How Much Do Dog Vaccinations Cost
The average cost of dog vaccinations is about $87.50 with average prices ranging from $75 to $100 according to AKC. This includes the cost for core dog shots usually administered at 6 weeks, 12 weeks, and 16 weeks old. A rabies vaccination will cost you anywhere from $15 to $20. Some animals shelters or low cost vaccination clinics will vaccinate your pet for $20 or free.
*Disclaimer – This is not the actual cost of our dog vaccinations in Atlanta, GA. Contact SWVC today to find out how much your pet vaccinations cost.
Vaccinations For Adult Dogs: Boosters And Titers
There is a difference of opinion about having your adult dog vaccinated every year. Some vets believe too many vaccinations in adult dogs pose health risks. But others disagree, saying that yearly vaccinations will prevent dangerous diseases such as distemper. Talk with your vet to determine what kind of vaccination protocol works for you and your dog.
Many dog owners opt for titer tests before they administer annual vaccinations. Titer tests measure a dogs immunity levels, and this can determine which, if any, vaccinations are necessary. One key exception to this is rabies: a titer test is not an option when it comes to the rabies vaccine. This vaccination is required by law across the United States. Your vet can tell you the schedule for your particular state.
And its all worth it. For your effort and care your puppy will lavish you with lifelong love in return. This critical first year of her life is a fun and exciting time for both of you. As she grows physically, the wonderful bond between you will grow, too.
Dont miss crucial information when it comes to raising your puppy. Get personalized training, nutritional, veterinary, and everyday advice sent straight to your inbox. , a weekly email newsletter with customized content based on your puppys breed and age.
What Vaccinations Does My Dog Need
Dogs in the UK are generally vaccinated against four diseases:
- Canine parvovirus Passed on through infected dog poo, symptoms include vomiting and diarrhoea containing lots of blood, as well as severe dehydration. Sadly, theres no specific treatment, and puppies that catch this disease are particularly vulnerable.
- Canine distemper Usually spreads through contact with an infected dog via bodily fluid such as saliva from a bite. Symptoms vary but can include fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, and coughing. It can be fatal, but even if a dog survives they can have long-term neurological and mobility problems, such as seizures, or difficulty in walking.
- Leptospirosis Severe cases of this cause liver and kidney failure, and can be fatal in both dogs and humans. Leptospirosis is contracted through infected urine or contaminated water water. Its more common in areas with lots of rats.
- Infectious canine hepatitis There are two strains of this virus: one causes a cough and the other causes hepatitis. Symptoms include tiredness, fever, vomiting and diarrhoea. While it can be fatal in some dogs, most do recover.
Also Check: Does Cvs Do Tetanus Shots
How Do Dogs Get Rabies
Dogs primarily get rabies through being bitten by an infected animal. Animals that have rabies secrete large amounts of the virus in their saliva, which they can transfer to a dog through an open wound caused by a bite or scratch. The most common carriers of rabies in the US are wild animals such as bats, skunks, raccoons, and foxes. To keep your dog safe, try not to expose them to any wild animals.
Rabies is reported more often in cats than dogs in the US, so it is important to also have any felines in the household vaccinated and kept indoors. Dogs who have not been vaccinated and are allowed to roam freely outdoors are most at risk for contracting rabies as they have a higher chance of fighting with infected strays or wild animals.
Jumpstart Your Puppys Immune System
In their first year of life, puppies will need to visit their veterinarian numerous times to get vaccinated for and become immunized against potentially fatal, yet preventable infectious diseases. The worst of these are Distemper and Parvo.
The timing and interval between booster vaccinations is critical to ensure your puppy is protected, as their mothers antibodies can interfere with a vaccinations ability to mount your puppys own immune response. Thus, puppies need a series of vaccinations to allow their immune system to break through waning maternal antibody.
You May Like: Does Cvs Offer Tdap Shot
When Should I Get A Rabies Vaccine
A rabies vaccine is usually recommended based on a travellers itinerary. If you plan on staying in a country with an elevated risk of rabies for more than two weeks, vaccination is recommended. It is believed up to 60,000 people die every year from rabies worldwide.
You should receive your first pre-exposure rabies vaccine at least 28 days before your trip. Two booster doses are required within 28 days of the first dose. If you cannot complete all three doses before your trip, it is best to abstain from the vaccine.
Post-exposure rabies vaccination is given after a bite or other potential contamination. If you believe you have been exposed to rabies, seek medical attention as soon as possible.
Pricey Facility Fees Drive The Costs Of Rabies Treatment Even Higher
Most health care providers do not stock rabies immunoglobulin because the expensive drug has a short shelf life, typically expiring a few years after production. Theres a decent chance the drug would expire on a primary care doctors shelf.
Emergency rooms, however, do keep this lifesaving medication in stock. The Amino data set shows that 95 percent of post-exposure rabies treatment happens in ERs.
Emergency rooms typically tack on hundreds or thousands of dollars in hospital and doctor fees just for receiving the injections in an ER setting. Facility fees are the price emergency rooms charge for walking in the door and seeking care. These fees have risen steeply in recent years: up 89 percent over just six years, according to my recent investigation with the Health Care Cost Institute.
The fees also vary significantly from hospital to hospital and even within the same hospital.
Lisa Peterson learned this firsthand after a raccoon bit her in October 2016. She called the public health department, which told her the only place she could seek treatment was her local emergency room.
St. Marks Hospital in Salt Lake City billed Peterson $14,444 for her first visit. She was ultimately responsible for $941.
What jumped out at Peterson was that her emergency room would charge different prices for her follow-up visits. To her, the visits all seemed the same: a quick stop by the emergency room to receive a shot of the rabies vaccine.
Recommended Reading: Cost Of Tdap At Cvs
Don’t Put Off The Rabies Vaccine For Humans
Rabies is a very scary virus. Not only is it incredibly deadly, but the symptoms are severe and it can easily be transmitted by any animal. For all of these reasons, it’s important to make sure that you are safe.
The best way to protect yourself is the rabies vaccine for humans. Whether you want to get it as a preventative measure or to combat potential exposure, its efficacy will give you peace of mind. So don’t put it off, get it as soon as possible!
For the best possible care, get the best insurance that Canada has to offer. Contact us at Insurdinary for a quote today!
People Who Are Travelling
You should consider being vaccinated against rabies if you’re travelling to an area of the world where rabies is common and:
- you plan to stay for a month or more, or there’s unlikely to be quick access to appropriate medical care
- you plan to do activities that could put you at increased risk of exposure to animals with rabies, such as running or cycling
It takes up to 4 weeks to complete the vaccine course, so you need to start it at least 1 month before you plan to leave.
Pregnant women are advised to have the rabies vaccine if the risk of exposure to rabies is thought to be high and there’s limited access to medical care.
Use the TravelHealthPro website to find out if there’s a risk of rabies in the country you’re travelling to.
Don’t Miss: Cvs Pharmacy Tdap Vaccine Cost
Rabies Vaccination Schedule Of Dogs And Cats
It shall be the duty of every owner to have his dog or cat vaccinated against rabies after the dog reaches three months of age, the cat six months of age. Regardless of the type of licensed vaccine used or the age of the animal at the time of the first vaccination, the animal shall be revaccinated one year later. Following the first two vaccinations, booster vaccinations will be due at either one or three year intervals in accordance with the approved duration of immunity of the specific vaccine used and the species vaccinated. The required due date for revaccination shall be placed on the certificate by the veterinarian administering the vaccine. As part of their registration and rabies control programs, local jurisdictions may have more stringent requirements, such as annual rabies vaccinations regardless of vaccine type used. For purposes of animal control programs and medical decisions regarding human anti-rabies treatments, a dog or cat shall be considered currently vaccinated only if a valid certificate exists and the revaccination date on the certificate has not been reached.
In England The Drug To Treat Rabies Exposure Costs $1600 Here Hospitals Charge $10000
The price of rabies treatment in American reveals unique failures of our countrys health care system. It shows that in the United States, pharmaceutical companies can set sky-high prices for lifesaving medication.
Specifically, the drug that prevents rabies from spreading to the brain can cost more than $10,000 in the United States. In some cases I reviewed, hospitals charged more than six times what the identical drug would cost in the UK.
Insurance plans will often negotiate down those charges, but even those lower prices are still multiples higher than what patients pay in our peer countries, such as Canada or England.
Rabies treatment is more expensive in the United States, as are many medical treatments, because we dont have price controls, says Charles Rupprecht, a biomedical consultant who previously ran the rabies control program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Emergency rooms, meanwhile, can exacerbate the pricing problem.
ERs typically are the only locations where patients can find the lifesaving treatment. And they charge significant facility fees to anyone who walks through their doors to seek treatment including patients seeking a rabies vaccine.
Because rabies treatments includes a series of four shots delivered over two weeks all at separate appointments those costs can add up quickly.
Hospitals keep ER fees secret. to help change that.
Recommended Reading: Tdap Cost Cvs
Rabies Shots For Your Cat And Dog Are Required By Law In All States
The cost of vaccinating a cat against rabies varies by product and veterinary clinic, but you should expect to pay somewhere between $15 and $35. It is important to thoroughly discuss your cat’s lifestyle with your veterinarian and determine the appropriate vaccinations and vaccination schedule for your cat. Has released a new rabies vaccine for cats, apparently in response to veterinarian and owner concerns about the safety of added adjuvants, substances that are intended to increase the immune response mounted by a cat after receiving a vaccine.
The Bite That Cost More Than A Years Wages
Thats what happened to Crystal Edwards in Advance, NC. She was coming home with her husband, Todd, last June when a furry animal leapt off their front porch and brushed past them.
I thought it was a cat, she said.
It wasnt. It was a fox, and it had rabies, which can make animals more aggressive than normal. It bit her ankle, leaving two puncture wounds. It kept coming after her, even after she ran into the house to get away from it.
Todd shot it to get it away from her. The health department tested it and found it had rabies.
Crystal went to the ER at nearby Novant Health Clemmons Medical Center. She got eight shots, including two shots of immunoglobulin — one into each puncture wound on her leg. The bill? $20,000.
That was just one round, she said. After two more visits, she got two more bills, which added another $2,000.
The total is more than she made last year as a waitress.
To make their financial picture even worse, Crystal says she lost her job because she missed so many shifts getting her shots and dealing with their side effects, which she described as feeling like a really bad case of the flu after every round.
It also said it tried to get her to apply for more financial help through the hospital, but she declined to get help filling out the application, even though it followed up continuously over a period of several months.
Instead, she and her husband have set up a GoFundMe page to try to raise the money themselves.
Also Check: Tdap Shot At Cvs
How Is Rabies Diagnosed
If you think you have been scratched or bitten by an animal that may have rabies, it is essential that you should seek medical attention right away.
A doctor will talk to you about what happened and whether you have any symptoms. They may take saliva, blood or skin tests to diagnose whether you have been infected. They may take a sample of your spinal fluid with a lumbar puncture.
What Is Human Rabies Immunoglobulin
Basically, immunoglobulin puts the immune system into overdrive, staving off the rabies virus until the vaccine begins to work, it buys you time.
Rabies immunoglobulin is expensive to produce. This is because, unlike a flu shot, its derived from human blood which has to be carefully screened for disease.
Read Also: Can I Get Tdap At Cvs
Protect Your Pet With Affordable Vaccines
Keeping your pet up-to-date on their vaccines is simple and affordable with our low-cost vaccine clinic, held every Saturday at Sky Canyon Animal Hospital during our regular business hours.
No appointment is necessary and no examination is required for your pet to receive life-saving protection against contagious diseases.
For added convenience, Sky Canyon Animal Hospital is fully staffed with veterinary technicians on Saturdays, and they can perform other procedures, like microchipping, nail trims, and anal gland expression. A doctor is also available on Saturdays if you have questions about prescriptions or other simple requests.
Visit our Saturday vaccine clinic if your dog or cat needs any of the following vaccines:
How Pet Vaccine Costs Are Determined
Experts say the tradeoff of using a high-quality vaccine is that it has become more and more expensive for vaccine makers to jump through the necessary regulatory hoops to get a new or updated product on the market. Pharmaceutical companies pass that cost on to veterinary clinics, and they sometimes have to pass it on to their clients.
In McCords practice, vaccine prices have increased over the past several years. One thing that has changed is the configuration of some vaccines. Vaccines like the five-way for cats that include protection against five different illnesses in one needle. Combined vaccines like these pack a bigger price punch than a single vaccine, but many owners believe its kinder to the animal than giving multiple injections.
Some clinics also prefer longer-acting protection now available. Rabies vaccines are now available with one- or three-year protection. Although a pet will still need to come back to the clinic for other shots only available in annual formats, a longer-term shot does eliminate one more needle stick at the next visit.
Ruch-Gallie added that the federal regulations a vaccine company must meet to market a vaccine have gotten significantly more complicated and more expensive in the past several years.
McCord sees prices of vaccines to his clinic rise, typically about 2 or 3 percent per year.
Wavebreakmedia Ltd/Thinkstock
Read Also: Cheapest Shingles Shot
Where Do I Get The Vaccine For Rabies
You can get the rabies vaccine from any hospital. If you spend a lot of time working with animals, such as at a wildlife sanctuary or at a humane society, you can get the vaccine as a preventative measure. Regular booster shots will be necessary.
In addition, you can easily get your vaccine after exposure at any hospital or urgent care center. If they don’t have the vaccine on hand, they can direct you to a nearby location that does.
Talk With Your Health Care Provider
Tell your vaccine provider if the person getting the vaccine:
- Has had an allergic reaction after a previous dose of rabies vaccine, or has any severe, lifethreatening allergies.
- Has a weakened immune system.
In some cases, your health care provider may decide to postpone a routine dose of rabies vaccination to a future visit.
People with minor illnesses, such as a cold, may be vaccinated. People who are moderately or severely ill should usually wait until they recover before getting a routine dose of rabies vaccine. If you have been exposed to rabies virus, you should get vaccinated regardless of concurrent illnesses, pregnancy, or breastfeeding.
Your health care provider can give you more information.
You May Like: Cvs Tdap Booster
Efficacy Effectiveness And Immunogenicity
Efficacy and effectiveness
HDCV or PCECV administered at the same time as RabIg and local treatment are highly effective in preventing rabies in exposed individuals. Failures of post-exposure management have occurred, although almost always after deviation from the recommended post-exposure prophylaxis protocol. No post-exposure prophylaxis failures have occurred in Canada or the US.
Immunogenicity
Pre-exposure immunogenicity
The immunogenicity of PCECV and HDCV for pre-exposure vaccination has been demonstrated in clinical trials. When PCECV was administered according to the recommended immunization schedule, 100% of subjects attained an adequate antibody titre by Day 28 or earlier. Persistence of adequate antibody titres for up to 2 years after immunization with PCECV has been demonstrated. After a three-dose primary series of HDCV, all vaccinees reached an adequate antibody titre. A 10-year follow-up study of subjects who received three doses of HDCV, followed by a booster dose at 1 year, has shown the maintenance of protective antibody up to 5 years in 96.2%. A seroconversion rate of 95.1% was demonstrated in travellers who received three ID injections of HDCV or PCECV, with a booster after 12 months.
Post-exposure immunogenicity