Are we over-vaccinating our pets?
I hope to start a discussion about this - comments welcome!
I must admit to having become quite a skeptic when it comes to doctors, dentists and, why not, vets? They stand to take lots of money from us under normal circumstances - why should we be surprised if they are tempted
to become part of the no-conscience greed machine that has run away with so many honorable professions these days?
I owe it to my "kids" to at least do some research before I risk their health any more than I already have.
I've never boarded my dogs but recently, I was required to vaccinate Sasha against Bordetella so that she could enjoy the benefits of a dog park that we were about to visit.
We were advised in favor of the intranasal vaccine.
Within a day she began to cough so we returned to the vet who unequivocally denied that this could possibly be a side effect of the vaccine! After plunking down another $130 and starting my dog on a 3 week dose of antibiotics I started digging a little deeper.
a little of what I found:
Precautions,warnings and concerns need to be observed pertaining to these vaccines.
•Some dogs will develop mild signs similar to tracheobronchitis when given this vaccine.
•Dogs that are vaccinated can "shed" the virus and cause other dogs to become mildly infected and show mild signs.
•Not unlike the "flu shot" for people, a vaccine is developed each year based on which strain(s) may be most prevalent. Be aware that your dog can still contract kennel cough even after having the vaccine(intranasal or injection).
• an annual vaccine is recommended against Bordetella even though most vets admit it may only be effective for 3-4 months.
• It may take up to 4 days after vaccination for dogs to develop protection.
•It is recommended that a dog not be given intranasal vaccine within 72 hours of coming into contact with other susceptible dogs.
•Dogs that have had this vaccine, when put in a boarding situation, may develop kennel cough if stressed.
•In rare cases the intranasal vaccine can lead to permanent post nasal drip, upper respiratory damage - and for dogs with heart problems this vaccine can be fatal.
In general:
Vaccines for rabies and three other major canine diseases — distemper, canine adenovirus-2 and canine parvovirus — should be given no more often than once every three years, said Ronald Schultz, a veterinary immunologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
"Unfortunately, most veterinarians recommend annual revaccinations for these core diseases," said Schultz, "and many of them are using the procedures as what I call 'practice management tools' — to keep clients coming in on an annual basis."
5 comments:
Murphy was horribly sick, I thought he was having a heart attack after a rabies shot here in SC. Our New Vet was not open on Sunday, because I thought it was a heart attack on a Sunday I had to take him to Banfield at Petsmart,
open Sunday.(we were only here 2 weeks in this town when this occurred. The first thing we did was go to a a highly recommended Vet because both were on RX dog food). I was not told of A special Emergancy Vet, across town till after.
They checked him and did some tests. Then presented us with a bill of $625 but if we joined their plan we would be charged $255. for that appointment. Don't ask it only got uglier. SCAMMMMMMMMM!!! I even repoted them!!!
Anyhow I found out the next year this was Murphy having a reaction to the rabies vacinne. He did this again the day after just like before.
Also cancer in dogs is linked to multiple injections, and yes they are over vacinnated.
In some cases as Murphy older dogs
are in danger. I do believe this started what caused cancer in Murphy. Us doing as directed by Vets!!
My dogs, never are boarded, never have been, since all I have learned and now at Sara's age, I refuse all the regular shots. At first my Vet said oh they must have rabies its the law. I said tough, and guess what we got our way. Yes a one year Rabies shot is good for three!!! Anyone not lying knows this.
Beware, of the greed machine!!
Thank you so much for your article and comment from Saramurphy. I have two beautiful Australian Shepherd dogs and every 6 months the vet is sending me reminders for this vaccine and that vaccine. the male dog Cody always have a cough and allergy. Every time I go prices are higher. I want to thank everybody out there educating us with issues about our dogs.
Wishing you the best
Anna Marie Menendez
http://petproblemsolver.blogspot.com/
I am a medical doctor, but please do not disregard my comments because of this. Most doctors you see do not make "lots of money" off vaccines. The doctors that make lots of money do not give vaccines because they are the plastic surgeons, ear nose and throat surgeons and other types of specialist surgeons. Family doctors have a hard time making $100k per year if they take all insurance plans. I worked 60 hours a week as a public health doctor and never even make $100k per year.
However, some vaccine makers stand to make a lot of money if they can convince doctors to give a lot of vaccines. Which they can do, given how much harder primary care type doctors are working in the last 15 years. Some vaccine makers make very little money on their products.
The Amish, for example, formerly opposed vaccination. Then, after several cases of polio in 1979 in Iowa, the Amish there rescinded their prohibition of vaccination. I know because I volunteered to help vaccinate.
The Amish still vaccinate at a lower rate and in 2005, the Amish in Minnesota experienced an outbreak of polio.
So, vaccination isn't the bugaboo that some people say and it is not the universal, totally safe cure-all that some health professionals seem to claim. Like most of reality, there are good and bad aspects to vaccination and one just has to gather reliable information and then make a decision. Many people now choose to not vaccinate their children and claim that their children's health is an argument that vaccination is unnecessary. Actually as long as 85-90% of a population is vaccinated, the unvaccinated 10-15% are protected. So all of us vaccinated folks are take the risk for the ones that will not vaccinate. Fortunately, the risk is small.
However, in dogs, there are no studies that I can find, or known to my VMD, that have accurately measured how long canine vaccines last. I bite the bullet and get annual titers, which are acceptable where I live to meet the requirements of the dog-licensing department. I say bite the bullet because it costs $150 per dog. That's either 30 lattes or 20 packs of cigarettes, whichever vice you could limit in order to afford titers for your dog. My dogs only require vaccination about every 7 years. However, that is too small a number of dogs (9 dogs who lived with me from 2 months to 17 years), that I've had since I started paying for annual titers (about 10 years).
Also, titers are not available for all vaccines. So I still have to have a discussion with my vet about which disease are prevalent in my area and how likely one of my dogs are to get dangerously ill if they contract the specific disease.
I am a medical doctor, but please do not disregard my comments because of this. Most doctors you see do not make "lots of money" off vaccines. The doctors that make lots of money do not give vaccines because they are the plastic surgeons, ear nose and throat surgeons and other types of specialist surgeons. Family doctors have a hard time making $100k per year if they take all insurance plans. I worked 60 hours a week as a public health doctor and never even make $100k per year.
However, some vaccine makers stand to make a lot of money if they can convince doctors to give a lot of vaccines. Which they can do, given how much harder primary care type doctors are working in the last 15 years. Some vaccine makers make very little money on their products.
The Amish, for example, formerly opposed vaccination. Then, after several cases of polio in 1979 in Iowa, the Amish there rescinded their prohibition of vaccination. I know because I volunteered to help vaccinate.
The Amish still vaccinate at a lower rate and in 2005, the Amish in Minnesota experienced an outbreak of polio.
So, vaccination isn't the bugaboo that some people say and it is not the universal, totally safe cure-all that some health professionals seem to claim. Like most of reality, there are good and bad aspects to vaccination and one just has to gather reliable information and then make a decision. Many people now choose to not vaccinate their children and claim that their children's health is an argument that vaccination is unnecessary. Actually as long as 85-90% of a population is vaccinated, the unvaccinated 10-15% are protected. So all of us vaccinated folks are take the risk for the ones that will not vaccinate. Fortunately, the risk is small.
However, in dogs, there are no studies that I can find, or known to my VMD, that have accurately measured how long canine vaccines last. I bite the bullet and get annual titers, which are acceptable where I live to meet the requirements of the dog-licensing department. I say bite the bullet because it costs $150 per dog. That's either 30 lattes or 20 packs of cigarettes, whichever vice you could limit in order to afford titers for your dog. My dogs only require vaccination about every 7 years. However, that is too small a number of dogs (9 dogs who lived with me from 2 months to 17 years), that I've had since I started paying for annual titers (about 10 years).
Also, titers are not available for all vaccines. So I still have to have a discussion with my vet about which disease are prevalent in my area and how likely one of my dogs are to get dangerously ill if they contract the specific disease.
Speaking of vaccines in general, since doctor's greed was brought up by another poster, I think the main problem is not that doctors are greedy. I think the main problem is that most of the information doctors can access is paid for by private, for-profit companies that are profit-driven, not health-driven. Currently more than 2/3 of medical research is now paid for by private industry. That means that almost all the research being performed in the US today is being paid for by private companies. It is quite reasonable for these private companies to insist that research they fund may lead to a product that will make the company a profit. If they never make a profit, the company goes out of business! Of course they have to insist on a profit!
I am a medical doctor, but please do not disregard my comments because of this. Most doctors you see do not make "lots of money" off vaccines. The doctors that make lots of money do not give vaccines because they are the plastic surgeons, ear nose and throat surgeons and other types of specialist surgeons. Family doctors have a hard time making $100k per year if they take all insurance plans. I worked 60 hours a week as a public health doctor and never even make $100k per year.
However, some vaccine makers stand to make a lot of money if they can convince doctors to give a lot of vaccines. Which they can do, given how much harder primary care type doctors are working in the last 15 years. Some vaccine makers make very little money on their products.
The Amish, for example, formerly opposed vaccination. Then, after several cases of polio in 1979 in Iowa, the Amish there rescinded their prohibition of vaccination. I know because I volunteered to help vaccinate.
The Amish still vaccinate at a lower rate and in 2005, the Amish in Minnesota experienced an outbreak of polio.
So, vaccination isn't the bugaboo that some people say and it is not the universal, totally safe cure-all that some health professionals seem to claim. Like most of reality, there are good and bad aspects to vaccination and one just has to gather reliable information and then make a decision. Many people now choose to not vaccinate their children and claim that their children's health is an argument that vaccination is unnecessary. Actually as long as 85-90% of a population is vaccinated, the unvaccinated 10-15% are protected. So all of us vaccinated folks are take the risk for the ones that will not vaccinate. Fortunately, the risk is small.
However, in dogs, there are no studies that I can find, or known to my VMD, that have accurately measured how long canine vaccines last. I bite the bullet and get annual titers, which are acceptable where I live to meet the requirements of the dog-licensing department. I say bite the bullet because it costs $150 per dog. That's either 30 lattes or 20 packs of cigarettes, whichever vice you could limit in order to afford titers for your dog. My dogs only require vaccination about every 7 years. However, that is too small a number of dogs (9 dogs who lived with me from 2 months to 17 years), that I've had since I started paying for annual titers (about 10 years).
Also, titers are not available for all vaccines. So I still have to have a discussion with my vet about which disease are prevalent in my area and how likely one of my dogs are to get dangerously ill if they contract the specific disease.
Speaking of vaccines in general, since doctor's greed was brought up by another poster, I think the main problem is not that doctors are greedy. I think the main problem is that most of the information doctors can access is paid for by private, for-profit companies that are profit-driven, not health-driven. Currently more than 2/3 of medical research is now paid for by private industry. That means that almost all the research being performed in the US today is being paid for by private companies. It is quite reasonable for these private companies to insist that research they fund may lead to a product that will make the company a profit. If they never make a profit, the company goes out of business! Of course they have to insist on a profit!
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