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Pre-Surgical Information
Spaying or neutering your pet is a big step! There is a lot to consider
when we are planning your pet’s surgery. Here is some information to help
you make wise decisions.
Click here . . .
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Special LibraryOur Special Library
is a collection of informative articles on a variety of health topics.
Click here . . .
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Discharge InstructionsClick here for
information on how to care for your pet at home.
Click here . . .
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New Vaccination Guidelines
Have you ever wondered who the vaccine police are?
Who gets to decide who gets what vaccines children get and when?
In human medicine, we have the Advisory Committee on
Immunization Practices (ACIP), which is a panel of 15 experts
who have been selected by the Secretary of the U. S. Department
of Health and Human Services to provide advice and guidance to
the Secretary, the Assistant Secretary for Health, and the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the control
of vaccine-preventable diseases. The Committee develops
written recommendations for the routine administration of
vaccines to children and adults in the civilian population;
recommendations include age for vaccine administration number of
doses and dosing interval, and precautions and
contraindications. These recommendations are considered
the gold standard, and they change frequently to reflect our
best current understanding of the science of vaccination.
Pediatricians get the current copy of the ACIP report, and
that's that.
Up until recently, Veterinarians have been more like the Lone
Ranger. Each practitioner did his
or her own thing when it came to vaccinating dogs and cats, and
to make matters worse there wasn't much in the way of scientific
research to base these judgments on. There is no
veterinary ACIP, and the CDC could care less about dog
vaccinations. The only guidelines came from the vaccine
manufacturers, and when you think about this, the manufacturers
are probably not the best source of unbiased fact on how dogs
and cats should be vaccinated. So, Veterinarians have been
making up their own vaccination protocols for over thirty years.
The last new thing was the parvo vaccine, developed in the late
1970's.
However, starting about five of six years ago, some good,
unbiased research was done, and it turns out that there are
better and safer ways to vaccinate dogs and cats than we have
been using. Based on this research, two professional
organizations have published the first veterinary vaccination
guidelines.
The
American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP for
short) is a nationally-recognized association of veterinarians
who specialize in cats only. The AAFP vaccination guidelines
are considered the standard of practice for cats. The American
Animal Hospital Association (AAHA for short) is an organization
that accredits veterinary hospitals and clinics. They have
published a number of guidelines and standards of practice on
such topics as pain control, dentistry, and now the AAHA dog
vaccination guidelines are considered the standard of practice
for dogs.
For dogs, it is now clear that yearly vaccination for certain
diseases is unnecessary. Recent research has shown that
immunity will last at least three years to these certain
diseases, which include parvo, distemper and rabies. Given
the relatively high incidence of vaccine reactions in dogs,
fewer vaccines are better. However, it is important to
note that there are still diseases that your dog will probably
need to be vaccinated for on a yearly basis. Bordetella,
parainfluenza, and leptospirosis are in my opinion definitely
worth vaccinating for, and this will still need to be done on a
yearly basis. Another new thing is that it is clear that
for bordetella and parainfluenza, the intranasal vaccines are
much more effective than the injected versions. The
vaccine is not injected, rather it is squirted up the dog's
nose. This mimicks natural exposure, and stimulates both
circulating and surface immunity to these diseases.
For cats as well, immunity for certain diseases lasts longer
than one year. In particular, Distemper, Viral Rhinotracheitis, and Calicivirus need only be boosted every
three years rather than yearly as previously believed.
And more importantly, certain types of vaccines themselves have
been tied to a rare type of cancer called Vaccine-Associated
Sarcomas. While rare (the incidence is estimated at
somewhere between 1 in 1000 to 1 in 10,000), the tumors are very
malignant and are often fatal. There is a definite
association between vaccine-associated sarcomas and the use of
vaccines with adjuvants in them. Adjuvants are compounds
added to vaccines to stimulate the immune system. Not all
vaccines have adjuvants in them, and by choosing to use
non-adjuvanted vaccines, the risk of vaccine-associated sarcomas
is nearly eliminated. Non-adjuvanted vaccines cost a
bit more, the non-adjuvanted Feline Leukemia vaccine must be
given with an air-gun that stings a bit, and the non-adjuvanted
rabies vaccine must be boosted every year, but the trade-off is
increased safety.
And let's not forget the huge value found in the yearly
examination. Dogs age seven dog years every one people
year, and the veterinarian's annual examination can be a real
blessing to your dog by allowing us to identify and treat
problems early. I'm terrible about going to the doctor
myself, but even I see my physician once every seven years!
Cats too age seven cat years for every people year, and the
annual exam can really help cats live longer, happier lives.
For Puppies and Kittens, not much has changed. Puppies and
kittens both need a series of vaccinations every three to four
weeks starting at 8 weeks of age and not ending until at least
16 weeks. Both puppies and kittens need a full set of
boosters one year after the first series.
The New Protocols are a little too complicated to explain
concisely on a webpage. The AAHA guidelines, for instance,
are 28 pages long. Quite frankly, when I take my daughters in
to see their Doctor, even I don't spend a lot of time quizzing
him about the patrticulars of the CDC recommendations. All
that MMR, DTaP, and Hib stuff gets me confused. But if you
like, we can discuss the particulars during the vaccination
visit.
The bottom line here is that there has been some new research
that shows that we need to start using different vaccines at
different intervals in our dogs and cats. We now have
written guidelines, established by the AAFP and AAHA, which are
widely considereed to be the new standard of practice. The
annual physical exam remains the most important instrument in
the veterinarian's hands for helping your pet line a long and
healthy life.
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