Vaccination vs. mange question

[Rumpley]

I've been "living at the vet" recently between my own dog and my last foster pups.

I was told by a reputable source that a vet SHOULDN'T vaccinate a young puppy if it has mange, as it's showing that the pup has a supressed immune system currently and should wait a couple of weeks for the pup to get more healthy. In this case, I was dealing with a 11 week old pup that had no vet care in her life until she came to me, who was also slightly underweight.

He vaccinated her for EVERYTHING, including kennel cough. Is this normal protocol, or should I have waited, for future reference? To me, it's sort of a "rock and a hard spot" because you don't want to put more chemicals in while trying to bring the dog back up to health, but you also don't want it to contract anything either. Confused? I talked to 4-5 vets and they all disagreed with each other, so who do you follow?!?!?!? :roll:

[elegy]

i'd go with the advice of a vet i trusted at that point. geez. talk about trying to pick the lesser of fifteen evils!

my gut feeling though is i'd vaccinate. i'm totally parvo-paranoid. but i wouldn't have gotten the kennel cough.

[barbponys]

I personally would have had them do parvo and distemper, separately, not in a cocktail, since there's a lot of proof that cocktails shock their immune system and it tends to shut down. If you are already dealing with mange I would think that would give it the opportunity to really get a foot hold and become a serious problem. Or at the very least more difficult to deal with. JMO.

[blackbear219]

I was in a very similar boat with Beau when I first got him...he was 9 weeks old, had a bloated tummy (which became unbloated about 36 hours after I got him after he ate a bunch of food), he had mange (Sarcoptes Scabiei) and a secondary skin infection. He had never seen a vet.

I took him to the most respected, and also most expensive, vet in the area...and she vaccinated him without any problem. Not kennel cough though, I passed on that. Just the standard stuff...distemper, dewormer...along with weekly antibiotics for the mange and twice daily pills for the skin infection. He was feeling like a million bucks in no time.

It was very rewarding to be able to bring him back into good health. Seeing him scratch and whine all the time wasn't fun. Good luck with your pup.

[Fish]

I really don't know what to say, it is my job to raise my pup the best I can, which I will, its my vets job to see and give good advice to me for the pups health needs. I hope I have picked a good vet, did my reasearch and think I have. I am not going to second guess him, if the need arises I will get a second oppion.