Are Pets Being Over-Vaccinated?
How SAFE are vaccinations? Are we over
vaccinating our dogs?
Do dogs really NEED all THOSE vaccines? Are the
yearly boosters really
necessary?? Shouldn’t drawing titers be
better???
Thank you,
Jade
Chicago, IL
Animal vaccination is a perennially timely and controversial subject. The short answer, Jade, is that nobody knows how often pets should receive vaccines. Nobody knows whether pets need vaccines every year (although they probably don’t).
Although titers probably will be widely used in the future, they aren’t common now for two reasons. First, nobody truly knows how to interpret them (that is to say, nobody knows what titer level is protective for each disease). Second, titers measure only half of the immune system (a portion called humoral immunity) and ignore the other half (called cell-mediated immunity).
I have covered the subject of animal vaccines a few times on this blog. Click here, here, here or here for more information.
A very bad experience from the other night reminded me of a stark truth. Although giving too many vaccines may cause health problems for some pets, giving too few vaccines is virtually guaranteed to lead to sick pets.
I was working at an emergency hospital when a family brought a six-month-old Poodle to my office. The Poodle had a 12 hour history of poor appetite, vomiting, and diarrhea. He had never been vaccinated.
A test of his stool revealed that he was infected with parvovirus. Untreated parvovirus is a deadly disease. Parvovirus is preventable with vaccines. If that puppy had been properly vaccinated, he would not have caught the disease.
To make matters worse, the family had another unvaccinated puppy at home. I explained to them that their other puppy would almost certainly catch the disease. And then they revealed that, three months ago, the family had lost a third (unvaccinated) dog to parvo.
This means that, in the course of a single appointment, I became aware of two puppies who needlessly suffered from a preventable disease because of lack of vaccination. A third puppy is almost certain to become ill and possibly die because of the family’s irresponsibility.
Although over-vaccination is not an optimal scenario for pets, please remember that it is better than the other extreme. If you don’t vaccinate your pets at all, you are asking for them to get sick.
You have questions. 
when i grow up i want to be a vet soo i read the vet blog. and i have fun reading.
Thank you for posting this story!
what a strawman. everyone knows puppies need shots for parvo. but the overvaccination for rabies is also clear. state law should conform to modern science. but vaccines are too big a cash cow for vets to do the science.
I work in a vet clinic in El Paso, TX. We see at least 4 cases of parvo positive dogs EVERY DAY. In most cases, the owners just didn’t get their pets vaccinated. I guarantee that vaccines are not just a “cash cow” as some may think. At $20 a shot, we are not getting rich. If we really wanted to just make money, we would tell people not to vaccinate their pets…treatment for parvo is at least $250 for a small dog. Also, our clinic only vaccinates every 3 years after the initial shots, another piece of evidence that we are not trying to stiff the hard working animal lovers out there. I personally would rather see a perfectly healthy pet once a year than the sick and suffering animals I see on a daily basis.
After seeing only a few dogs succumb to parvo, it’s a vaccine I think anyone with a pup is an idiot to ignore. Parvo is a puppy killer. I am all for titre testing, but for my babies, it’s the puppy shot and one year follow up.
I had spent a lot of time volunteering for the local SPCA and we had to face a parvo outbreak usually about once a year. I hope we can educate more people on the ways HUMANS transmit the virus. It’s just important for everyone to know the vaccine is not an impenetrable shield — but it will protect a dog that’s been in contact. We have to be careful ourselves in where we walk, what we can track home, etc.
I don’t think he answered the question! Do puppies need Parvo and distemper Vaccinations. – Yes. they do. but that was not the question. the question was are we over vaccinating our dogs, are yearly booster necessaryo, and Shouldn’t drawing titers be
better???.
This vet is very glib a he needs to answer the question, I’d hate to be his patients guardian! He won;t give me a straight answer!!
Ann, the answers to everything you mention are in my post. The answer to the titer question is in the second paragraph. I addressed the question of yearly vaccinations in the first paragraph. To reiterate: nobody knows if pets are being over vaccinated. Nobody knows how to interpret titers. Those are my most honest answers.
Also, remember that I encourage civil discourse on this blog. Please refrain from insulting your fellow comment writers and me.
Yearly shots are as out-dated as wringer washing machines, but vets always believe in vaccinating every dog for everything every year.
I think that you should get the shots when they’re puppies, but get a separate Parvo, Distemper, Rabies etc shot instead of the 5-way or 7-way combo shots, then titer test every year instead of vaccinating.
My old JRT and my current dog have gotten their yearly rabies shot (Because its required by law and titering for rabies is too expensive for us, and our vet doesn’t support it) but have only gotten their distemper/parvo shots when they were puppies and have never gotten sick.
Vaccinating for everything, every year is not good, its actually detrimental, but not vaccinating at all is just as dangerous.
I titer every year. Send them to Dr Dodds, so far all very high immunity.