Is Your Vet Still Overvaccinating Your Dog?

Article Title: Is Your Vet Still Overvaccinating Your Dog?
Author: Daniel Beatty, DVM

Is your dog being overvaccinated and your vet is not following
the new guidelines? How many of you are still getting annual
"shots" for your dog? Has your vet told you that there is a
"new" protocol for vaccinating your dog? I say "new" loosely
because the guidelines have been around for over 5 years now!
That is beside the point, lets just go with the new guidelines
given out by the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA)
last year in 2006.

First, a bit of information about the vaccination of your dog.
The most common other vaccination given to your dog besides
rabies is a 5 or a 6 in one shot. Meaning there are 5 or 6
different types of diseases your dog is being vaccinated for in
one shot. The common acronym for this vaccine is DHLPP and
sometimes added in there is a C. The letters each stand for a
different disease – D=Distemper, H=Hepatitis (also known as
Adenovirus), L=Leptospirosis, P=Parvo, P=Parainfluenza, and
C=Corona.

For the new guidelines lets take the three core vaccines, the
three that your dog should be vaccinated for Distemper, Parvo
and Hepatitis (Adenovirus). After your dog has been initially
vaccinated for these three core diseases usually as a puppy and
then a year later with a booster, your dog has prolonged
immunity against those diseases. What do I mean by prolonged
immunity, well the research shows, your dog is immune for 6 to 9
years! That's correct! The research done by reputable
immunologists, such as Dr. Ronald Schultz, shows that after the
initial puppy vaccination and a one year booster many dogs are
protected for the majority of their life. WIth this new research
AAHA developed some new guidelines. Their suggestion or
guidelines, after puppy vaccination and the yearly booster is
that the three core vaccines, only need to be boostered every
three years. So according to the AAHA guidelines, instead of
annual revaccination, your dog really only needs to be
revaccinated every three years.

In fact, did you know, annual vaccination of your dog can cause
severe diseases. Overvaccination has been linked to cancer,
allergies, and other auto-immune diseases such as Autoimmune
Hemolytic Anemia. More research needs to be done but many of the
recent studies show these links exist. In fact, in cats,
overvaccination has been proven to cause sarcomas, a very severe
cancer.

So now the question becomes, if the vaccines have been shown to
produce immunity that lasts quite a bit longer than what was
originally thought and annual vaccination might be the cause of
certain allergies and other immune system diseases including
cancer, then why has my vet not told me about this?
Unfortunately, the answer is money, if not money then it is pure
ignorance on your vet's part. Yes ignorance, as in not current
in their education or just an unwillingness to change because
the old way is the way things have always been done. Money is
the other answer and no it is not because veterinarians are
greedy, but rather in many veterinary offices, 33% of the annual
income comes from vaccinations. This is a large percentage of
income that with the new guidelines will be cut. Veterinarians
are not prepared for that kind of an income cut. Many could go
out of business. Many clinics do not have the management skills
or their other services are not priced correctly to compensate
for that kind of an income loss. So changing to the new
vaccination guidelines although would benefit your animals
health can be a tough business decision for the owner of the
veterinary clinic. Just remember though you have a
responsibility as a pet owner for the health and well being of
your pet and less vaccinations IS better for your pet,
regardless of the business problems that some clinics may have
going to the new guidelines.

So if your veterinarian is still requesting annual
vaccinations, ask why. Be informed, make the right decisions,
choose to protect the health of your dog by learning what your
veterinarian is giving to your dog and why – specifically why,
not just because he is the vet and it is to better the health of
your dog. Ask questions, be dangerous!

About The Author: Be dangerous to your veterinarian, be
informed, make intelligent decisions based on knowledge from
credible sources. You can find more information about the topic
of dog health care at Dr. Dan's site http://www.evetclinic.com
or his blog http://healthyasadog.com

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