To Vaccinate or Not To Vaccinate
>> Monday, December 7, 2009
Recently, I was speaking with a referral client who, because of her pets health issues, we had suggested stopping all vaccines. She was in a panic and was particularly concerned that her dog would go without rabies vaccination. It was only after the call, I realized that since the owner was from India she lived where rabies was more common and people were also commonly exposed to the disease. No wonder she was worried about the risk of the disease and exposure of her family. Many countries continue to have a huge endemic rabies problem. The disease is not only a risk to wild and domestic animals, but the human population as well.
Earlier this fall a case of a human infected and dying from rabies occurred in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. They had been exposed to a rabid bat their cat caught. Although we may live in a part of the world were exposure to zoonotic diseases (diseases that can be spread from animals to humans)is less common, they are still a threat.
Rabies, distemper, parvo virus and feline leukemia are all still out there, vaccines are still necessary, however I think we have gotten a lot smarter about their use. Our hospital designates certain vaccines as core vaccines, the distemper combination(distemper, hepatitis, parainfluenza, adenovirus and parvo virus) and rabies for dogs and the feline distemper (feline calici, rhinotrachietis, panleukopenia and chlamydia) and rabies vaccines for cats. We consider leptospirosis, bordatella and feline leukemia to be necessary additional vaccines based on the patients life style. We also recommend that vaccine schedules be reduced as the patient ages (distemper and rabies every 3 years) and in geriatric pets the distemper vaccines can be discontinued. Outdoor cats for example should have regular vaccines as well as the feline leukemia vaccine. Dogs that board or are regularly groomed the bordatella, kennel cough , vaccine is indicated. Dogs that live in rural environments or go to the park regularly should be vaccinated for leptospirosis. Also, vaccine titers can be performed that may help us decide if a vaccine is even necessary. Of course, like the dog I mentioned earlier there is a population of animals that have had cancer or other immune mediated diseases that should no longer be vaccinated and they should be managed in such a way to limit their exposure to the diseases they are no longer vaccinated against.
Like everything in life it is a matter of balance and finding the vaccine protocol that works best for your pets. The goal is to avoid contracting controllable diseases, while balancing the risk of vaccination and ultimately keeping your pet and your family healthy.
1 comments:
Why are your vaccine recomendations so OUT OF DATE? Do you not EVER listen to our premiere veterinary vaccine researcher? The only vaccines recommended are Distemper, adenovirus and parvovorus for dogs, once at 15 weeks of age and never again need they be administered. Rabies, the whole scam of that is more than patholgical. They have known since 1945 and first publisehd in 1954 that only one rabies vaccine is necessary to confer immunity FOR A LIFETIME to dogs and cats, any mature mammalian immune system. Herpes, Calicivirus should NEVER EVER be injected into the cat unless you want to reactivate latent Herpes, most of the disease we have to treat in the cat are due to us injecting the cat with Herpes! ALso, why in the world are you using chlamydia vaccines? the risk and benefit are not worth it. And leucemia....WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, that vaccine is not necessary unless a kitten is directly being exposed to a Felv + cat and even then, Schultz only recommends vaccines at 9 and 12 weeks and NEVER AGAIN FOR THE LIFE OF THE CAT. Lyme and Lepto are you INSANE, those vaccines will not protect the owners from those diseases, the disease pathology is in actuality an immune mediated reaction to the antigen so DISEASE PATHOLOGY IS CONFERRED WITH VACCINATION AS WELL AS INFECTION. Schultz lives in both Lyme and Lepto endemic areas and he neither advices nor administers those vaccines to his own dogs! Rabies is endemic in our country thanks very much to the very use of the wildlife rabies oral baiting program the CDC and Merial, yep they made the rabies problem in this country with the very use of mass inoculations with live virus! and Bordatella, who are you smoking? Kennel Cough IS NOT A VACCINATABLE DISEASE, all pups and dogs get a exposed to Bordatella and do not require vaccines, veterinary vaccines for these have now been outed for CAUSING IN INCREASE IN PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEMS! Read the research paper from ROllins School of Public Health at Emory Uiniversity of Medicine, overuse of veterinary vaccines are CAUSING PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS and Bordatella is SICKENING HUMANS IN THE HOUSEHOLD. GIzzards, you really need to read and attend conferences, crack a book and do not simply read DRUG COMPANY PROPAGANDA!
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