I get so mad at the local news stations sometimes that I want to spit nails. One time they did a story that there was an "increase" of parvo cases in the county, and that everyone needed to run out and vaccinate their dogs for parvo, no matter how long it had been since the last vaccination. No mention of how many actual cases there were, or how old the affected dogs were (parvo, unless a dog is severely immune compromised is a PUPPY disease). Not only that, the majority of parvo cases occur in puppies that HAVE been vaccinated. And, the majority of deaths are in the vaccinated pups that contract parvo. Unvaccinated, healthy puppies who get parvo are much more likely to recover. But, the story made no mention of any of this. Just hysteria:
A PUPPY SOMEWHERE IN CALIFORNIA GOT PARVO! RUN OUT AND VACCINATE YOUR DOG, NOOOOOOOOWWWWWW!
And then there was the story about heartworm. Somewhere in Southern CA a dog was infected with heartworm. In the story they said it was a dog that came from LA after Katrina. No mention in the story if ANY dog that had never been out of Southern CA had ever gotten heartworm. But, again, the hysteria:
A DOG SOMEWHERE IN CALIFORNIA GOT HEARTWORM! RUN OUT AND SEE YOUR VET AND PAY HIM TO GIVE YOU POISON TO ADMINISTER TO YOUR DOG, NOOOOOOOWWWWWWW!!!!!!!
Today it was a story about Lyme disease. One of the reporters (and I use the term loosely, it's a woman who wears skimpy clothes and talks about traffic) apparently had Lyme. Why am I not surprised that she got in from a tick bite in LYME, CT? Anyway, she told people that if they "suspected" that they had been bit by a tick to get antibiotics. WTF? "I MIGHT have been bitten by a tick, but I have no idea if it's a deer tick (which are the ones that carry Lyme), and I am in a part of the country that has NEVER had a case of Lyme that was contracted locally, but I should go assault my immune system with antibiotics, just in case?" Yeah. Right. I'll do that.
A more responsible story would have been to tell people to look for the indicative bulls-eye rash after being bitten by a tick, and THEN to consult a drug peddler, er, I mean doctor. But I guess hysteria creates bigger ratings.
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2 comments:
Hi Marilyn,
Sorry I have to disagree with you about the majority of puppies who die of parvo are vaccinated. Actually, you would technically be correct -- because the parvo series should be given in high parvo areas several times between the ages of 4 weeks and 16 weeks. The reason behind this is that it is unknown as to when the mother's immunity wears off of the pup. The limited immunity from the mother and the time it wears off depends on many factors, including the health of the mother, the mother's own immunity, the amount of colostrum and many more. There is no way to be sure when this temporary immunity wears off and when the pup's own immune system is mature enough to produce antibodies. The multiple vaccines in the puppy series are to help 'cover' these unknowns.
Having said that, I worked at a hunting dog kennel that would have several litters of Champion bred dogs a year. We had parvo come through once, brought in by a carrier adult dog (the dog's owner later admitted that she had lost a puppy to parvo a few weeks earlier). ALL of the puppies we lost to parvo, were those that were too young to vaccinate. We didn't lose one pup, NOT ONE, that had started on their vaccinations. Of course the minute we realized we had parvo at the kennel, I went through and revaccinated everyone who was old enough and bleached everything in sight. Bleach is one of the few things that kills the parvo virus.
So although it may seem like parvo only happens in vaccinated pups, it is truly those that haven't received the appropriate number of vaccinations. Because of the immaturity of the pup's immunne system, and the fact it takes up to 30 days for the vaccine to be effective -- it take several doses of vaccine to realize the appropriate titers needed to fight the disease.
You are right however, just because there is an outbreak in town, doesn't mean every dog needs another vaccination. It is pretty much a puppy disease, adult dogs can get it, but it is pretty limited and rarely causes more then a day or two of tummy problems.
We can discuss this further if you like via email at dustydoodles at peoplepc dot come.
I did say HEALTHY, unvaccinated puppies survive better, which has been my personal experience. I don't think that kenneled puppies who are being fed kibble and come from kibble fed, vaccinated parents are really healthy.
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