The Importance of Vaccinations
08/07/06

When you get that card from your veterinarian reminding you that your pet’s vaccines are due, do you wonder if it’s really necessary? After all, you’ve been so busy taking care of your two legged family members. Maybe you could skip this year’s vaccinations and get them next year.

Protection from vaccinations is, at best, an exercise in odds. The odds are that if your pet is currently vaccinated and is exposed to one of the diseases present in the vaccine he or she will not get sick. Those odds deteriorate with time. Vaccine manufacturers are required by the FDA to prove their vaccine is “safe and effective” for the time limit recommended. The method and route of exposure, volume of exposure, current condition of the vaccinated individual, and the particular strain of infectious agent are all variables that are likely different in the test environment than when your pet is exposed in a “field” situation. These variables make it difficult to predict whether a particular animal will be protected at any given moment.

So how often are pets exposed to the diseases we vaccinate for? The answer is, you guessed it, difficult to predict. There is plenty of evidence to support that they can be exposed regularly. We treat a number of parvovirus infections every year. We’ve recently seen a few cases of canine distemper, a deadly disease that we had not seen much of in a number of years. There are two strains of leptospirosis that had not been known to occur in dogs before that we now see in dogs. Our vaccine now includes those strains. Feline leukemia and other feline diseases are a constant threat to our cats from the large stray cat population.

Finally, annual exams are important for our pets. Remember, pets age much faster than we do. One year in a dog or cats life is roughly equal to 7 years of a human’s life. When considering whether to skip this years’ vaccinations, consider if you’d want your spouse to wait 14 years between doctor check ups.

FYI: PAWS Adoption Days have been temporarily suspended. We will resume First Saturday Adoption Days in about one month. Please call for information.