Is there ever a point at which you decide to stop vaccinating an animal due to age? My dog is 14 and aside from minor uveitis and very mild arthritis in one knee, our vet doesn’t feel it necessary to vaccinate her anymore because 1) we’ve gotten her all her vaccines on time her entire life, and 2) she doesn’t want to “tempt fate” as she had a 15yo patient years ago who was healthy, then quickly went downhill in the week following a vaccination (I fully support our vet’s decision and reasoning)
I tend not to use ‘age’ as a guide for when to stop vaccinating so much as ‘accumulating conditions associated with age’. Any immune mediated condition, for example, would be a prime candidate for a reason to stop vaccinating.
It comes down to asking whether the potential benefits of vaccinating are still greater than the potential risks of vaccinating. For an old dog with a low-risk lifestyle, you might decide that the vaccines are no longer worth doing, though the regular health checks definitely are.
There are some animals with chronic illnesses that I would stop vaccinating after a year of age, if there was any possible correlation at all. It all comes down to the individual animal.
That said if I was worried about the animal kicking the bucket in the next 12 months, I’d probably skip the vaccine. But that’s based on health status, not age. An eight year old dogue de bordeaux is going to be in much worse shape than a 12 year old jack russel terrier.
