into the actual disease and cause active disease. Modified live vaccines are the virus with a slight modification that leaves them inert, but the body will fight it. The killed vaccines require an adjuvant in order to make the body react, such as aluminum or egg protein.
> 
> Merial makes the safest vaccines, IMO. They have a line of recombinant vaccines that are extremely safe. Honestly since I started working in clinics, the amount of vaccine reactions has gone down dramatically. The companies have learned and gotten better products.
> 
> ...



This makes more sense. So what makes pets react to the vaccine? The fact that it's live or the additives?
And what does thimersoal do?


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Momto2GSDs (Mar 22, 2012)

"Dr. Dodds advocates the use of thimerosol (mercury) free rabies vaccines. *Mercury added to killed, inactivated vaccines given to people and animals* *create an increased risk of adverse immune-mediated disease reactions*. Recent published studies from Dr. Yehuda Shoenfeld’s laboratory at Tel-Aviv University in Israel have documented this situation." 
Interesting read!
http://www.ima.org.il/FilesUpload/IMAJ/0/67/33611.pdf


----------



## lalachka (Aug 13, 2013)

Momto2GSDs said:


> "Dr. Dodds advocates the use of thimerosol (mercury) free rabies vaccines. *Mercury added to killed, inactivated vaccines given to people and animals* *create an increased risk of adverse immune-mediated disease reactions*. Recent published studies from Dr. Yehuda Shoenfeld’s laboratory at Tel-Aviv University in Israel have documented this situation."
> Interesting read!
> http://www.ima.org.il/FilesUpload/IMAJ/0/67/33611.pdf



Lol I'm not being rude, I do open the links and I do try to read them but it doesn't stick. I need the dumbed down versions. 

I learned programming, some plumbing, some carpentry and a few other things on my own. But I'm interested enough to spend the time and dig and read. Medicine, nutrition, health are not my things. So I ask people to explain them

I know I can google it and I have and I usually don't understand what I'm reading. 


But if it's mercury giving the reaction then why bother with the killed vaccines? Or there's a chance of the animal not developing immunity and getting the disease?


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

lalachka said:


> But if it's mercury giving the reaction then why bother with the killed vaccines? Or there's a chance of the animal not developing immunity and getting the disease?
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


Because rabies is 100% fatal. So they give the killed vaccine to induce the immune response. If they used a modified live vaccine then they would be giving your animal the actual virus to induce the immune response...and THAT would be 100% fatal.

Mercury is a heavy metal with very bad effects when put into our bodies. It's why you don't see mercury thermometers anymore.


----------



## lalachka (Aug 13, 2013)

Jax08 said:


> Because rabies is 100% fatal. So they give the killed vaccine to induce the immune response. If they used a modified live vaccine then they would be giving your animal the actual virus to induce the immune response...and THAT would be 100% fatal.
> 
> Mercury is a heavy metal with very bad effects when put into our bodies. It's why you don't see mercury thermometers anymore.



Now I'm lost. Why then do I have to ASK for a killed vaccine if the live vaccine would kill my dog? 




Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

You don't need to ask for a killed vaccine for rabies. They are ALL killed vaccines for rabies. There is no such thing as a MLV for rabies.

MLV vaccines are for things like Parvo and Distemper.


----------



## lalachka (Aug 13, 2013)

Jax08 said:


> You don't need to ask for a killed vaccine for rabies. They are ALL killed vaccines for rabies. There is no such thing as a MLV for rabies.
> 
> MLV vaccines are for things like Parvo and Distemper.



Lol OK thank you. I was wondering why the receptionist smiled when I asked for it. 



Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

thimerosal is a preservative and not the stuff that causes the reactions. The impact over a lifetime of the amount of thimerosal in vaccines is a topic of debate. The reactions are typically caused by other ingredients. 

Many vaccines (particularly killed vaccines) use an adjuvant, which is basically an ingredient that irriates the body in such a way to boost the immune response. They appear to be responsible for many of the vaccine reactions. Because cats are so prone to sarcomas from Rabies shots, they are often given a 1 year vaccine that contains no adjuvant. I do not believe an adjuvant-free formula is available for dogs.

Adjuvant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


----------



## gsdsar (May 21, 2002)

Ok- 

Rabies is NOT 100% fatal. It's like 95% percent fatal to humans. No dog, to my knowledge has ever been put through the protocol that people have that occasionally works. 

Second- there is no LIVE vaccine that can give your dog rabies. Vaccines are either killed or MODIFIED live vaccines. Neither is going to give your dog the virus. Period. 

Reactions to rabies vaccine are minuscule, no matter which one you get. But if you are worried, find a vet using the Merial vaccine. 

NOT getting the vaccine is not an option. You have to get it, or risk your animals life if there is ever an issue, and risk your life if your animal ever has a run in with a wild animal. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Guess I got that all wrong. 5% chance of survival for a person....those aren't bad odds.


----------



## gsdsar (May 21, 2002)

Jax08 said:


> Guess I got that all wrong. 5% chance of survival for a person....those aren't bad odds.



LOL!!! Sorry. I did a whole bunch of research on the Milwaukee protocol. It's super interesting. But yeah. It's a deadly disease. More deadly than Ebola, which I think is 80% kill rate. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Colie CVT (Nov 10, 2013)

I had only heard of two kids that they managed to keep in a medical coma and they survived. However, it can be a tricky disease if you don't know for certain you got it. I did a presentation for other techs in my region, and while normally in 21-28 days from exposure you have clinical signs, they have had examples of it going longer, the longest being a girl who had it incubate for 3 years before it struck. The only way they figured it out was post mortem, since they discovered it was a strain not found where she had been living the last 3 years. 

The stupid app won't show posts after mine beside the ones after post 20, so I apologize if I caused confusion by bringing up the modified live vaccines. I did that to explain the difference between the rabies and others. Killed ones require a helper to cause the immune system to react, which was a part of some vaccine issues in the past. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

And then there are cases where someone dies from rabies but they don't know it and they wind up transplanting their organs into people and then those people die.........

Organs from man with rabies transplanted into four people | Fox News

The other thing is that rabies is COMMON in wild animals and, of course, they loose inhibitions and can bite your unimmunized animals and, if it is a bat, you may never even know....

http://www.cdc.gov/features/dsRabies/index.html


----------



## Chip18 (Jan 11, 2014)

Springbrz said:


> My girl just got her first "3 year" rabies shot today. Almost weekly, here in coastal VA, we hear of an animal testing positive for rabies. I don't want to put my dog at risk. Rabies is always fatal. Please don't risk it. GOT THE SHOT...please!


I did not know "any" dogs were testing positive for Rabies!! 

I only know of one dog that had a reaction to the vaccine and it was non life threatening. Risk on that one is "generally" pretty low.

Generally the puppy packs are the way to go. Not to crazy about the combo shots but with a puppy, I would think along with the Rabies, Distemper and Parvo are very important! 

If your puppy gets either of the other two diseases...you very likely won't have a dog to worry about! Over vacating and annual boosters for older dogs (not counting rabies) is where the contention is.

Here's a site with more info:

Truth4Dogs


----------



## Colie CVT (Nov 10, 2013)

Where I am we have the bat rabies strain. Unfortunately, as someone else pointed out, you don't always know that you have been bitten. We have rabid bats brought into us by people who catch them in their houses. I know one of the workers at the state lab, and she said already earlier this year when it started getting warm, we already had some positives go in there. 

There are days that I debate if I should get the rabies vaccine myself. Three shots before rather than seven after is reason enough in a way lol.


----------



## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Rabies is pretty uncommon, and vaccine reactions to rabies can be pretty bad. Sorry, but, I had a puppy owner, give her min pin, and her shepherd pup the vaccine on the same day. Only that vaccine. On the way home from the vet, the min pin went into encephalitic shock. She nearly lost him, four days later, the larger dog, the 40 pound shepherd had a massive siezure. The dog will be five in July and has not had another seizure.

The vaccine they gave the 8 pound dog, and the 40 pound dog were the same, and incedently the 1-year vaccine, is the same as the 3 year, but I think that for the first vaccine, they want to boost it after 1 year, and then they can go to three. 

I give rabies vaccines to my dogs. I do not always do it on the same protocol that the vets want. I give it at 4-6 months, and then 1 year later. Then, I wait 3 or 4 years, between shots. 

They say the vaccine lasts 5-7 years, only because they stopped checking after 7 years. They think it may last for the life of the dog. It's cheaper to give the shot than to do titers, and most dogs do not have reactions to the shots. So it just makes sense to go ahead. But I wouldn't worry about a few months here or there.

There is some disease called pseudo rabies, anyone know anything about that, or how it is contracted?


----------



## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

selzer said:


> *They say the vaccine lasts 5-7 years, only because they stopped checking after 7 years. * They think it may last for the life of the dog. It's cheaper to give the shot than to do titers, and most dogs do not have reactions to the shots. So it just makes sense to go ahead. But I wouldn't worry about a few months here or there.


I have never heard that regarding rabies. Parvo and Distemper have had studies by challenge done but the rabies vaccine study is still in progress. Where did you read that?


----------



## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Jax08 said:


> I have never heard that regarding rabies. Parvo and Distemper have had studies by challenge done but the rabies vaccine study is still in progress. Where did you read that?


I don't know. I think Dr. Schultz is in year 4 of a 7 years study. I am not all that worried about it. Rabies is not that common. I think the protocol here is if the dog bites someone and has had a vaccination, they are quarantined. If the vaccination is out of date, they are quarantined for maybe a longer period. lf the dog has never been vaccinated, the dog is euthanized and the brain sent off for testing.


----------



## LifeofRiley (Oct 20, 2011)

Colie CVT said:


> Where I am we have the bat rabies strain. Unfortunately, as someone else pointed out, you don't always know that you have been bitten. We have rabid bats brought into us by people who catch them in their houses. I know one of the workers at the state lab, and she said already earlier this year when it started getting warm, we already had some positives go in there.
> 
> There are days that I debate if I should get the rabies vaccine myself. Three shots before rather than seven after is reason enough in a way lol.


I have had the pre-exposure vaccine due to the fact that I travel to remote parts of the world where rabies is possible (probable) in the local animal population and the healthcare infrastructure to handle that is non-existent.

The pre-exposure rabies vaccine for humans, like dogs, is not lifetime. And, the last time I went to get the booster dose there was a shortage of the vaccine in my area. Apparently, at that time, a lot of people who live in high rises in Chicago were told to get the pre-exposure vaccine due to the fact that a large bat population had taken up residence in the eaves of high-rises.


----------



## LifeofRiley (Oct 20, 2011)

Oh, and OP, I agree with others that you should absolutely vaccinate your dog for rabies. If you don't, not only are you opening up your dog to unnecessary risk, but you are also severely limiting your dog in terms of the activities he/she can participate in.... For example, I know that, in my area, proof of vaccination is required before a dog is allowed to take part in any type of dog training class, to enter any kind of boarding facility, or to receive the license necessary to enter city/county off-leash areas.


----------



## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Yeah, and PetsMart won't groom them, even if the vaccine is just a couple of months overdue.


----------



## Colie CVT (Nov 10, 2013)

I figured it required some boosting, however I know that some conferences for vets have free rabies titer testing for people who have had it. The reason I would consider it myself is that we have people bring the bats that they find floating in their house into our clinic. It means that we have the potential to be exposed more than the average person. I know one of the ones that we sent in last year for certain came back as positive. A bite or scratch... :/ 

The big thing with the rabies vaccine is that it isn't just a preventative for pets. It is for people also. Since the likelihood of getting bitten by a dog or cat is higher than wildlife, and generally wildlife and pets interact more than we do with wildlife, the vaccine is as much protection for people as it is for pets. It was likely more important some time ago, but rabies isn't gone from the world sadly. Evil diseases.


----------



## Momto2GSDs (Mar 22, 2012)

*Summary Of The Rabies Challenge Fund Duration Of Immunity Study:* Summary of The Rabies Challenge Fund Duration of Immunity Study - Rabies Challenge Fund

2 Rabies Vaccines were studied.

"Our conclusion from studies with the initial rabies vaccine is that the immunity conferred by that product, and assessed by the in vitro RFFIT, was excellent for the first three years, but declined during the fourth year, and continued to drop during the fifth year. The second vaccine group, which is now three years from vaccination, will remain on study for at least two more years."

Moms


----------



## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

gsdsar said:


> LOL!!! Sorry. I did a whole bunch of research on the Milwaukee protocol. It's super interesting. But yeah. It's a deadly disease. More deadly than Ebola, which I think is 80% kill rate.
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


I would like to see a link to that number - is that a world-wide number? Not that less than a 1 in 10 chance of survival is anything you want to play with. 

This vaccine fear that people get is very dangerous and I am glad to see that the advice being given is to get the animals vaccinated. 

Your dog getting bit by any animal, and your dog biting someone else are the 2 big risks along with contact with saliva and any open mucousy areas. http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/transmission/index.html?s_cid=cs_521

In many of the states/places with titers they are asking that you don't expose your dog - because they are so sick that they cannot have a shot - to unvaccinated animals and situations where they could get bit and then the titer is the same as - ask your state - being unvaccinated in the eyes of the law/public health authorities. But never having the shot, just like wolfstraum said, the vets get all dressed up and have to sever the head and it goes to a state lab for testing.


----------



## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Selzer, you say rabies is "pretty uncommon".......did you look at the CDC link and cases found in each state? You can drill down even more there as I think it breaks it down by species, etc. 

They seem to find it routinely here in foxes. I hear more of distemper in raccoon and I think possums are pretty much immune.....actually I think a lot of rodents, not so much but of course bats get it a lot. Several cases of news going out where someone sold pups at a jockey lot only to find out one was rabid and now they are looking for the others who bought the puppies.


----------



## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

And if you want to check out cases of rabies in the news: 
https://www.google.com/search?q=rab...rabies&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=nws page 1 and it just goes to June 2.

And this is in humans:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEQ_fBcXQRQ

Dog beginning stages:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unu8GTPV9a4


----------



## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

rabies is certainly "not" uncommon here..Lots of wildlife always coming up positive and roaming in neighborhoods where there are pets/people.

I do a t-free rabies vac and do it according to law (puppy/1 year/every 3 years)

Sure you can get an exemption here, BUT, if the dog bites/scratches someone, that dog is going to be treated as if it had "no legal rabies vac"...Or if your non vac'd dog runs into a rabid animal, who wants to take the chance? Not I.


----------



## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

And the dog that was not immunized but exposed (in the article)...and may be PTS..the quarantine for a non immunized dog is 6 months at a facility. That equals $$$$$$. Had the dog bit someone, they would have demanded it PTS (I sure would if a non immunized dog bit me!)

http://epi.publichealth.nc.gov/cd/lhds/manuals/rabies/docs/6mo_domestic.pdf


----------



## sparra (Jun 27, 2011)

Can you get rabies from just a scratch.....????


----------



## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

sparra said:


> Can you get rabies from just a scratch.....????


People and Rabies | CDC Rabies and Kids


----------



## sparra (Jun 27, 2011)

So glad we don't have this over here......Old Yella was enough for me.

It makes no sense to not vaccinate when it is available.


----------



## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Well, it isn't all that common in Ohio:





http://www.odh.ohio.gov/~/media/ODH/ASSETS/Files/dis/zdp/Diseases/rabies/rabtable13.ashx



Ohio Department of Health
Bureau of Infectious Diseases
Zoonotic Disease program
http://www.odh.ohio.gov/odhPrograms/dis/zoonoses/rabies/maps/animtest1

They do not even mention Ashtabula County, which, I guess, is a good thing. But the counties next to us, Lake, and Geauga, (west) and Trumble(south) are there with a couple of bats, and down south in Trumble, a few cats as well. 

No confirmed cases of rabies in dogs in all of 2013.


----------



## selzer (May 7, 2005)

sparra said:


> So glad we don't have this over here......Old Yella was enough for me.
> 
> It makes no sense to not vaccinate when it is available.


Actually, it does make sense not to vaccinate sometimes. You do a risk analysis. To some dogs, like those with seizure disorders, it is more risky than it is for healthy dogs. Think of it this way, if a bat or a rodent comes into my home that has rabies, it may bite my dog, or it might bite me. I am not running out and getting vaccinated against rabies because there may be a rabid bat somewhere. I do get my dogs vaccinated, but I am not necessarily going to do it as often as is recommended.

For example, I got Babs vaccinated a few months ago. She will be nine in a couple of months. If she is still around when she is twelve, I am not going to put her through another rabies vaccine.


----------



## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

I don't have 2013 stats for my state but this report shows plenty when you consider those rabid animals are the ones tested. How many just die in the woods. ...[ignore the error message...the link works]

An Error Occurred Setting Your User Cookie


----------



## LifeofRiley (Oct 20, 2011)

selzer said:


> Well, it isn't all that common in Ohio:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Selzer, the reason you are not seeing a lot of cases in dogs is because of the effectiveness of mandatory vaccination regulations. It really worries me when dog owners are afraid to vaccinate their dogs for rabies because compliance with state and local laws to vaccinate companion animals against rabies is one of the main reasons that we are not seeing larger numbers of rabies cases in companion animals in our country. 

*But, just because companion animals are not being infected in large numbers in your area (due to vaccination) is NOT the same thing as saying that rabies is not present in your area. *

See this link: CDC - Rabies in the U.S. - Rabies

Key quotes from the CDC:
“Over the last 100 years, rabies in the United States has changed dramatically. More than 90% of all animal cases reported annually to CDC now occur in wildlife; *before 1960 the majority were in domestic animals*. The principal rabies hosts today are wild carnivores and bats.”

“Wild animals accounted for 92% of reported cases of rabies in 2010. Raccoons continued to be the most frequently reported rabid wildlife species (36.5% of all animal cases during 2010), followed by skunks (23.5%), bats (23.2%), foxes (7.0%), and other wild animals, including rodents and lagomorphs (1.8%). Reported cases decreased among all wild animals during 2010.”

“Domestic species accounted for 8% of all rabid animals reported in the United States in 2010. The number of reported rabid domestic animals decreased among all domestic species except cats. In 2010, cases of rabies in cats increased 1.0% compared with the number reported in 2009. The number of rabies cases reported in cats is routinely 3-4 times that of rabies reported in cattle or dogs. Pennsylvania reported the largest number of rabid domestic animals (72) for any state, followed by New York (51). In 2010 approximately 1.1% of cats and 0.3% of dogs tested for rabies were found positive.”


And, just to illustrate what life would look like if people in the US decided not to vaccinate their dogs, there is this info:

“Rabies in humans is 100% preventable through prompt appropriate medical care. Y*et, more than 55,000 people, mostly in Africa and Asia, die from rabies every year - a rate of one person every ten minutes. The most important global source of rabies in humans is from uncontrolled rabies in dogs*. Children are often at greatest risk from rabies. They are more likely to be bitten by dogs, and are also more likely to be severely exposed through multiple bites in high-risk sites on the body. Severe exposures make it more difficult to prevent rabies unless access to good medical care is immediately available.”


----------



## lalachka (Aug 13, 2013)

The reaction to vaccine is rare but that won't help me if it happens to be my dog that reacts. 

I'm explaining why I was holding off. I will get it done though, I see it's a serious disease. Just very scared that something might happen to my dog, that's all 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Is your dog sick, or otherwise immune compromised?

I typically give the rabies vaccine on its very own visit and when the dog is "off duty" for a few days. Don't stress him or even play much...just low key stuff. I don't worry about getting TF free because, honestly, the vet does not stock it.


----------



## lalachka (Aug 13, 2013)

Nope, I'm just paranoid))))))


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------

