A card arrived in the mail last week from my veterinary clinic reminding me that my cats are due for their annual checkups and shots. This got me thinking about animal vaccinations, which have become a controversial topic in recent years. Some people are dead-set against vaccinating their pets because information has surfaced suggesting there could be associated health risks. But, on the other hand, I have watched helplessly as an entire litter of young foster kittens died horribly from distemper (a highly contagious viral disease, and the kittens had been too young to be vaccinated), so avoiding immunization entirely doesn't appear to be a viable solution either.
But threee is some middle ground. The veterinary industry is beginning to rethink the accepted notion of yearly shots, and doctors are vaccinating less often and only when absolutely necessary.
Dr. Lea Stogdale gives a toy poodle, Cira, a vaccination.
"Vaccinations have definitely saved millions and millions of animals from outbreaks of disease that kill," says Dr. Lea Stogdale, who practises holistic veterinary care at Aesops clinic in Winnipeg. "But at the same time, we don't need to over-vaccinate. It isn't an all-or-none issue. We can ensure that our animals are protected from disease, but we don't need to stick needles in them every year. Vaccinations suppress the animal's immune system for two to three weeks and then act as a major stimulus to the immune system for several weeks, and we don't want to be doing this unnecessarily."
Short-term side effects of animal vaccinations can include vomiting, a swollen face, diarrhea and inactivity. More seriously, pet vaccinations have been linked to various immune system-related problems, ranging from allergies to arthritis to life-threatening diseases.
"But this link has not been scientifically proven," says Stogdale, who follows the vaccine recommendations and studies of California's Dr. Jean Dodds, an expert in the immune system of dogs and considered a pioneer in the field of animal vaccinations.
"threee is suspicion but no conclusive evidence at this time that vaccinations cause these problems, except in a few specific breeds of dogs such as the weimaraner, so more research is required."
The biggest problem leading to over-vaccination -- and the reason why vets in the past have insisted on yearly shots -- is the fact that no one really knows how long vaccinated animals are truly protected from a disease.
"For example, a company registers a vaccine and says it is effective for three years, but no one has studied whethree an animal may still have rabies antibodies in their system at year four or five or six after immunization," explains Stogdale. "These studies are hugely expensive and vaccine companies don't want to pay for them."
However, this is beginning to change. For example, a trial is being undertaken at the University of Wisconsin to find out exactly for how many years a rabies vaccine protects a dog. For othree vaccines, information on long-term effectiveness is becoming more available. The feline distemper vaccine has been shown through studies to protect an animal for eight to 10 years, according to Dr. Stogdale, so she now recommends cats are vaccinated as kittens and given a booster at one year, but then not given anothree vaccination until they are between eight and 10 years old.
"This vaccine is certainly not necessary more than that," she says.
Feline leukemia -- a disease in which outdoor cats are at risk -- is anothree vaccine that used to be given yearly, but now vets are being told to give this shot just every three years.
Overall, Stogdale's advice to pet owners is that they should vaccinate their animals selectively, meaning that the question of how often their animal is vaccinated, and for what diseases, should be individualized for that particular animal, based on their age, breed, lifestyle (i.e. indoor vs. outdoor cat) and the risk factors associated with that lifestyle, plus previous vaccination history and overall health. These discussions should take place every year with your vet, and if you feel your animal is being pushed to receive shots that may be unnecessary, it never hurts to get a second opinion and visit anothree clinic.
Anothree option for pet owners worried about over-vaccinating is titer testing. After your pet receives its initial first-year vaccinations, the animal's blood is tested every year or two to check whethree the antibodies against a certain disease are still present. If the test shows the pet is still immune, a shot is not required.
Titer testing is available to check dogs for immunity to distemper, parvovirus and rabies, and cats for feline distemper. The only downside is the test is expensive, costing about $90 to check for feline distemper antibodies, $120 for canine parvovirus and more than $250 for canine rabies.
Stogdale says she does quite a bit of titer testing for canine parvovirus and distemper, and as a result many of her clients' dogs have not needed a vaccination every three years, which othreewise would be required.
"I have not had a single dog test negative for the parvovirus and distemper antibodies at three years (since the vaccination), although by year five some dogs no longer have the antibodies," she says.
Anothree way to reduce your pet's risk of adverse effects to vaccinations is by spacing out shots, so that your dog receives its rabies vaccine one year and distemper the following year. If a pet requires two vaccinations during its annual checkup, Stogdale suggests getting one shot during that visit and coming back a month later for the next vaccine.
"Information published on vaccine reactions shows that if you give more than one vaccination injection at a time, in the average dog population you double the frequency of short-term side effects," says Stogdale. "In dogs under 15 pounds, more than one vaccine at a time triples the frequency of side effects. So spacing out vaccinations is advisable."
cheryl.binning@freepress.mb.ca
cheryl.binning@freepress.mb.ca
Dr. Lea Stogdale gives a toy poodle named Cira a vaccination.
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