Should I give Lepto?

J

jesshall

Forums Regular
I have never had a Sheltie before and Henry is our first we have had him since he was 8 weeks old and he will be three in May. My question is should I do lepto? My breeder contract says no lepto on it that Shelties are allergic, but my vet suggested for me to do it because she is seeing a breakout of lepto in other dogs in our area (Agawam, MA right outside of Springfield, MA) and that the majority of her other clients that have Shelties do lepto. She told me not to do it if I am uncomfortable with it, but she recommends it.
 
nope nope and NO.

Besides ive been hearing its not 100% effective, and if they do contract it a round of antibiotics will take care of it when caught early enough...and further more generally speaking lepto is more commonly found in warm humid areas where it can thrive and live...certainly not that case in NE in the winter:wink2:

I'll be seeing my vet Thurs with my puppies hes in MA and has clients from all over, I havent heard of an outbreak, i'll run it by him and see if hes heard anything...otherwise im wondering if your vet is trying to up-sell a vaccine to you...:mad:
 
Well the Vet said if I'm not comfortable doing it then not to do it and if they get lepto then the treatment can cost up to $30,000 so I'm not really sure. When we lived in SC the vet never said anything about me not wanting the Lepto for Henry. I'm just on the fence because I don't want them to get sick but I also don't want to give my dogs vaccines they may not need. Also ask your vet how he feels about the Lyme vaccine here in New England? I did get it last year and again this year but I am wondering if it is at all needed. We do use topical treatments K9 advantix and we still see tick on them during the tick breeding months.
 
This is a new vet I didn't like the first vet I saw when we first moved here, seems like it's harder to find a good vet here in MA then it was in SC.
 
My vet has never suggested a Lepto shot for my shelties. My setters since they were in the fields in the hunting season, the vet did give them that shot.

Wow $30,000, I don't think so. Geesh I would feel uncomfortable with that statement.
 
I'm told that the vets are seeing a lot more Lepto than they did in the past. If you don't have a lot of wildlife in your area, I wouldn't worry so much. It's a nasty disease and is frequently fatal. If your dog might drink out of ponds or puddles were wild animals drink, either prevent that or get the shot.

I live on a farm and my dogs have always had free run and never gotten sick, but--in the past, there was not nearly as much wildlife spreading the disease. I'm also told the new Lepto shots are not as prone to side effects as the older version. Lepto is like the flu, there are several strains and not all strains are included in the vaccine. The vaccine is also short term so get it in the spring.
 
We have a fenced in yard and there are no ponds or puddles or any standing water they could get into, but we do have squirrels, rabbits and skunks around. We live outside of Springfield, MA and it's not at all considered country, I have yet to see a deer since moving to MA, growing up in a rural area of NY you could see 20 deer within 5 miles. I don't know how I feel about the lepto and the vet did say that it was the old vaccine that caused problems and the new one doesn't seem to cause the same reactions that the older one did, but I'm still not sold on it. And I am not comfortable with the statment she made about it costing 5,000-30,000 to treat it because I feel like that is a scare tactic and I am not comfortable with a vet that is willing to use such tactics just to get me to vaccinate my dog. Also, the old vet I went to last year (whom I did not like) that is in the same area did not push the Lepto, actually she didn't even say anything about it. I just need to look for a different vet, so the search continues.
 
My vet suggested the lepto shot this year as well. She said its unnecessary if you're not around a lot of wild life, but that if we hike it would be a good idea.

She's not one to push unneccesary shots, she recommended it because there's been an outbreak in our area. Please note that we live in Southern Ontario, so not in a warm climate (only warm a few months of the year).

Two of my vet's patients contracted Lepto. An older dog, whom she was concerned about was treated and made a full recovery. A young, usually healthy dog that she treated wasn't so lucky. This dog didn't seem as sick initially, but it passed away.

If you're like us and you hike or are near wild life and there's an outbreak in your area, it might be something you want to consider.
 
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