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As I posted awhile back, I currently have two foster dogs. They both need their annual rabies shots. I plan on picking them up at the feed store and doing it myself since the owner doesn't want to pay for a vet and it's too cost prohibitive for me. I'm assuming it's a little more complicated than "jab and inject," but I really don't know. Any assistance you guys can give would be appreciated.
Also, is it safe to give the rabies vaccine to a pregnant dog?
YOu do realize that even though the rabies vaccine you buy and do yourself is perfectaly fine it does not come with certification and the tag, and is NOT accepted as valid if the dog bites anyone! There would be no legal record of the dogs receiving the vaccine, only your word. I don't understand if you are fostering dogs how those dogs can have an owner? ARound here if a dog is fostered it means it has been abandoned and has no owner and the local Vets either volunteer their services to the fostering group or offer big discounts.
Goatlady... that may, or may not be true- it depends on the state. Each one has different laws.
Anyway... read the label!! If it's a sub-q (under the skin) injection (Pretty sure it is, but we can't legally give our own here, so we have our farm vet do it when he comes) just lift the skin just in front of the shoulder blades, stick the needle through the full skin thickness (but NOT all the way through both layers so you squirt it out the other side! LOL- usually more common in puppies and kittens, but can happen in a small, thin skinned dog), pull back slightly on the plunger to be certain you don't have it in a blood vessel and then inject.
Done properly, they won't even notice. If you DO see blood in the syringe (never has happened to me in many, many years of vaccinating assorted puppies, kittens, dogs and cats) pull it out and repeat in a different spot.
And no, I would NOT vaccinate a pregnant dog personally, although I don't know what the actual "official" position for this particular vaccine is.
The other thing- are rabies shots required *annually* in your state? In NY, it's an initial vaccine after 6 months, one 12 months later, and then once every three years. And even that is likely overkill in terms of providing adequate immunity... rabies vaccines last a long time in most.
Summerthyme
Quote:
Originally Posted by goatlady
These dogs are my brothers, who lives in South Texas. I agreed to keep them until he can take them back. I live fairly deep in the country, so there is no certification requirement. I'm not worried about any type of certificate, just the dogs' safety.
Summerthyme, it is a yearly requirement in Oklahoma; however, I'm not worried about certification, just safety of the dogs. One has had all of his "shots" and usually gets taken yearly, but he's overdue. The other has never been to a vet in her life. I'm pretty deep in the country and just want to make sure they're protected.Quote:
Originally Posted by Summerthyme
And thanks for the instructions 8-)
If it's solely for their protection (and I understand that... it's why we even haul cages full of barn cats to a county clinic every couple years), as long as they've had at least 2 vaccinations (their primary and a booster), you're safe for *at least* three years beyond the second shot.
Blood titers drawn on vaccinated pets show that antibody protection actually lasts 5 years OR LONGER in most animals.
Summerthyme
First ... I use to work for a vet and no one was allowed to have the shot unless they were a licensed vet in the state of Washington. All shots came with a tag, had to be on the animal, and the, signed by the vet, cert with the owner.
Second ... several times while I was working for the vet, three years full time, we had people who were bitten by a stray, or even their own cat or dog, have to surrender by law that animal for testing ... Meaning death.
We would give the sleepy shot, cut off the head, and send it off to Washington State U for testing. NO OTHER WAY TO DO IT! This was late 60's and early 70's. I was given the gross chore of boxing up the heads!!
Forgive me if ... the law has changed. I just know how upset the owners were to have to have their animal killed to prove NO rabies. Totally a waste of a good animal ... in most cases.
I do know from living there recently that Idaho and Montana require you to get the shots ONLY at the vet's office, or on the farm/ranch if the vet is making a call there.
Here in New Mexico you must take the animal that is getting the shots into the vet's clinic.
You MUST have health cert and rabies cert with you IF you are traveling with your animals across the United States.
It is horrible to think you would NOT do this IF YOU LOVE your animals cause some states allow the LEOs to take animals away IF no paperwork is on the owner and they get stopped!
Just as you must show proof to be driving your rig ... you must have the paperwork on the animals that are with you also.
It's not legal for non-vets to give rabies shots here, so I've never given rabies, but I regularly give the 7-Way Canine to my dogs, and that's simple enough. Stick the needle in the liquid bottle and draw out all liquid, inject in the solid bottle. Remove needle, shake the bottle vigorously. Stick needle in and draw out all the liquid. Grasp a loose fold of skin (I usually do it on the dog's back, just behind his shoulder blade.), Stick the needle in the loose fold of skin, making sure it's all the way through the skin layer, inject and remove the needle.