Vaccinating for lyme?

musac15

Hi there! I was reading the post below about lyme disease, and I thought I'd ask you ladies if you get the vaccination against it? 

From what I can best tell, its pretty controversial because it may not really help prevent lyme disease. Do any of you that work in the veterinary medicine recommend it? Do you give it to your dogs?

I live in PA, and we have a huge tick problem here. I pull a few off of my dogs anytime we go hiking, or walking in semi-tall grass. They're on frontline year round, but I still worry just because of the number of ticks we find on them (and us..ew!) here.

Both my dogs currently get it (and have for several years), but my current vet keeps trying to talk me out of it at every visit.  

aggiebug

Yes my dog gets it and I do tend to recommend it if your dog is prone to ticks and in an area with a lot of Lymes disease.  It is not 100%, but I rarely (actually I can't recall a case) see a dog that is up to date on Lyme vaccine have clinical disease of Lyme.  What type of vaccine is your vet using?  how prevalent is actual Lyme disease in people in your area? 

spalko

We haven't been vaccinating against it in the last couple of years but the tick population in Michigan as exploded this year so we just order a tray of vaccines. We still don't recommend it with our vaccine protocol but if it is requested or if someone is traveling to the UP (where ticks are even worse) then we suggest it for our patients. The only bummer is that Lyme isn't the only disease that ticks can spread so just protecting against one doesn't mean the dog couldn't get something else if a tick were to attach. I also think the vet I work for wasn't too pleased with previous versions of the vaccine but they've increased the quality of the vaccine within the last couple of years and that is helping to change her mind.

LuckyAngel07

YES!! I live in PA, too, and Zoey gets the vaccine. I just refuse to take the chance with her. She actually ended up getting a tick embedded at the base of one ear about a week before she was scheduled for her spay surgery. Sometimes ticks get past us, and I'm glad to have an extra layer of protection against her catching Lyme from one.

ETA: Our vet recommended it from the get go. They suggested testing for Lyme on our last annual visit, but Zoey is up-to-date on her vaccine, so I have no idea why they'd want/need to do that b/w, and I declined it. 

spalko

LuckyAngel07:

YES!! I live in PA, too, and Zoey gets the vaccine. I just refuse to take the chance with her. She actually ended up getting a tick embedded at the base of one ear about a week before she was scheduled for her spay surgery. Sometimes ticks get past us, and I'm glad to have an extra layer of protection against her catching Lyme from one.

ETA: Our vet recommended it from the get go. They suggested testing for Lyme on our last annual visit, but Zoey is up-to-date on her vaccine, so I have no idea why they'd want/need to do that b/w, and I declined it. 

If they use the 4DX Snap test it also tests for two other diseases that ticks can spread.

musac15

Alright thanks! I will keep up the vaccinating! They're both due in July for it, so I was just rechecking my facts. 

 

aggiebug

LuckyAngel07:

ETA: Our vet recommended it from the get go. They suggested testing for Lyme on our last annual visit, but Zoey is up-to-date on her vaccine, so I have no idea why they'd want/need to do that b/w, and I declined it. 

 

That is silly. Just because she shows positive doesn't mean she has the disease.   I only use the test to confirm a suspicion. The 4dx does also test for other tick dieseases which is beneficial, but again if they aren't have clinical disease there is no reason to treat