This blog post may contain affiliate links and I may earn a commission at no cost to you. Learn more.
Originally published in June 2008, reposted June 2012
There is a lot of things to consider about pet vaccinations. Here I’ll cover 7 tips to consider BEFORE scheduling your pet to get a vaccination, schedule to let you know when to get vaccines, how long vaccine immunity lasts, and how your dog’s rabies vaccine ties into getting a dog license.
Are pet vaccines safe for Your pet?
One person that is making incredible strides in pet vaccines is Dr. Jean Dodds, DVM. Dr. Dodds is helping to change vaccine protocols by giving us a revised pet vaccine schedule. I have seen many websites with these protocols but they were all slightly different.
In efforts to provide the most accurate information, I contacted Dr. Dodds and have received her consent to use her minimal use Dog Vaccine Schedule and Cat Vaccine Schedule.
She is also participating in a research study called the Rabies Challenge Fund. This study is hoping to determine the duration of immunity conveyed by rabies vaccines. The goal is to extend the required interval for rabies boosters from 3 years to 5 years and then to 7 years. To learn more and support this worthy study, visit The Rabies Challenge Fund today.
Another person is Jan Rasmusen, author of Scared Poopless. View Jan’s video about vaccines, Stand up to your vet. Until our vaccines are safer and the schedules are changed, it is up to the pet owners to do our homework in order to protect our pets. Below you will find some information that may help guide you in making your vaccine decisions.
7 things you should know before giving you pet a vaccine
- Immunity Duration: Some vaccines may be protecting your pet 1, 3, 5 to 9+ years!
- Titer testing: A simple blood test from your Vet will tell you whether your pet has enough antibodies to be protected. Please note: Most areas will not accept this for rabies.
- Access your dog lifestyle: Depending on where you live and the lifestyle your dog leads (i.e.indoor, outdoor, both, and exposure to other animals), this may determine how many vaccines are needed for your pet.
- NEVER give vaccines to a sick pet!
- Check for any recent Vaccine Recalls.
- Give SINGLE shots: Keep vaccines separate, do not allow 3, 5, or 7 all in one shot to be administered.
- You can say NO to your vet: If your vet recommends more shots or vaccines, you have the right to say no!
Rabies and getting a dog license
A dog needs to be current on their rabies when registering/licensing your pet. In some areas, as long as your dog has a few months left on their current vaccination you can register them. However, in some areas, your dog must be covered by their vaccination the entire time frame of your dog’s license. The problem with this is it contributes to over-vaccinating our pets. This hurts our pets, it does not help them as we have been duped into thinking. With that said, you might want to consider this before moving to a new area.
Rabies Exemptions and Waivers
Rabies vaccination is required by law in every state. However, it may be possible to secure a written waiver for exemption from rabies booster vaccination. You will need a letter from your veterinarian justifying the medical reason for such an exemption. Accompanying the exemption letter should be a rabies serum antibody titer. Adequate serum rabies titers are at least 1:5 by the RFFIT method. Waiver requests are not generally accepted based on serum antibody titers alone but may be granted on a case-by-case basis with justification.
Reactions to pet vaccines
If your pet does have an adverse reaction it is most common to happen within 24-48 hours. Although some research suggests that your pet could experience a reaction or illness in response to a vaccination up to 6 months from the time the vaccine was administered. If this happens it is important to seek help from your Vet. When speaking with your Vet make sure to have it noted in your dog’s file and ask if they will report it to USDA Center for Veterinary Biologics and the vaccine manufacturer.
Dog Vaccine history and where we are today
According to, Dr. Ronald D. Schultz, Ph.D., D.V.M. Chair of Pathobiological Sciences at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and of Rabies Challenge fund writes:
A practice that was started many years ago and that lacks scientific validity or verification is annual re-vaccinations. Almost without exception, there is no immunologic requirement for annual re-vaccination. Immunity to viruses persists for years or for the life of the animal. Successful vaccination to most bacterial pathogens produces an immunologic memory that remains for years.
It is up to us to pose the question of booster vaccinations to our veterinarians and find out what their protocol is given each animal’s situation. The vaccination schedule you and your vet choose for your pet should be individualized based on many factors (e.g., indoor only, indoor and outdoor, geographical location, age, and health).
A growing population of concerned pet owners and holistic veterinarians began to question this yearly re-vaccination protocol and found that there is no clear evidence to prove its efficacy. People do not get re-vaccinated every year for polio, chickenpox, and the like, yet we do the equivalent of that to our pets.
In the last 5 years, all 27 veterinary schools have come on board, admitting that yearly vaccinations are not required, and are more likely to be causing health problems.
Which vaccines are required for pet care services?
Rabies is required in many states. This is the only vaccine I ask for proof of and only at your consultation. Any other vaccines are not mandatory.
My husband and I recently got our first dog, and we’d like to learn more about when and if we should take her to the vet for vaccines. Your article had some great information about pet vaccines, and I liked how you said to make sure we only get one vaccine for our dog at a time, and to keep an eye out for adverse reactions that will happen within 24-48 hours of the administration. Thanks; we’ll keep this in mind when taking our dog to the vet to get vaccinated.
Thanks for the vaccination information. We want to get our dogs the necessary shots, so this is great to know. I’ll make sure that my dog is not sick when we take her in for her shots.
I appreciate your advice on accessing your dog’s lifestyle to see how long or how many vaccinations it might need. I am thinking about getting a dog for my kids this summer. I live in a more rural area, so if I were to get a dog, I would want to make sure that it has current rabies vaccines so that it would be protected against any potential wild animals.
My wife and I just got our first dog, and I think that it would be good for us to get his pet vaccinations done soon. I didn’t realize that vaccinations for pet could protect them for varied amounts of time, even up to 9 years or more! I’m going to have to ask our veterinarian about how long the vaccinations we’re getting our dog will last and make sure that we keep him protected! Thank you!
I love my puppy, and I want to make sure he is getting the right vaccinations to stay healthy. It can be hard to know exactly which ones are required and when they should be administered. Choosing a trusted vet that can share this information could be very helpful. As you said, the vaccination schedule is something that is individualized and determined by a variety of factors.
My first few dogs paid the price for my ignorance…they were fed kibble and re-vaccinated every 3 years. They ended up with numerous, severe health conditions and all died or had to be euthanized by age 10-12 years old; they were all small dogs, under 12 lbs. My husband and I changed to a naturopathic vet (Dr. Jeannie Thomason, http://www.wholedog.com) who taught us about naturally raising our dogs. We fed them a raw diet..yes, raw meat with bones. Stopped vaccinating them with anything. Our next group lived with no health problems, no disease, full of life and energy and died of old age at 20-21 years.
There is no safe vaccine and the best thing for our pets is to give them amazing health with a strong immune system that fights off the “bad junk.” Don’t give in to a vaccine junkie vet – run out of there as fast as you can and find yourself a true natural vet. Here is CA, we have Dr. Thomason and Dr. Stephen Blake. If your pet doesn’t have to be physically seen by them, they can even do phone or internet consultations. You’ll love the end result and so will you beloved pets.
Now we need to get the stupid government to stop this rabies vaccine nonsense; it’s all done to make money for the vets and big pharma.