Message Number: YG6898 | New FHL Archives Search
From: katharine
Date: 2001-09-02 07:16:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Vaccinations

I think it is terrible pet ownership not to
vaccinate an animal against diseases unless there
are medical reasons not to do so. This is my own
personal opinion and may not agree with others.
Yes, we may over-vaccinate but, in my humble
opinion, that beats not vaccinating at all. No
studies have been done which show that we could
vaccinate less often. Until those studies are
done, I will continue to vaccinate annually. As
has been pointed out in the past, the titer test
is more expensive than the vaccination.

I have had several with reactions but they have
all been mild, thank God. I pre-medicate with
Benadryl right before we leave home (1 ml) and I
hang around for a while afterward. I have had to
make 2-3 trips back to the vet when someone had a
reaction after we got home. The worst I have seen
has been diarrhea and vomiting. I know we have
been extemely lucky when I have read of some of
the severe reactions. In those cases, I would
re-think vaccinating.

I had a young opossum (with an unkown history)
tear up my hand on Friday. She didn't like the
way I was holding her (we're the best of friends
now <g>). All I could think was that I was
grateful I had been vaccinated against tetanus and
rabies (even though opossums aren't prone to
rabies). The sum total of my treatment was to
clean the holes in my hands and keep an eye on
them. If I hadn't had vaccinations, I would be
concerned.

When my Lily (ferret) was undergoing chemo, she
wasn't vaccinated because it wouldn't have been
effective. My precaution was not to allow any
potential carriers of distemper into my home
(raccoons primarily). Other than that, she was
kept inside with no risk of exposure. When she
went to the vet (weekly) I just kept her away from
other animals as much as I could.

It just doesn't make sense not to protect our
family against diseases when it's such a simple
thing to do. We can speculate all day about other
health problems that vaccinations can cause but it
is just speculation. We just don't know and may
never know.

Katharine