Here at Farmhouse Friends, we self-administer all of our vaccines excluding rabies vaccinations for our dogs/puppies. That just means that we give them ourselves without taking them to the vet. This is a common practice done by farmers and is an easy cost saving method as long as it’s done properly.
One important factor is making sure you purchase your vaccines from a credible source, especially if ordering online. A few local places we recommend are Woodard Mercantile, Tractor Supply, Atwood’s, and Mitchell Veterinary Supply. We have purchased vaccines from all of these places and all are knowledgeable and have been great to us.
When you purchase a vaccine, you need to make sure it is kept cool. Vaccines should be kept between 36-and 46- degrees Fahrenheit. That means if you order online, they should come in a cooler with ice packs and should be brought inside immediately after arrival to be put into a fridge.
Our owner, Rae Lyn, has been a nurse practitioner for 22 years. Here is some of her advice for administering your dog/puppy’s vaccines. First, when you take a vaccine out of the fridge, you should be giving it immediately. Don’t leave it sitting out. Make sure your needle it on tight before you start. Next, you will follow the instructions on the packaging, which will be along the line of; draw up the liquid in bottle 1 and transfer it to bottle 2 (the bottle with powder in it). Give the new mixture a good shake until the powder is completely dissolved. Then, you will draw up all the mixture into your syringe. Make sure to try and get all the air bubbles out by pointing to needle straight up and flicking the side of the syringe. This should help get all the air bubbles to the top. You’ll want to gently press the plunger on the syringe until most to all the air bubbles are out and a tiny bit of liquid comes out of the needle. Don’t press too hard or all the liquid will shoot out.
Now you are ready to grab your dog/puppy. You will want to take ahold of their scruff which is the piece of skin located below their head between their shoulder blades. You will insert the needle into that skin. It doesn’t need to be deep; the needle just needs to get right below their skin. You will then press the plunger so all the liquid comes out below the skin. Carefully remove the needle from their scruff and discard the needle and syringe into a sharps container or very carefully recap the needle.
Voila! You have just administered your first vaccine. We then take the sticker from the vaccine bottle and put it into our vaccine booklet that is for that dog/puppy and write the date we administered the vaccine into the booklet beside the sticker from the bottle.
As with any vaccine your dog/puppy may have a mild reaction to the vaccine which may include; nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and/or tenderness of the injection site. If any of these occur and are severe, lasting more than 24 hours after giving the vaccine, or if your dog/puppy develops a rash; please contact your vet immediately. This is in no way, shape, or form intended to be medical or veterinary advice. This is just from our own personal experience. If you have any questions about our practices don’t be afraid to ask. This also does not override your vet’s advice or preference on if they want or are okay with you self-administering vaccines for your dog/puppy.
We self-administer vaccines not just because its easy, but also because it is very cost saving. A normal visit to a vet for one dog/puppy for vaccinations costs around $70 whereas the cost of one vaccine to do yourself is around $13. This allows us to keep the prices of our puppies reasonable instead of thousands of dollars. We do however stress the importance of taking your dog/puppy in to get checked out within the first 2 weeks of getting them and annual checkups or to get their rabies vaccine. This checkup without vaccines, since your puppy should come up to date on their vaccines, is around $45. This ensures that you are following state requirements for your dog and makes sure that you know yourself that your puppy is healthy.