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My cats are strictly indoors. No vacs other than rabies.
However, if I had a partially outdoor cat or a dog, I would keep them relatively up to date.
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@Shutterbug: Oh no! There is a lyme vaccine. We just got it for our younger dog.
We fully vaccinate both of our dogs. They go to doggie daycare and they are occasionally boarded so we have to.
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@littlejoy: Sorry I forgot to mention that we go to Banfield
The plan is definitely worth it for puppies in the first year, we went off of it for a few years after that...but then their dental health became a serious problem. That service alone, makes it worth it to us!
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@littlejoy: a shot is a shot as far as I am concerned! I found my vet through a coworker! I used to take them to a clinic but the overhead cost must've been much higher Cuz they were expensive!!!!
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@littlejoy: that seems expensive. I pay $120 a year at the vet for my dogs vaccines and checkup.
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@.twist.: my cat is a total asshole too. She has to be fully sedated (given the gas!) for every single appointment because she is so aggressive with vets. We've had 2 vets comment that they were afraid of her! LOL
Our cat is indoors only (well, she goes out very selectively and only on a leash) and is on a vet-recommended set of vax for indoor-only cats. I'm not sure which she has had and which she hasn't, to be honest. I just do what they recommend.
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@yoursilverlining: haha omg!!! we must have the same cat! My guy chased a vet tech and once i picked him up from an over night stay and the vet tech at the front desk said "oh, you're here to get the devil cat" LOL.
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My dog has all the vet recommended shots, I can't remember what disease or illness it is but some things are just on grass that your dog can pick up if an infected dog was just there before them on a walk.
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My dogs get full work up every year.
My cats never get shots. They're indoor only.
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@Sunshine1810: good to know! He was completely asymptomatic but they test for lyme every year as part of his annual check-up. We were shocked because we never even saw a tick, and he has short fur (he's a pug), plus we use Advantix. The vet said that the type of ticks that carry lyme are in the nymph stage and so they're smaller than the tip of a pencil.
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@.twist.: haha, our cats are total evil twins. The last vet we took her to the vet said "I work with aggressive feral cats all the time and let me tell you, your cat scares me." hahaha, when they give her back to us after her appointment she is always still sedated completely (so fully asleep), but growling non-stop in her sleep. I didn't even know they could growl while under the gas.
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@yoursilverlining: hahaha wow! Well, I don't totally blame them for hating the vet, but if they cooperated it wouldn't be SO BAD.
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My dog is fully vaccinated. She goes to the groomer a few times a year, and is always roaming around at the cottage and out on hikes, so I wouldn't risk not vaxing her. She also gets 6 months of topical heartworm medication every year. Expensive, necessary evil!
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Our dog had a bad reaction to lepto the first time she received it (vomiting followed by swollen face). We now only give her rabies and distemper and have to pretreat her for those, even.
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I've reached out to my vet about drawing titers.
She expressed to me that she suggests vaccines each year, because she's liable if she gives advice to NOT vaccinate, and the animal ends up with that specific illness. Makes sense. She said she absolutely doesn't think every pet needs every vaccine, and she's more than happy to draw titers and do an indoor schedule.
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Our critters (2 dogs, 2 indoor only cats) are fully vaccinated per our vet. They do rabies every 3 years per law, and then boosters along with that - so it's not every year which is nice. We take the dogs to dog parks a lot, and hiking, so we wouldn't want to risk them not being covered. We don't board them though so we've skipped the kennel cough vax for now. As far as costs it's about $50/pet for each exam, I can't remember how much the vaccines cost. And we usually bring in all 4 at once to save a trip so we look pretty ridiculous! We picked the vet based on where we could take the bus to with our kittens, because at the time we didn't have a car, and it's worked out great. We looked into pet insurance, but for 4 animals it was going to be a ton of money. And it was hard to find an affordable plan that covered all the preventable stuff and vaccines since that was mostly what we use anyhow (other than when our evil cat went through a particularly evil spell). We just make sure we account for them in our emergency fund savings.
The thing that's killing me now is heartworm! We don't have it where we are from and we moved across the country and now need to treat - it's expensive x4 every month! I thought we could skip the cats because they're indoor only, but our vet convinced me and after this summer seeing how many mosquitos sneak their nasty selves indoors I'm glad we did. It's a pain though. We did do flea preventative for them back home but were pretty lazy and did it only every few months and not in the winter.
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We don't always do lepto and only do kennel cough when we plan to board her. Besides that we do all the other ones.
She's in Heartworm meds year round and flea meds from may - October. One month before and after warm weather around here.
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I think it is worth getting the vaccinations. My mother works at a vet clinic and would absolutely recommend getting them all.
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Update: We are doing Banfield. I like their program, and the fact that the insurance plan includes a sedated dental cleaning every year. Our current vet is awesome, and I appreciated her transparency about the vaccine schedule, but after considering cost, it makes sense to go with a monthly plan where everything is included. Thanks ladies!
The plan is definitely worth it for puppies in the first year, we went off of it for a few years after that...but then their dental health became a serious problem. That service alone, makes it worth it to us!
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