The only thing I can think of is to take your dog to a vet that you trust and have a tither done and see if he can update the records or have a note in the records that your dog is adequately protected.

Titer.

I think my question is more, what can we do as pet owners to stop this type of systematic practice of over vaccinating our pets and forcing pet owners to comply because boarding facilities and grooming establishments require the vets sign off on the vaccine booster date.

When you think about this company going just to the 840 tractor supply stores in the US and scheduling the clinics every other week. They are seeing at least 30 dogs at each clinic (conservative estimate - our average was over 50 per clinic) that is still over 12000 dogs that they are vaccinating each week. The DA2PP vaccine costs them $5.00 and they are charging $41. By requiring 3 times the number of vaccines as are necessary that is 8000 x $36 or $288,000 a week / $14 million a year in excess charges for unnecessary vaccines.

Your pediatrician has the same legal right to alter vaccine schedules to meet the unique needs of your child, but no pediatrician would systematically over vaccinate our kids without risking their license. Why are veterinarians allowed to do this without any risk.

I had a local vet for my cat for a good 8 years. Every year I would get a postcard in the mail, “ he is due for his rabies shot.” Every year, $100.00 visit for his yearly shot. I then moved to another town and found a new vet close by. I told the new vet he was probably due for his rabies shot, he told me after two yearly doses he’s good for three years! I was so angry with that first vet, what should have cost me $300.00 I ended up paying $800.00… not to mention how that affected the health of my boy, who knows! It’s really unscrupulous to take advantage of people like that. I agree, Jennifer, it’s a problem.

Sorry this is happening to you, Jennifer. My dog only gets a rabies booster every 3 years, so I understand your pov.

I just don't know what I can do to stop this practice of looking out for the health of the veterinarians pockets over the health of the animals.

It seems to me that if one company is making millions of dollars lying and cheating and that many others are doing the same thing there should be something that the public can do to put a stop to it.

You cannot do this in human medicine, but it is somehow acceptable with veterinary medicine?

Doesn't make sense.

I have enough money to get titers or get my dog revaccinated, but how many people are having to make a choice in caring for their animal or caring for their kids or doing something extra for their kids. This is just so wrong.

It is wrong, Jennifer.

There are human vaccine protocols that don't make sense for everyone, every time.

(Before someone jumps on me, my whole family are vaccinated for everything! Including covid! Not what I'm talking about). I have argued up and down with doctors over various issues (and DH is a physician, too, but every so often he disagreed with whatever pediatrician we were seeing).

And really, you have a 2-fold problem, because not only is the veterinarian place doing things unethically that help their bottom line, but the place you board your dog is unsophisticated and inflexible. I would be annoyed and irritated with this , too, in your shoes.

I have a lot of questions about what veterinarians recommend and do, but I won't hijack your thread over it. You are corrrect, this is WRONG.

Edited to add: Jennifer, name the company if it's a big one. Call them out, so others can read and judge for themselves.

most (i dare say "all") boarding facilities/training centers do not accept titers as proof and, at least around here, titers are not acceptable for registering your dog with the county for licensing purposes.

not only that ^ but there's the task of finding a vet who will even DO titers. there are none within 50 miles of me who will.

I hear contradictory things about my cat's rabies vaccine. I've had people tell me that the vaccine is good for three years - whether you load Fluffy in the car every year or once every three, it's the same vaccine at the same dose. Vet said nope, she still doesn't like the "three year" vaccine. The current Fluffy isn't boarded though, and hasn't reacted badly to any vaccine. (Viewing the carrier is another story)

Because Rabies is transmittable to people the vaccination schedule is usually dictated by state and local law. Some states only require that dogs be vaccinated, most require dogs, cats and ferrets to be vaccinated.

The law for each state is summarized here:

https://www.avma.org/sites/default/files/2021-08/State-Rabies-Vaccination-Laws-Chart.pdf

If your state requires vaccination for cats, the vet really does not have the authority to over-ride state mandates.

Again, different states have different rules and some allow use of either one or 3 year rabies vaccines, some only allow 3 year vaccines to be used.

For cats there is an additional risk factor that many cat owners don't know about - injection site sarcomas. https://www.avma.org/resources-tools/pet-owners/petcare/vaccines-and-sarcomas-concern-cat-owners

Because of the risk of injection site sarcomas, at this point in time I would only use the recombinant, adjuvant free vaccines developed by Merial - bought out by Boehringer Ingelheim and sold under the name PureVax. The original PureVax was a one year vaccine, but they have a 3 year formula available now.

It is an expensive vaccine and may not be available through every veterinary hospital (they have to buy 25 at a time, and may not sell enough to warrant the expense).

If my vet used anything other than PureVax I would want it to be a 3 year vaccine and would only allow administration in the tail. (Can be amputated if a sarcoma develops).