Are annual booster vaccinations needed?

welshmoneylover

I've heard of parvo before many times and it's apparently fatal. But, exactly what is it and how does it affect the dog?

supersunshine

It certainly is fatal as like I say above our dog died of it. Basically they are sick and have the runs (would put technical word for that but can't remember how to spell it ) until they die. They can't keep anything down and the poo smells like their insides are decaying. I rang my vet who rushed over but our dog was nearly dead already. His poor body had gone into shock and was all stiff as if he was dead but his eyes were still moving and he was looking at us - it was so sad. It happened so quickly, it was as if he just had a tummy bug to start with that rapidly moved into something horrid.

KVet

Parvo = parvovirus. Its a virus that attacks the villi in the intestines and stunts them and causes a severe haemorrhagic gastroenteritis and vomiting. Dehydration, anaemia, vomiting etc, can quickly overcome the dog and they easily die from it. As its a virus antibiotics are no use and you can only give symptomatic care (eg fluids) and basically wait for them to get over it on their own accord. Not nice at all, nasty disease

supersunshine

KVet wrote: »

Parvo = parvovirus. Its a virus that attacks the villi in the intestines and stunts them and causes a severe haemorrhagic gastroenteritis and vomiting. Dehydration, anaemia, vomiting etc, can quickly overcome the dog and they easily die from it. As its a virus antibiotics are no use and you can only give symptomatic care (eg fluids) and basically wait for them to get over it on their own accord. Not nice at all, nasty disease

That explains the rotting smell of our dogs poo - poor thing. It has to be caught really quickly as it happens within hours so if your dogs poo smells horrid (as in rotten meat) get them to the vets asap !

KVet

It is a smell that once smelt always sticks in your head. People always say that about a suspect Parvo case that it "smells of parvo" coz they DO have a distinctive smell

evefrscot3

I think a vet said to me once that the vaccinations may last between 12 and 18 months for cats. As for human flu jabs its a different jab every year not a booster as the flu is different every year. What I would like to know is where is the cheapest place to get your pets vaccinated. Does PDSA do this for people who are struggling financially?

KVet

The PDSA have started doing vaccinations and they are at a reduced rate but you are only elligible for PDSA treatment if you receive council tax or housing benefit

Fire_Fox

My cat had a bad reaction to his jabs and the vet advised not to give boosters, luckily he is indoor due to another health condition. He is insured with AXA and I let them know about the boosters - they were fine with that.

KVet

louisebt wrote: »

Forgot to add, link for those who'd like to read more on vaccs...

http://www.canine-health-concern.org.uk/

I just read some things on this website and it is the biggest amount of unmitigated garbage and fantasy I have read in a long while. Well, not since I read rimadyldeath.com (check it out, American websites are mental). The contents are libellous towards Veterinarians across the world.

giantmutantbroccoli

Seeing as how the site in the original post also mentions "detoxifying" your dog after vaccination, I'd say it's just more pseudo-scientific bullocks. And that "canine health concern" website is hysterically funny, in a way. If I had a vaccination, and then three months later got hit by a bus, that's totally caused by the vaccine, yes?
And did you know you can communicate with your pet mind-to-mind through telepathy, empathy and dowsing? For only £170 for a 2 day course, anybody can learn to do it!
Wait-a-minute, I think I'm getting something from my rat Penny.... amazingly, it seems she thinks this is complete tosh as well!

It really bugs me when people go on about how biased scientists are. As a scientist you can get paid just as much to disprove something as you get paid to prove it - if you work in academia, you'd get paid exactly the same!
If one of the big companies discovered that vaccines were harmful they'd be all over it - it's such a big discovery they couldn't rely on the other companies keeping quiet about it, so they'd have to quickly work on a) developing a vaccine that wasn't harmful and b) making sure everyone knew that their rivals were selling harmful vaccines.
Then add to that the fact that there are also many researchers in the fields of veterinary and human medecine, that are not supported by the drugs companies, and who could make a lot of money if they discovered that vaccines were more harmful than helpful, or that homeopahty works on dogs. The fact that these things have not been published is not due to some sort of freaky world-order conspiracy theory, it's because it's not been proven yet. And why not? The simplest and likeliest explaination is that it hasn't been proven because it isn't true.

Vaccinations aren't just there to protect your dog, they are there to protect everyone else's dog as well. Yes, dogs can live happily without any vaccinations - if they're lucky. Maybe they don't catch the disease at all, or maybe they catch it but it doesn't make them very ill and so you don't see any symptoms. If there's no symptoms they could spread that disease very easily to other unvaccinated dogs or puppies, and then it's only a matter of time before a dog comes along that doesn't have such a healthy immune system and cannot fight the disease off. Personally, I think that if your dog comes into contact with other people's dogs, that dog should be vaccinated if it can be. Spreading diseases about is not good manners!