Why do some people think that vaccines are not safe to give their pets?

Sadly, anti-vaccine holistic type veterinarians who push the idea that pet vaccines aren't safe are a thing.

Sadly, anti-vaccine holistic type veterinarians who push the idea that pet vaccines aren't safe or necessary are a thing.

The usual suspects...

Your Unvaccinated Pets

Before we even talk about vaccine safety and your pets, let's talk about the importance of vaccinating your pets.

"I concluded that I would rather risk viral disease with my dogs, than have them suffer from the epidemic of chronic and fatal illness that is gripping the canine population. I appreciate that some will consider me irresponsible. But what actually are we running from when we vaccinate?"

Why I Don’t Vaccinate My Dogs At All

As do parents who skip or delay vaccinating their children, many of the arguments for not vaccinating a pet are the same.

"According to the Intervet data sheet, dogs will develop permanent immunity to hepatitis over the age of 12 weeks. So why keep vaccinating against that? Kennel cough is easily treated in most cases, and the vaccine isn’t very effective. So what’s the point? "Leptospirosis" is rare (my vet tells me he hasn’t seen it in ten years, either), and the vaccine is associated with some of the worst adverse reactions. Isn’t this vaccine an unacceptable risk, then? And parvovirus is – according to the Concise Oxford Veterinary Dictionary – rarely a problem for the normal healthy adult dog."

Why I Don’t Vaccinate My Dogs At All

When I was about ten years old, my very healthy doberman died of a parvovirus infection just before the vaccine was developed.

And tragically, Caeser wasn't the only one.

"And I would like to say that it's dropped a lot that the first five or six years at least until we got the canine vaccines rolling it was it was a bloodbath of dogs dying. We have over a period of time improved with the treatment, but it still happens."

How Parvo is wreaking havoc on the pet community

The only reason we don't still have "a bloodbath of dogs dying" of parvo is because most dogs get vaccinated. Those that don't and get parvo have a 10% mortality rate with aggressive treatment. Without that aggressive treatment, they have a 10% survival rate.

"As long as your dog is vaccinated against parvovirus, owners should rest assured their pet is protected against the often fatal gastrointestinal virus that gets passed from one unvaccinated dog to another."

Berkshire experts say dog owners shouldn't worry about 'parvo' outbreak in Franklin County —so long as their dogs are vaxxed

And parvo, like other vaccine preventable diseases in dogs, is not so rare anymore.

Pet Vaccines Are Necessary

Why are we letting these diseases increase?

Does anyone really want to see "a bloodbath of dogs dying" of parvo again?

"The incidence of leptospirosis in dogs in the USA appears to be increasing."

Hotspots of canine leptospirosis in the United States of America

What's next?

The return of rabies?

Want to know what it's like to live in an area of the world where rabies in dogs is still endemic?

"Although rabies has been eliminated in high-income countries and has been controlled in many middle-income countries, dog-mediated rabies remains endemic in much of Africa and Asia, with people in poor, rural communities and children most likely to die of the disease."

Human rabies: prospects for elimination

You might be amazed to know that rabies is still endemic in dogs in many countries, which is why rabies still kills about 59,000 people each year.

But that's Africa and Asia, why worry about your dog getting rabies in the United States or another developed country?

Because many wild animals in these countries can have rabies, especially raccoons, skunks, bats, and foxes. If one of these rabid animals has contact with your unvaccinated dog, they will get rabies. And if that dog bites someone, they will get rabies too!

What other vaccines do dogs routinely get?

They get vaccines (the ones in italics are non-core vaccines for use in special situations and dogs with risk factors) to protect them against:

distemper - there is no cure for distemper and it can spread from wild animals, including racoons; half of dogs that develop distemper will die, with higher mortality rates for puppies
hepatitis - the severe form of canine hepatitis can kill your dog
parainfluenza - can cause kennel cough
parvovirus - an aggressive viral infection with no known cure and even with aggressive supportive care, 10% of dogs with parvo die
rabies - always fatal
Lyme disease - if they live in a high risk area
Bordetella - can cause kennel cough
coronavirus - can cause kennel cough
leptospirosis - a bacterial infection that originates in soil and water and which can spread to people
influenza - dog flu
Western diamondback rattlesnake venom (Crotalus atrox) - if at high risk for rattlesnake bites

At least they do if you don't want your dog to get any of those diseases...

Pet Vaccines are Safe

And yes, pet vaccinations are safe with few risks.

"Serious vaccine reactions are uncommon. Most vaccine side effects are mild and include swelling or pain at the injection site, mild lethargy, or a low-grade fever. The likelihood of a dangerous vaccine reaction is low compared with your pet’s risk of contracting a deadly disease from normal daily exposure, such as a visit to the park.

Tumor development at the injection site is another uncommon risk that the development of modern vaccines has reduced. This occurs mostly in cats, but feline-specific vaccines have helped to reduce the risk even more."

Should my pet be vaccinated?

Before you skip or delay getting a vaccine for your pet (whether you have a dog, cat, or ferret, etc.), understand that anti-vaccine folks who try to scare you typically overstate the risks of those vaccines and downplay the risks of getting a vaccine-preventable disease.

"Unvaccinated animals that could have contact with a rabid animal (or an animal that may carry rabies) must be euthanized or quarantined for four months to ensure that the animal is not going to develop rabies as a result of the exposure. Quarantines of this kind are almost always at a veterinarian’s office and the owner is responsible for the cost, which can easily add up to thousands of dollars."

Protecting Your Pet from Rabies

They never tell you the stories of the unvaccinated pets who die with distemper, parvo, or rabies.

I bet Steve Kirsch isn't going to tweet about the dozens of unvaccinated dogs who recently died in a parvo outbreak in Michigan, is he? Or about the canine distemper outbreaks in Ohio and Texas that are killing unvaccinated dogs?

Caeser wasn't just a good boy. He was the best! He died of parvo just before the first parvo vaccines were developed during the big parvo outbreak in 1979.

Don't listen to misinformation about pet vaccines and risk losing your dog to a vaccine-preventable disease.

Are Pet Vaccines Safe?

Your Unvaccinated Pets

Pet Vaccines Are Necessary

Pet Vaccines are Safe

More on Vaccines for Your Pets