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Clients are often asking about which vaccinations their pets truly need and how frequently do they need them. The answer to this question will depend upon both the age and lifestyle of a particular pet. For example, kittens and puppies should receive certain core vaccinations such as parvo/distemper in dogs and panleukopenia in cats. However, unlike the popular practice of repetitively vaccinating dogs and cats for these core viruses every 1-3 years, if a dog or cat receives these vaccinations at age 16 weeks or older, immunity lasts for years to the life of the animal, and further vaccination is not necessary in my opinion and experience. |
Vaccinations are medical procedures that are important, however, as with any medical procedure, it should not be overdone or misused. Over vaccination has been linked with an increasing number of autoimmune diseases and rare cancers in dogs and cats. Most states also require that puppies and kittens receive rabies vaccinations as a core vaccination as well, which usually need to be repeated every three years in adulthood in most states. The other vaccinations are all optional and are based on the lifestyle of a particular dog or cat, and whether they are out hunting, etc. Many of these vaccinations, however, in my opinion, are of questionable efficacy, and I am concerned about chronic immune reactions to them in both dogs and cats. These would include FIV and FIP vaccination of cats, as well as leptospirosis and Lyme disease vaccination in dogs, which I do not recommend in my practice.
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4 Comments
Thank you for the interesting information. I’m confused about Lyme vaccinations in dogs. My Aussie/German Shep mix was dx’d at age 2 with the bacteria causing Lyme disease-during a routine Heartworm blood test. I was relieved when I was given a 30-day supply of plain old doxycycline for my underweight, lethargic dog and told he would be his old hyper self within 2 weeks. She was right. …(yes, I finished the full 30 days of medicine..lol)
1 month after being treated, he received his first Lyme Disease vaccination and has received 1 annually since then. However, even though he has been asymptomatic since only that 1 treatment 3years ago, he still tests positive during heartworm blood tests for Lyme indicators. Is that because the original strain is forever laying dormant or is it the vaccine antibodies?
Also if I may:Why don’t you believe in Lyme vaccinations for dogs ?Lastly: With a positive diagnosis (or hx of), should I continue vaccinating my adult dog(he’s 5 now); is it at least preventing a re-occurrence of an outbreak or a coming out of remission if exposed by another disease carrying tick?. We live in a high tick populated area of VA. Thanks! Your time , consideration and expertise is appreciated.
BTW I use Frontline Plus on my shepard from 1-800-PetMeds! It has additional properties that are affective on different types of ticks! 5stars *****
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Dr. Michael Dym, VMD veterinarian Reply:
June 19th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
Very intelligent questions Maria, and with a noncore vaccination like lyme disease, there are always different opinions out there. My vaccination guru expert in the country, who has done the most research on vaccine issues in dogs, Dr Ron Schultz, phd does NOT vaccinate his own dogs for lyme disease and he lives in a lyme endemic state of Wisconsin. There is increasing evidence that lyme disease is actually more of an autoimmune disease, which means that the few pets that get sick(actually over 90 percent of dogs naturally exposed to lyme disease, can test positive, never get sick or show symptoms, and get over it on their own) from lyme disease, it is more of an overactive immune response to the lyme bacteria that causes the disease(i.e sort of like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis in people). That is why many people suffer from chronic lyme, even though the bacteria is killed by doxycycline. When lyme vaccination for people came out some years back, it was pulled off the market within a few years because of severe side effects and reactions. It is very difficult to make a safe and effective vaccination for an autoimmune disease, which we are starting to recognize that lyme disease is. We found this out with FIP in cats as well. Experts at prestigious vet schools like my alma mater Penn(which has done much lyme research), as well as Cornell, DONT recommend routine use of lyme vaccination, but simply tick control in preventing the disease. I have seen many pets develop the exact symptoms of lyme disease in my experience and opinion from the repetitive use of the vaccination over time, which goes right along with the autoimmune basis of this disease, even though those pets may test negative. I also NEVER treat just a positive in house lyme test, as all that means is that a dog was exposed to lyme in the past. I only treat if a patient has symptoms. Dogs can remain lyme positie for years, and as mentioned above since well over 90% of dogs get over lyme exposure all on their own without symptoms, than why treat these animals? Hope this helps.
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Thank You, Doc. Very cool answers. If I’m reading you correctly, for my Lyme disease dog, ‘Dallas’, when he tested positive during what I nicknamed “the 3-banger” heartworm blood test, it was ok to treat because he was exhibiting symptoms. After the initial tx’mnt (or killing off the bacteria that causes the disease), w/ doxycycline & the improvement of his condition of 100%, the annual Lyme vaccinations were and are NOT necessary and/or ineffective on the dormant antibodies? Also, because vaccines release a “live” version of the agent , in this case bacteria, it could be actually harmful and that all I need to do is treat when he exhibits symptoms only? I guess that’s where the finding a homeopathic vet comes into play. Most vets will charge me for medicine anyway or they won’t release “clearance” for that Heartworm RX that I need to get his HeartGuard from 1-800-PetMeds. They’re sneaky like that.
I apologize for requesting clarification. My brain works differently than most.
Also, just curious-just like in human vaccinations, including Lyme (regarding why many symptomatic people test false negative on Lyme titres), is the Lyme vaccination for a dog ineffective because there are so many strains of Lyme than originally realized and the vaccinations are not current enough? I know this is a problem with Lyme tests -all kinds in humans and flu vaccinations (so many evolving strains)? What do you and Dr. Ron say on this? Thanks.
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Dr. Michael Dym, VMD veterinarian Reply:
June 30th, 2010 at 12:40 am
Bottom line is that the pathology associated with lyme and certain other infectious diseases are due to what are called immune complexes or to put more simply an autoimmune disease. in these cases a pet or human can test negative because all of the lyme proteins and organisms are tied up with the patient’s antibodies; thus the false negative. That is why the vaccine for lyme disease failed miserably in people. The other bottom line is that most pets exposed and testing positive for lyme exposure NEVER get sick and get over it on their own, which is why we dont treat just positive results. . There are not various lyme strains out there. In my opinion and experience I find that lyme vaccinated dogs end up ultimately down the road showing in many cases symptoms of stiffness, arthritis, and shifting lameness just as if they had actual lyme infection, but in this case the infection is from the injection of these unproven vaccinations in my opinion.
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Maria Reply:
July 2nd, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Thank you. I notice my 5year old does have occasional problems with his joints. No more Lyme vaccination for him!
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So, other than rabies vaccines every three years, are there any other vaccines an adult dog needs over his lifetime? What about Parvo? I know my puppy received a vaccination for this, but I’m not sure if my two rescue dogs have. Is it standard practice to vaccinate against Parvo in a county(Palm Beach, Florida) rescue clinic before a pet is adopted? If so, is any booster required as is required with rabies?
As for activity, I walk my dogs daily in a suburban setting, sometimes let them run the beach with weedy marshes, and take them to a dog park to socialize several times a week. They are currently taking Fibroguard Plus for fleas & ticks, and Iverhart Plus for heartworm.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Patricia Arden (Louis, Pearl & Moochie)
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Dr. Michael Dym, VMD veterinarian Reply:
September 5th, 2011 at 11:29 am
Most shelters and rescue clinics will vaccinate dogs for parvo and distemper before adopting them out. As for adult boosters, often immunity to core viruses like parvo and distemper can last for years to the life of the pet. I am not fan of noncore shots like lepto, lyme and bordatella, which I feel are not safe or needed in most cases. I usually measure vaccination antibody titers to parvo and distemper in adult pets to document immunity and/or need to booster. Most vets have ability to run these tests. I would avoid overvaccinating adult pets which can lead to autoimmune diseases and cancer in some pets.
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You also mention lepto virus as being one of the non-essential vaccines for adult dogs. My friend took her 7 yr old dog to the vet for a cough he had developed and they recommended he be vaccinated with a multivalent lepto virus series. She was not aware that she had to bring him back in 3 weeks for the follow up booster and now they are starting it again. She was told that since he sometimes drinks from ponds in the neighborhood, he is at higher risk for lepto. What are your thoughts regarding this subject.
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Dr. Michael Dym, VMD veterinarian Reply:
October 22nd, 2011 at 11:19 pm
I am not a fan of this vaccination as in my opinion, the vaccine has never been proven safe or effective, even the newer versions. Many dogs are exposed to lepto through pond water, but few ever show symptoms. Many times immune suppression and/or chronic poor health/overuse of drugs, vaccihnations etc leads to the few lepto cases that I have seen. Of course I am talking to you from a homeopathic veterinarian’s perspective. I will tell you that after 20 years of clinical veterinary practice and accumulating many scientific articles on the vaccine topic, that pets are WAY overvaccinated, and such over use of vaccines lead to much chronic disease, autoimmune problems, and even cancer in our pets.
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