Posts Tagged ‘ schedules ’

Vaccines for Cats: We Need to Stop Overvaccinating by Lisa A. Pierson, DVM

June 26, 2012

Thanks to Lisa A. Pierson, DVM for allowing us to post her wonderfully informative article on cat vaccination from her website which also includes information on feline nutrition, health and rescue: http://www.catinfo.org  This article contains:

General suggestions
Side effects including sarcomas (cancerous tumors), chronic kidney disease, allergic or anaphylactic reaction, vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy, soreness at the injection site, lameness
Vaccine types
Decision-making criteria – including comments on titers
Conclusions

Overview

A vaccination is a preparation of microorganisms (pathogens), such as viruses or bacteria, that is administered to produce or increase immunity to a particular disease.  There can be no disputing that vaccines save lives but they also have some serious side effects which will be discussed on this webpage.

Please note that the diseases we most commonly vaccinate cats for are caused by viruses – not bacteria.  While it is difficult to induce long-term immunity to bacterial infections, vaccines targeted toward viruses are much more efficient at conferring long-term immunity in the recipient.

There are 5 viral diseases that cats are commonly vaccinated for:

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All About Vaccine Issues & Vaccination by Dodds & Schultz

June 23, 2012

W. Jean Dodds, DVM and Ronald D. Schultz, PhD

There is little doubt that application of modern vaccine technology has permitted us to protect companion animals effectively against serious infectious diseases. Today, we can question conventional vaccine regimens and adopt effective and safe alternatives primarily because the risk of disease has been significantly reduced by the widespread use of vaccination programs, which convey underlying population or herd immunity.

For many veterinary practitioners canine vaccination programs have been “practice management tools” rather than medical procedures. Thus, it is not surprising that attempts to change the vaccines and vaccination programs based on scientific information have created significant controversy. A “more is better” philosophy still prevails with regard to pet vaccines.

Annual vaccination has been and remains the single most important reason why most pet owners bring their pets for an annual or more often “wellness visit.” Another reason for the reluctance to change current vaccination programs is many practitioners really don’t understand the principles of vaccinal immunity. Clearly, the accumulated evidence indicates that vaccination protocols should no longer be considered as a “one size fits all” program.

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