OT: Ping Biologists: Canine vaccines?

[T i m]

Hi all,

As we now seem to be (co-)dog owners, I was interested in this article on the whole subject of dog vaccines and 'booster' intervals:

Basically it seem we might be 'over vaccinating' our animals by applying these boosters yearly?

We have had dogs in the family since I was a kid and I am aware we have followed both the yearly booster regime and less frequent and without any ill effects doing either?

So I was wondering if there were any 'medical people' here who could confirm the whole vaccine process re both humans and canines and comment if there is likely to be any reason why the two *should* be so different?

Aren't humans normally only routinely vaccinated when they are very young (and only getting vaccinated against other things as / when necessary)?

Different physiology or (partial?) scam?

Cheers, T i m

p.s. The other thing is regarding dog food. Fresh / tinned meat V dry food?

[Brian Gaff]

Well the difference is what you are going to stop, and the fact that some animals get things we don't! After all I had to get a tetanus booster some years back as apparently I should have had one but most of the childhood ones seem to last. You definitely need some immunologist who deals with animals. Yes I think in many cases it may seem people over medicate but then we do not eat other animals shit do we? Brian

[Rob Morley]

The last time I thought I might need a tetanus booster they told me that they no longer bother, as I'd already had the initial shot and a couple of boosters over the years I shouldn't need any more.

[alan_m]

Or a balanced mix of dry and tinned/fresh.

The trick is not to radically change the diet suddenly or you may find that what you have to pick up is more runny than solid.

[Roger Hayter]

At least one common human vaccine, the 'flu vaccine is given yearly. I am sure that the research evidence for canine vaccines is published, why not look it up? The evidence may be good, or not so conclusive, but your conspiracy theory seems most unlikely to me.

[T i m]

He even picks the soft bits out of the dry (we mixed some softer / meaty stuff with the dry) so I'm not sure that will work till he is very hungry! ;-)

Understood. So far ... what he had yesterday seems to have agreed with him pretty well. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[T i m]

<snip>

But only one you are past a certain age and it's only given yearly because the strains of flue change? I don't think dog disease strains have changed much in a while (the core ones anyway / especially).

Because I was asking here?

It wasn't mine and I was just asking for opinions on it here (rather than just reading stuff). ;-)

The thing is, many people seem very gullible / vulnerable when it comes to pets and human funerals etc.

The logic behind the info on the site linked seemed fairly reasonable, even if only reducing the interval of vaccine boosters to every 3-4 years, especially if these was actually a risk from 'over vaccination'.

Not quite so easy if your pet insurance insists the vaccinations are administered yearly. ;-(

But it could be another of those things like with motorcycle safety helmets, where the current standard requires motorcyclists to wear a helmet design that would actually put them at more risk than readily available alternatives helmets that aren't approved for road use.

Eg, it has been suggested that a canoeing helmet is 'better' for all sorts of reasons (it's lighter for one so less likely to create neck injuries) but wouldn't be so protective against being say driven over, but that situation only accounts for a fraction of those instances of death caused by the weight of a helmet ...

What if some issues are caused to dogs by the over administering of vaccines?

Cheers, T i m