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Are you worried about over-vaccinating your furry friend? Maybe you've questioned whether your pet really needs all those shots, or if they could be at risk for side effects.
It's a topic that's been debated and discussed at length, especially with the recent global health crisis shining a spotlight on vaccination concerns. Perhaps you've been in a situation where your pet received vaccinations they may not have needed, leading you to wonder about the potential impact on their health.
Well, you're not alone. Many pet owners have similar concerns and questions about proper vaccination protocols.
In this blog post, we'll delve into the world of pet vaccinations, exploring the balance between protecting our beloved companions from dangerous diseases and the potential risks of overvaccination. We'll tackle common worries and misconceptions, shedding light on the latest guidelines and recommendations from veterinary experts.
We're about to unravel the complexities of pet vaccinations, empowering you with knowledge to make informed decisions for your furry loved ones. Let's embark on this journey to demystify the world of pet vaccines together!
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Given more frequently than 3 years is completely unnecessary and unjustified and is something that I do occasionally come across with people who have been to other, vet clinics, which is always very disappointing to see.
Understanding the Importance of Vaccination
Vaccination plays a crucial role in the preventive healthcare of our pets. It is a core strategy to protect them from dangerous infectious diseases.
For example, at the time of the recording, there were parvovirus outbreaks in various parts of New Zealand, highlighting the importance of vaccination in preventing such infectious diseases.
Vaccines are designed to stimulate the immune system to recognize and combat specific diseases, ultimately providing vital protection for our pets.
The Core Vaccination Schedule
It's essential to understand the standard vaccination schedules recommended by veterinary associations. For puppies, initial vaccinations generally begin around 8 weeks of age, with the final vaccine administered at 16 weeks.
After this initial course, a booster vaccine is given from 6 months of age, typically followed by a yearly vaccination.
The core vaccines, such as those for parvovirus, distemper, and hepatitis, are generally recommended every three years. It's important to adhere to these guidelines to ensure optimal protection for our pets.
Rabies vaccination is a core vaccine that should not be overlooked. In areas where rabies is prevalent, the vaccine is a legal requirement and is vital in preventing a fatal disease that can affect both pets and humans.
Understanding Overvaccination
Overvaccination, or giving vaccines more frequently than necessary, raises concerns about potential side effects and risks to our pets' health. The podcast episode highlighted the need to strike a balance between providing adequate protection and avoiding overvaccination.
I addressed some of the risks associated with overvaccination, including the potential for allergic reactions and the theoretical link to autoimmune conditions.
However, it's important to note that these risks are often exaggerated. While overvaccination may carry some risks, they are generally minimal compared to the benefits of vaccination in preventing dangerous diseases.
Consideration of Titer Testing
Titer testing involves evaluating antibody levels to determine if a pet still has adequate protection from specific diseases.
While titer testing can be a valuable tool, its financial implications present a challenge, as it comes with a higher cost compared to standard vaccinations. There are also grey areas when it comes to interpreting the results of a titer test and not all vaccines can be checked by titer testing.
Identifying Non-Core Vaccines
I emphasized the importance of considering non-core vaccines based on the specific risks to individual pets and their environment.
For instance, vaccines for diseases such as leptospirosis and kennel cough should be considered in cases where the risks are present, such as when pets are exposed to high-risk environments or geographical locations.
For example, if your pet never mixes with other dogs then kennel cough vaccine is simply unnecessary.
The Importance of Clear Records and Communication
Jan's experience highlighted the significance of clear vaccination records and effective communication between pet owners and veterinary professionals.
It's crucial for pet parents to keep and provide accurate vaccine records when seeking vaccinations for their pets to avoid the risk of overvaccination or inadequate protection.
Finding the Right Balance
In conclusion, the podcast episode brought attention to the need for a balanced approach to pet vaccination.
It is crucial to tailor vaccination schedules to individual pets, considering their specific risks and needs.
While vaccination is a crucial element of preventive healthcare for pets, overvaccination should be avoided. Adhering to vaccination guidelines, considering non-core vaccines based on risk factors, and maintaining clear communication with veterinary professionals are key to ensuring the optimal health and well-being of our beloved pets.
Full Transcript →
The following is an AI generated transcription:
Dr. Alex: I then did get bitten by a dog. Thankfully, he turned out not to be a rabid dog, but then having to go to the pharmacy, a hole in the wall pharmacy, where you wonder how the rabies vaccine has been stored and and giving yourself a couple of injections to top that immunity up, you know, it's a pretty scary situation.
voiceover: Welcome to the Call the Vet Show, the podcast that helps pet parents understand and optimize the health of their furry family so they can live the full and happy life you want for them. And here's your host, veterinarian doctor Alex Avery.
Dr. Alex: Hello. Welcome back to another episode of the Call of Vet Show, and I'm bringing you another question this time. And this question is from Jan with what is, I guess, a topic that has been a really hot potato for the last few years. The COVID pandemic really accentuated the fears around this topic, and you can probably guess what I'm talking about when I say that. And it's one that I think is really important that we, address because there's a couple of big issues with this question that are raised. I have my opinions. I'm sure you have yours. If you have a question like Jan or you want to comment on today's episode, then I'd love to hear from you.
Dr. Alex: You can head over to our pets health dot com slash question. There is also a link in the show notes of this episode as well. And like I say, not just for questions, but if you've got an audio comment, that you'd like to share with everybody, then I'd love to hear from you as well because let's have a constructive conversation about this topic. I'd love to hear what your thoughts on this are. So without further ado, here is Jan.
voiceover: And now on with the show.
Jan: Long story short, my dog was vaccinated before he actually needed the vaccinations. What are some of the side effects? Do they happen quickly? Is it anything to be concerned about? I know for sure it was rabies, portatella, and I believe those were the 2 that he didn't need. We only took him to get a flu shot. And long story short, they just read his records incorrectly because it wasn't our main vet. Any input is appreciated. Thank you.
Dr. Alex: Thanks so much for that question, Jan. It's a common concern, vaccination, over vaccination. Should we be vaccinating at all? That's, the kind of the the extreme version, or we shouldn't be vaccinating ever, is the extreme version. Well done on getting the vaccines. I think that they are really important. Clearly, it's a big, a big core strategy to prevent some of the most dangerous infectious diseases there are. As I'm talking to you now, there is actually currently, parvovirus outbreaks in various different parts of New Zealand, thankfully, not where I'm practicing, but those outbreaks wouldn't happen if vaccination levels were higher. Dogs are dying.
Dr. Alex: It's a they're really nasty nasty diseases that we are preventing through vaccination. That being said, we absolutely don't want to over vaccinate. So to discuss that and whether it's a concern, I guess, we need to consider what, normal vaccination programs are and normal vaccination recommendations are. So when it comes to our our puppies, their initial vaccinations, they start to normally, about 8 weeks of age. Now if we've got a a puppy in a high risk area, maybe the the mother, was in poor health or had low immunity, then we can start at 6 weeks. But 8 weeks is typically where we start, then we vaccinate every, 4 weeks or so with the final vaccine at 16 weeks of age. That recommendation is based on the Animal Veterinary Association's vaccination guidelines. After that initial set of vaccines, we then give a booster vaccine from 6 months of age.
Dr. Alex: More often, it's given a year after that puppy course, and then the core vaccine every 3 years. And by the core vaccine, I'm certainly talking about some, parvos, distemper, it's hepatitis. It's these, yeah, these these core vaccines that all come in kind of 1 shot. Now when we are thinking about should we be vaccinating every 3 years, should we be doing it more frequently than that? We know the core vaccines they last for at least 3 years. Now there are going to be, some dogs where it lasts for longer than this and sometimes substantially longer. So it might be 5 years. It might be 7 years. It might even be lifelong immunity in some cases.
Dr. Alex: So the question then becomes, well, should we vaccinate at that every 3 years, to make sure that we're covering ourselves and we're covering our dogs as best as possible? Should we do something called teeter testing? So should we look at antibody levels to see if they're still high and that infers that there is adequate protection from those diseases. You know, that's certainly something to think about, and I don't think we'd ever be wrong to do teeter testing. There can be difficulty sometimes in interpreting that, with absolute certainty, but it is a valid tool. Now the problem with TETA testing, if you like, is generally financial. It does come at a significantly higher cost than just giving a vaccination. So we then need to think and I guess the nature of Jan's question is we then need to think about what the side effects of vaccination are. Now we can have anaphylaxis. We can have an allergic reaction to a vaccine.
Dr. Alex: That is doctors for a vaccine, we rec we're recommended to stick around for 20 minutes, after having that shot just in case we develop an allergic reaction, an anaphylactic reaction to that vaccine which can absolutely be life threatening. Now the risk of that is is minuscule. It's not something that, I've ever had experienced to any of my patients. I've spoken to colleagues about this, and they've never had it experienced, they've never experienced that with one of their patients. So it's not something that I've ever heard of kind of secondhand if you like. Although I'm sure if you jump online, there'll be reports of that, but the risk is very, very low. Now the risks for longer term vaccination and more frequent vaccination, this is where we get into some, dare I say it, serious conspiracy theories. Now I'm not for a second.
Dr. Alex: Don't get me wrong. I'm not for a second saying that we should be vaccinating more than this or there's no risks with over vaccination, but I think the risks are massively overblown. There is a suggestion that we may get an increase in some autoimmune conditions, so some conditions where the body's immune system actually then starts attacking itself, something like an immune mediated hemolytic anemia, which is where the body's own immune system breaks down the red blood cells. Sometimes that's accompanied with platelets, and sometimes that's accompanied with other white blood cells. And that can be catastrophic and really serious. The exact trigger for that is is very challenging to determine. Some cases, it may well be that a vaccine has triggered that. More often than not, it's probably going to be some form of maybe a cancer of the blood, maybe a viral infection, some other environmental stimulation.
Dr. Alex: And in all likelihood, these are multifactorial diseases that thankfully are very rare anyway, so they're not something that really we need to be worried about, and certainly the risks of those are not outweighed by the risks of not vaccinating. I do come across situations where people have still been recommended to have the core vaccine every year, and that's your Parvo shot, with distemper, like I say, and hepatitis. That really is excessive. There's no justification for that. Now do I believe that's risky? I don't think that's going to carry any greater risk really in the grand scheme of things, but it's completely unnecessary. So why do we want to be doing something that's completely unnecessary? My thoughts are that we don't. If anything if nothing else, it's a it's a waste of money. Health checks every year, absolutely really good idea, but that doesn't mean that we need to be giving an injection with that health check when it's been shown to be, you know, every 3 years is absolutely as frequently as that vaccine needs to be given.
Dr. Alex: Now other vaccines, and these are going to be I hesitate to say lifestyle vaccines, but are non core vaccines which are based on the risks to your particular pet and your particular part of the world. So something like leptospirosis, that's a serious really serious disease. If that's in your area, then that could be considered and probably should be considered a core vaccine. That one does need to be given every year, border teller, so our kennel cough or canine cough. Again, if your dog is mixing with lots of other dogs, if they're going to boarding facilities, daycare, groomers, then that's a high risk situation. It's not a fatal disease. Generally, it can cause some really nasty pneumonia in an older dog who's immunocompromised or a young puppy, then, you know, there can be fatalities, but that's very uncommon. But it can cause our dogs to be pretty unwell.
Dr. Alex: And, Yeah. We get, outbreaks of that probably every 6 to 9 months. I'll see a load of dogs coming through that are pretty unwell. They need some, yeah, some TLC and some medication to keep them comfortable and help them through that. That again is an annual vaccination that's required because the immunity is very short lived. In high risk situations, it can actually be beneficial every 6 months if there's an outbreak, for example. And then there are other various, various vaccines that are available in other parts of the world. Rabies, clearly, that is a core vaccine.
Dr. Alex: If rabies is in your area, if you're in the States and maybe other parts of the world, then rabies is a vaccine that is a legal requirement. We do not want to mess around with rabies. We don't want to ignore that. It is a fatal disease. It kills loads of people throughout the world every year. And, having practiced in India for a short period of time as a volunteer, we had to have rabies vaccines personally. Before we went on that trip. I then did get bitten by a dog.
Dr. Alex: Thankfully, he turned out not to be a rabid dog, but then having to go to the pharmacy, a hole in the wall pharmacy where you wonder how the rabies vaccine has been stored and and giving yourself a couple of injections to top that immunity up, you know, it's a pretty scary situation. So, we don't want to be messing around with that. Equally, if we're giving an extra one by mistake, and I don't know how this happened, Jan, if the records weren't, kind of clear in the previous clinical history, or if you are going to a new vet and you don't have a vaccine record with you and you're going for vaccinations, then you're putting your vet in an impossible situation of either risking under vaccinating, so not giving something that your dog needs, or over vaccinating, as in this situation. Maybe there was a lack of clarity around whether rabies was needed or not. And to be on the safe side for rabies, then that's, you know, maybe the actually, the prudent thing to do, but always go with your vaccination record. I imagine in most parts of the world, if not all parts of the world, when your dog gets a vaccination, they have a little booklet that gets, the the stickers or the details of the vaccine put in there, and then it gets dated and signed. And there should be, an indication of when the next vaccination is due as well. So take that along with you.
Dr. Alex: I guess the bottom line from this this rambling, and I've gone in a few different tangents here, is that we need to make sure that we're vaccinating Vaccination is incredibly valuable. It's an incredibly valuable tool in the preventive health care plan of any individual. We want to make sure that we're vaccinating enough against the diseases that are a risk to your dog. If, for example, your dog stays on your property, it never mixes with any other dogs, then they do not need the border teller, the canine cough, the kennel cough vaccination. It is unnecessary for that individual, So we do need to do a risk benefit, analysis. But equally at the same time, we don't want to be giving anything more frequently than needed. Certainly, core with your distemper parvovirus given more frequently than 3 years is completely unnecessary and unjustified and is something that I do occasionally come across with with people who have been to other, vet clinics, which is always very disappointing to see. Teeter testing can play a role, and I'll leave, links to some of these other topics as well in the show notes.
voiceover: Helping your pet live the happy, healthy life they deserve.
Dr. Alex: So head over to those show notes where I'll leave, links to a number of different articles about, vaccination and teeter testing. I'll also leave links to the, WSAVA, the World Small Animal Veterinary Association's vaccination guidelines, which are guidelines that were produced by, absolute experts in the field of immunity and vaccination and preventive health care. So head over to those show notes. And until the next episode, I'm veterinarian doctor Alex. This is the Call the Vet Show because they're family.
voiceover: That's it for this episode of the Call the Vet Show. Be sure to visit callthevet.org to join the conversation, access the show notes, and discover our fantastic bonus content. We'll see you next time.
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