Vaccinate Your Pets

Vaccinate your pets!

Recent outbreaks of CANINE PARVO VIRUS in the Northern Rivers highlight the importance of getting pets vaccinated and having those vaccinations updated regularly. Parvo is a particularly vicious disease that is highly contagious, highly fatal and extremely long-lived in the environment. It causes foul-smelling profuse bloody diarrohea and vomiting, ulceration of the whole digestive tract, bone marrow and immune system collapse , severe dehydration and shock, extreme misery and high mortality even with elaborate intensive care in isolation facilities. In newborn litters of pups, it will wipe out the whole family overnight. Other examples of diseases popping up that pets should also be vaccinated against include outbreaks of Kennel Cough in the Byron/Ballina area, usually from dogs socializing on beaches. In cats, for example, Feline Flu and Feline AIDS are seen fairly regularly. All of the above diseases are covered as a part of a good preventive vaccination regime.

The reasons for these diseases popping up periodically and causing much misery and/or mortality, are several. First is, (surprise surprise), failure to vaccinate. I recommend vaccination unreservedly! I actually feel very strongly about this since the “no vaccination” lobby is getting a free-health-ride from those who do vaccinate their pets. A population of animals (and this includes humans) will get a certain “herd immunity” if the majority of others are vaccinated (ideally over 90% depending on the diseases concerned). i.e. the disease has less hosts and less opportunity to spread if the majority of pets are vaccinated. Its no secret that vaccinations may produce minor side effects, and rarely more serious side effects like allergic reactions. However the benefit in avoiding and suppressing devastating diseases like Canine Parvo Virus, overwhelmingly outweighs any small risk. Anyone who has witnessed the consequences of Parvo or Distemper, or been around for a full blown epidemic, would not think twice. Making decisions to vaccinate based on the perceived incidence of diseases that have been rendered infrequent by those same vaccinations, involves a large piece of wishful thinking! The second major reason we see outbreaks of these horrible conditions is that vaccination does not, and has never been expected to, offer 100% protection to all individuals. This is because of many factors, including maternal antibody effects ( ie immunity conferred to pups and kittens by their mothers colostrum), genetic variability in breeds and individuals, physical health at the time of vaccination, differing virulence of viruses and strains of individual viruses, and differing types and methods of vaccination products and routes. For example, some studies have shown that in America, across large numbers of the dog population known to be vaccinated under ideal conditions, up to 10% of dogs will still fail to develop a satisfactory immunity against Distemper. These animals are put at particular risk by the pets of owners who have decided not to vaccinate for various bad reasons! Your Vet will recommend at least 2 vaccinations, with the last being between 10 and 12 weeks of age. To offer best protection against disease and to catch a percentage of animals with longer acting internal antibodies, a final vaccine is ideally offered at about 16 weeks of age. Older unvaccinated animals generally need 2 vaccinations about 4 weeks apart. This is the approach recommended by the major veterinary regulatory bodies in Australia. A booster vaccination is given a year later, and thereafter dogs are vaccinated every 3 years for Distemper, Parvo and Canine Hepatitis, and yearly for Kennel Cough Complex( depending on the circumstances). Current recommendations for Cats are yearly boosters for 2 types of cat flu, and feline Panleucopaenia. The message is this; don’t rely on wishful thinking and mis-information, don’t expect a perfect world with no “risk versus benefit” issues, and don’t rely on a combination of luck and everyone else covering your bases for you. Vaccinate your pets, and ask your Vet for details. If you know someone who is actively discouraging people from vaccinating their pets , give them a kick in the shins and say I sent you. By the way, in closing, I should mention that generally in Lennox Head we see a low incidence of all these diseases, probably in large part due to the high vaccination rate and the commitment shown by so many wonderful pet owners. So, well done everybody, keep up the good work!

Evan (Lennox Head Vet Clinic)