vaccinations for your dog …

[Please note that the views in the following article are not shared by all experts.  There is significant controversy over whether dog vaccines are necessary more than once every three to five years, or at all in adult dogs.]

Does Fido Really Need that Dog Vaccine?

by Ashley Mitek

Getting a shot at the doctor's office isn't much fun, and it isn't easy to watch your furry family member get one either - especially when it might be in its derrière. But in a world where even parents of young children are refusing to vaccinate their kids because they feel the risks outweigh the benefits, now some pet owners are posing similar questions to their veterinarian.

Dr. Arnon Gal is a small animal medicine resident at the University of Illinois Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Urbana. He says that, "vaccines are broken down into three categories: core, noncore, and then those that are not recommended due to lack of efficacy or fear of harming the animal." And just who decides what vaccines are core and noncore? That responsibility rests in the hands of the Canine Vaccine Task Force. They meet each year to review research and data from all over the country to develop the best vaccination protocol.

A core vaccine means that it has been decided that this shot is very important to the health of your dog, and that if the animal is not vaccinated, there is a good chance it will become seriously ill. Dr. Gal mentions that the core vaccines are, "Parvovirus, distemper, adenovirus, and, of course, rabies which is required by law."

The first three items on the list are usually combined into one vaccine so the animal does not have to receive four different shots at one time - ouch! In many cases, these vaccines will last three years. However, your veterinarian may recommend a different schedule for one reason or another.

The second category of vaccines, called noncore "usually depend upon where the dog lives and whether or not it is in an endemic area," says Dr. Gal. He gives the example of an animal living in an area known to harbor leptospirosis, like Urbana, Ill. This bacteria is spread in urine and can be zoonotic; this means the other animal in your house, the one-year-old human kind crawling on the floor, can contract the disease as well. The vaccine to this bacteria is given to most dogs in Urbana because veterinarians know that this area is endemic, or as Dr. Gal likes to say, "if your dog lives in 'lepto-land' you vaccinate for it, and if it doesn't you don't."

Many of the noncore vaccines do not last as long as the core vaccines, so they may need to be boostered every six months to a year. In short, there is no cookie-cutter recommendation for dog vaccines. Other than making sure your animal has received the core ones, it is up to your veterinarian to determine what additional shots should be given.

"Every vaccine has potential side effects," mentions Dr. Gal, but reports show the risk is quite small.

According to newly-released data from Banfield, a chain of veterinary hospitals across the United States, after reviewing over one million dogs who had been given a vaccine, only a little over one-third of one percent had an adverse reaction.

Although it may be a hindrance to take time out of your busy day to drive the dog to the vet and keep them up to date on their vaccines, it would be much worse if you found out they had contracted a serious illness and may die, when it could have been avoided with one simple vaccine. For more information about vaccinating your dog, contact your local veterinarian.

An archive of Pet Columns from the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine is available online at www.cvm.uiuc.edu/petcolumns/.
Veterinary Extension/Office of Public Engagement
University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine
217/333-2907
Source: Dr. Arnon Gal

And for more information on possible dangers of vaccination, click here.

Well, our worst fears about the appalling practises of puppy mills have been confirmed.

Puppy mills breed puppies for profit. Pure and simple.

Most people are aware of this fact.

But what many people were not aware of is the cruelty practised by puppy mills.

Beautiful dogs that would love to be your pet are kept, sometimes in small, filthy cages, with little or no human contact, and often with zero veterinary care. Females are bred every time they come into heat (usually twice per year). They are kept not as pets, but as breeding machines in order to stock pet stores with puppies for sale. It's an absolute crime. Many times by the time these poor dogs are 7 years old they have given birth to more than a hundred puppies. They are undernourished, their poor bodies are completely depleted from the repeated cycles of pregnancies and nursing. And when they're not considered sufficiently good breeding material any more (at about the age of seven or eight), they are killed to make way for younger breeding machines. During the whole of their lives they are never nurtured or treated with any dignity or respect.
The U.S. Humane Society has been fighting the puppy mills for decades.

And now the truth is out.

Good on you, Oprah! Thank you for publicizing far and wide, in a way that probably no one else can, this terrible crime that is going on under our very noses. And that anyone who buys a puppy from a pet store is contributing to.

Yes, according to Oprah's team's investigation, 99.9 per cent of puppies sold in pet stores in the U.S. are bred in puppy mills. 99.9%!

Do what you can to STOP this practice. Don't EVER buy a puppy from a pet store, or ANY products from a pet store that sells puppies. That's the first step everyone should be taking.

If you buy a puppy from a pet store, you free up a spot for another puppy mill puppy to fill, you put profits into the hands of a puppy mill. and you encourage that puppy mill to continue breeding puppies for profit.

If you buy any products from pet stores that sell puppies, you tacitly give approval to what they're doing, put profits into their hands and enable them to stock more puppy mill puppies for sale.

Don't EVER buy a puppy from an online source without visiting the breeder yourself and checking them out. Often, online stores pose as reputable breeders, with stories and pictures that warm the heart. But it's all a front. Puppy mills are now advertising their puppies online, with totally false information about who they really are, and many people are falling for the rort and perpetuating puppy mills.

Don't EVER buy a puppy from anywhere, in fact, unless you have satisfied yourself that you are not putting profits into puppy mills.

How do you do that?

Rescue a rescue dog. If you particularly keen to have a puppy, there are plenty of them at dog rescue shelters. And if you want a purebred puppy, they have plenty of them too, with at least equivalent credentials to those bred in puppy mills. (Inbreeding is rife in puppy mills, so although technically you may be getting a purebred dog, it's genetic makeup may well be compromised by the inbreeding).

So, consider an adult or older dog from a rescue first. They need saving, too.

If you want a puppy, you can also look in the animal shelters and rescue him/her.

If you do want a puppy from a breeder, make sure you're dealing with a reputable breeder. Do NOT trust what they say in their advertisement, even if it's on the internet and accompanied by pictures of healthy dogs looking happy and well cared for and living in the breeder's home. Visit the breeder. This is an absolute must.

And visiting the breeder is not enough. Make sure you view the dogs - the puppies, and both the parents, and take a look at where the dogs live (whether in the house with the breeder, or otherwise). And look at how the breeder and the dogs interact. Ask to see the outdoor living quarters for the dogs if the dogs are kept outside. Ask to see outside in any event, even if the dogs appear to live inside the house. Is the area clean, and dog friendly?

Get a free copy of the Humane Society's Puppy Buyer's Guide - here - http://www.stoppuppymills.org/forms/free_puppy_buyers_guide.html
What else can we all do?

1. STOP buying ANY products from ANY pet store that sells puppies.

2. Do NOT buy ANY products from ANY online store that sells puppies.

3. Lobby your federal legislators - here - https://community.hsus.org/campaign/puppymills_oprah

4. Sign up for updates on the Stop Puppy Mills campaign by the Humane Society - here - http://www.stoppuppymills.org - Sign up is on the right hand side of the page.

5. Write a letter to your local newspaper voicing your concerns. All the major newspapers should be buzzing with this information right now - Thanks, Oprah - but the small local papers may not be. - So make sure yours is!

6. Read this online flyer - and then if you can, print out some copies and distribute them outside your local pet store, or at your local park, or drop some in letterboxes in your area. Take some copies to your veterinarian - if they're not already publicizing this, ask them to display the flyers on their noticeboard and have copies available on their counter.

We call on ALL contribute to STOPPING puppy mills.

Do YOUR part now!

Other useful links to entities that work very hard to put a stop to puppy mills:

http://www.hua.org

http://www.bestfriends.org

http://www.prisonersofgreed.org/Hope.html

Take a look, and then take some action yourself to halt the appalling practises of puppy mills.