It is not about saving money, but about protecting the health of your pet. Over vaccination has been proven to induce cancers and auto-immune disease.

Agreed, this is what happened to the Collie I had to put down 5 years ago - cancer. He was 11 years old, had lost a lot of weight, was 100 pounds down to 65 when he passed.
He had gotten a blue ring around his one eye that the vet said cause was a different kind of vaccine for parvo.
I know better now, dogs will get the boosters till age 7 then nothing but rabies every 3 years.
It's a money racket for some vets, they are more interested in money than keeping your pet healthy.

The well check up is a great idea. At that time you can ask your vet to draw blood for a titer to see if your dogs immunity is still high enough. If not then get only the vaccine that is low in immunity. That way you are not bombarding his body with unnecessary toxins.

Exactly what is a titer test? I've never heard of this and my vet has never mentioned it. When I first moved to OK and took my Shelby in for her yearly checkup and shots, the vet did a heart worm test (neg.) and gave me her Heart Guard pills for a year. The following year when I took her in, I was told I didn't have to have her tested every year as long as I kept her on her pills...which I have always done religiously. However, when I moved to AL I was told I still had to have the test done every year. Is this something that varies from state to state?? It seems to me that's what the Heart Guard pills are for...to prevent heart worms. Shelby is almost 13 and after reading these posts, I think I am going to just go with a 3 year rabies vaccination and her Heart Worm treatment from now on. She's an inside dog for the most part and I don't worry too much about any other problems.

A titer test measures the level of vaccine still in the body and tell you if any one vaccine is too low.

The heartworm test actually varies by vet. But if you are near a body of water that has a large mosquito population it may be a good idea to test annually or bi-annually. I test every other year.

I totally agree to just doing rabies according to your local law for a 13 year old.

We do only rabies here and usually the annual. Some Vets don't like the 3 year for cats. But sometimes that is all they have at the HS. And Isla doesn't ride well so she got a 3 year.

They had all the kitten series first though.

Vacs used to make Koala Blue very sick. I had to split his up into 3 seperate visits 2 weeks apart. He still wouldn't feel up to par for a couple days after a shot. I think he was about 6 when we went to just the required rabies on the advice of our Vet. So we have been on that program for 15 years now.

I often wonder why no other animal other than dogs seem to get heartworm. The skeeter that supposedly has it bites other critters besides dogs yes - this includes human beings. Meds like Heart Guard are dangerous for herding breed dogs. The heartworm medication is arsnic so you are giving your dogs poison to a small extent. I use an herbal tropcial on my dogs, and use the spray on my arms when the skeeters are out, it makes them run in the other direction as they do not like the tree oil.
It also helps with ticks.

Just for info: I buy my own Puppy shots (the highest quality)and syringes each year when I have a litter. I give the first vaccine before they go home and I give the next two vaccinations to any puppy we keep. My cost per shot is less than $4.00; that is the vaccine and the syringe. Compare that to what your vet charges per vaccine, plus you pay an office visit on top. My vet charges an office visit, professional service charge & the vaccine.

I have seen those, you can get parvo, distemper etc. but Rabies has to be done by a vet as there is paperwork going to the state for license.

[quote=DebsShelties]Same here in Pennsylvania, but we have lots of clinics (done by a vet) that are more reasonable than my vet. I asked my vet for an estimated cost to come to the house to vaccinate 9 dogs for rabies. The cost would have been over $600. I found a clinic and took 3 to 4 at a time for $25.00 each.