theres a common thread that comes up on all pet forums across the world wide web..and thats VACCINES...
and ive come to the concluson from reading all the vaccnine threads that theres one common theme....noone realy seems to know WHAT they are vaccinating for...simply that their vet says they should!
now to me this is a bit of a worrying state of mind...pumping our pets full of chamicals simply because were told we should?!
now this is NOT a post for or against vaccination
my own personal protocal is a limited vaccination schedual and titer testing...
this post however is to simply teach people what each vaccination is, what its supposed to do and the risks associated with each illness.
i encorage EVERYONE to do thier own reserch, look into vaccinosis and vaccine reaction, look into the ilnesses themselves, find out whats common in your partcular area and know your breed too (because some breeds ar emore prone to vaccine reactions than others).
we have minds or our own and acess to this vast wealth of informartion so its time ot be pro-active about our pets care and wellbeing and stop taking "because i said so" as an answer.
DOGS:
Core vaccines: these are the ones typically considered the base group the "always should" group.
Canine Distemper:
what is it?
Canine distemper is a virus that is closely related to measles!
puppies 3-6mths of age are most suseptable to this illnes which is spread via areosol droplets and through bodly secretions (nasal and eye secretions feacs and urine)
Incubation time (time from cathing to time of symptoms) is usually 14-18 days and the dog is transmitting themselves at 6-22 days after exposure.
Canine distemper attacks the lymphoid, epithelial, and nervous tissues and typically replicates in the respitory tract.
The typical path of the virus causes immunosupression, which then typically lead to secondary infections. pneumonia and encephilitis (brain swelling) are the biggest dangers of distemper.
RISK LEVEL:
puppies: HIGH
Healthy Adult: LOW
Senior: HIGH
Canine Parvovius:
what is it?
Canine parvovirus (aka parvo) is a highly contageous virus spread via feaces.
parvo comes in 2 forms, cardiac, or more commonly intestinal and puppies under 8 months are at severe high risk form this illness...fatality in parvo varies from 10% (in mild cases that are quickly treated) to as high as 91% fatlity rate in severe/untreated cases.
Typical treatment is fluids and antibiotics!
Parvo in healthy adult dogs is typically incredibly mild, so much so that it often goes completly unnoticed, parvo in a healthy adult dog is NOT dangerous however they can stil shed the virus potentially infecting puppies.
the intestinal form of parvo is transmited via feceas and infected soil, once consumed (even in the tinest amounts) the virus works its way to the lymph nodes, intestinal crypts and bone marrow where it rapidly divides, the virus attacking the intestinal crypts causes necrosis which is where the virus becomes so dangerous, once acain its the secondary complications that cause the biggest issues, as the intestinal crypst necrosis the bacteria from the intestines can enter the bloodstream causing sepsis.
severe dehydration and sepsis is ususlaly the cause of death in parvo cases.
the virus is shed from an infected dog for up to 3 weeks, and some dogs continue to be life long carriers, shedding the virus occasionally.
the cardiac form of parvo is much less common and passed from mother to pup while the pup is still in utero
RISK LEVEL:
Puppies: VERY HIGH!
Adults: VERY LOW
Seniors: HIGH
Canine Hepititis:
what is it
Hepititis (aka adenovirus) is an acute virus of the liver!
the virus is spread via feaces, urin, blood saliva and nasal secretions of infected dogs. the virus replicates in the tonsils before infecting the liver and kidneys. incubation time is typiclaly 4-7 days.
while symptoms like fever coughing and a tender abdomen are common, deaths from this illness are typically caused by a severe infection causing bleeding disorders and/or liver disese.
Adenovirus typiclaly causes breif illness which MOST dogs recover from quickly.
Vets will typically treat symptoms of this illness only (ie pain killers) and most dogs will recover sometimes spontaneously. while the illness is "common" it isnt considered severe and is generally a very low risk virus typically causing the most issues in senior dogs or those with already compromised livers or kidneys.
RISK LEVEL:
Puppies: LOW
Adults: VERY LOW
Seniors: MEDIUM
Rabies:
what is it?
Rabies is a virus that effects the neurological system causing encephilitis (swelling of the brain and spinal cord)
the virus travels to the brain via peripheral nerves and once the virus reaches the central nervous system it is fatal!
rabies has a varying "incubation" time from weeks to months depending on the location of transmission...being transmitted fthrough bodily secretions (primarily saliva) location of the bite will play a part in incubation time. this is why Postrabies exposure is risky in animals (and some people) Pre-exposure to rabies via vaccination is considered the safest measure.
the primary cause of death of rabies is respitory failure.
Rabies vaccination is MANDETORY in the USA currently on a 1yr or 3 yr schedual, titer testing is showing longer immunity however i personally follow a 3 yr schedual for all warm blooded animals.
the risk level of contraction this virus is vraiant on the situation (a toy breed house dog whos only outside supervised ina fenced yard is much less at risk from rabies than a hunting dog who spends alot of time unsupervised in the woods) however the risk level is indicative of the damage done by the virus as well as likelyhood of contracting
RISK LEVEL:
ALL AGES: low - medium for contraction VERY HIGH for death rate.
(unfortunatly this is also a high risk rate for negative reaction! so i personally wait untill as close to 6 months of age as i can and never combine a rabies shot with others vaccinations on the same day, i wait a minimum of 2 weeks between rabies and others)
NONE CORE:
Measles:
what is it?
a virus that infects the respitory system
spread through airdroplets and effects just like the human version
this vaccine is typically only given to puppies 4-10 weeks of age who are already at high risk for adenovirus
Risk:
Puppies: LOW
Adults: VERY LOW
Seniors: VERY LOW
Parainfluenza:
What is it?
otherwise known as canine flu.
this illness is transmitted easily through water droplets in the air, just like human flu...and is MUCH more common in kennel situations where dogs are kept in very close quarters and often not regularly carefully monitored.
it is HIGHLY contageous and often mistaken for kennel cough.
parainfluenza cough however is typically accompanied by a fever and other respitory issues.
Most dogs recover from parainfluenza with little human intervention, in some cases however secondary pneumnia cause a higher risk.
RISK LEVEL:
Puppy: MEDIUM
Adults: VERY LOW
Seniors: LOW
Bordetella:
what is it?
Kennel cough!
Many forms of kennel cough exist both viral and bacterial, the bordatella vaccine ONLY covers a very small percentage of strains of this illness and is EXTREEMLY short lived (studies are showing the kennel cough vaccine to be effecitve for anythign between 3-6 months max. in order to be adequatly covered for bording situations its usually required to have a bordetella vaccine 2 weeks prior to boarding (even if the dog only had the vaccine a few months ago!)
kennel cough is a respitory illness that generally causes a cough
while highly contageous, the risks associated is incredibly low, a sever cough is typically treated with antibiotics and a cough suppressant but typically kennel cough clears up on its own
Risk level is low because the illness is akin to getting a mild cold,
RISK LEVEL:
Puppies: LOW
Adults: LOW
Seniors: LOW
Leptospirosis:
What is it?
Lepto is a bacterial infection that typiclaly effects the liver and kidneys in dogs.
Lepto is spread in the urine of Rats and mice and typically contracted by dogs that drink from standing water where rats and mice frequent (and have urinated).
the risk level for this illness is based on the likelyhood of getting the illness as wel as rsks of complications
RISK LEVEL:
ALL AGES: LOW
(this vaccine is one of THE most likely vaccines to cause an adverse vaccine raction and is typically completly advised against for toy breeds due to severe reactions being common.)
Coronavirus:
What is it?!
Coronavirus is a virus that typically effects the upper respitory system and gastro intestinal system.
Coronavirus is typically the second most common cause of human colds!
yes folks, doggy colds...
the risk associated with coronavirus is incredibly low and the vaccine is very short lived.
Coronavirus is typiclaly associated with kennels and large scale facilities
RISK LEVEL:
ALL AGES: LOW
Lymes:
what is it?
A Tick Borne bacterial illness transmitted by the bite of a tick.
not well known is that the tick MUST be attatched allive for a minimum of 48 hours to transmit the illness, if the tick dies, or is removed pior to that 48 hour attathcment point the bacteria is not transmitted!
after 48 hours the transmission rate of lymes form an infected tick is only 10%
the risks associated with dog lyme disese is low, most dogs recover well with only a very small percentage, usualy those with already compromised immune systems developing related kidney problems
Lymes is also not as "common" as many like to make it seem, 85% of cases come from eastern cosatal states (northern VA-MA) wisconsin and Minnesota making up another 10% of cases and 4% of cases comming from california...other states account for arpximatly 1% or less of lymes cases across the USA
Map courtesy of the american lymes disese oundation and can be found
http://aldf.com/usmap.shtml
RISK:
ALL AGES: LOW
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