Vaccines 'are making our dogs sick as vets cash in'
By Alison Smith Squire
Vaccines given to dogs are making them ill, a pet charity claimed yesterday.
Profit-hungry drug companies and vets are 'frightening' dog owners into inoculating their pets more often than necessary, according to Canine Health Concern.
Some puppies have developed conditions including autism and epilepsy after a raft of injections, it warns.
Catherine O'Driscoll, from the charity, said: 'We are not anti-vaccination. What we are saying is that currently our pets are receiving far too many.
'The latest scientific research shows that after the first course of injections as a puppy most dogs are immune against these diseases for at least seven years, if not for life.
'Every year pet vaccination companies hold National Vaccination Month, a national campaign when pet owners whose boosters have lapsed by 18 months or more are terrified into having their pet jabbed.
'While the vast majority of vets might simply not be aware of the latest scientific research, we are concerned that for a few undoubtedly doing multiple jabs is a way of making more money from worried pet owners.'
Puppies are vaccinated against distemper, hepatitis, parvovirus, leptospirosis and parainfluenza up to three times by the age of four months.
They may also be immunised against coronavirus, rabies, Lyme disease and bordetella or kennel cough. Booster shots are given every year or every three or four years.
But some have suffered dramatic changes in behaviour or been diagnosed with cancer within months of the injections, Canine Health Concern says.
In a letter backed by 17 vets and other pet experts, the charity has called on the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, which monitors animal vaccines, to issue new advice on their use.
Mrs O'Driscoll, who believes cats and rabbits could also be at risk, added that a simple blood test would determine whether an animal needed a booster shot.
Richard Allport, a Hertfordshire vet who has signed the letter to the VMD, said he was 'constantly' seeing animals that had developed 'worrying symptoms' after vaccination.
But other animal charities said vaccination was vital. The Dogs Trust said all jabs were thoroughly tested for safety and warned that blood tests were not completely reliable. Its veterinary director, Chris Laurence, said a study looking for a connection between jabs and sudden ill-health failed to find a link.
Professor Steve Dean, chief executive of the VMD, said: 'Many veterinary surgeons can remember the devastating effects these once common-diseases had on our pets, their owners and families, and the huge benefit vaccines have had on improving the health and welfare of the canine population should be recognised.'
A spokesman added that the 80million-plus doses of vaccine since 1985 had generated fewer than 7,000 reports of side effects.
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Newest Oldest Best rated Worst rated View all very interesting article & some brilliant comments. my dog WONT be going for hes boosters next week now.
- the lady..., who sees it as it is, 06/3/2010 12:37
Click to rate Rating 38 Report abuse
As a qualified vet nurse I cannot stress enough the importance of vaccinating your pets. Of you who have commented that your pet has never been vaccinated and are fine, you are very lucky. The thing people dont see are the pets that come into my practice in serious pain dying and its heartbreaking knowing that it could have been prevented. The annual vaccination does not just offer the opportunity to vaccinate them it gives them a general health check by a veterinary surgeon, vets are skilled clinicians and they can pick up of things at the earliest possible opportunity, lumps and bumps you may not have noticed etc. I urge you to consider the risk you are taking by not vaccinating your pets these diseases are painful and they are deadly!
- char, derby, 06/3/2010 12:26
Click to rate Rating 37 Report abuse
I am a vet nurse and cannot stress enough the importance of vaccination. Yes some animals may be ok for years but the general public don't see the animals that could have been protected but weren't and then are often fatally ill. Yearly vaccination also gives the opportunity for checking the general health of the pet, any lumps and bumps etc. not everything is noticeable immediately and can take a skilled clinican to pick it up at the earliest possible opportunity.
- Smegslayer, Kent, UK, 06/3/2010 12:11
Click to rate Rating 53 Report abuse
I was advised by a vet several years ago that most of the yearly vaccinations are not necessary, and that 3 yearly boosters was sufficient. . The only exception was leptospirosis, as my dog regularly visited a family member's garden that had a stream going through it , and rats were seen there. But, as there are rats everywhere, I am wondering whether that would still be needed, anyway. Do humans at risk of weil's disease have yearly jabs?
- Annca, Devon, 06/3/2010 12:09
Click to rate Rating 100 Report abuse
Vets, We recently had our dog operated on for cherry eye a common condition under the insurance plan cost over 1.000 pounds .Our friends had the same operation at another vets they never had insurance cost ?...120.00 pounds vets are out to squeeze every last red cent outa people insurance companies get conned .I am not at all surprised by this . It cost us 45 quid to have a rabbit destroyed ridiculous .Yes and the kennels who usually are run by business people not vets are so insistent on these yearly injections it's a joke where's the animals record they ask. Clueless.
- colin, huddersfield, 06/3/2010 12:05
Click to rate Rating 97 Report abuse
just another bunch of racketeers.
- rick, southend england, 06/3/2010 11:57
Click to rate Rating 108 Report abuse
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