Parvo in the SW?

Thanks for the info. Our guys are all vaccinated, so I guess I won't worry about it too much. I will however, do my best to keep them away from other dogs. In fact, I may just get my son to come and babysit the gang while we go. Then I won't have to worry about it at all. Maybe a vacation without "kids" would be nice, although I find I can't sleep without at least one or two dogs keeping me warm.

The vaccine debate is a slippery slope. I've had 3 of my own personal dogs go through AIHA. Once they have that - IF they survive, I do not vaccinate them any more, with the one exception being the 3 yr rabies required by our state.

Apparently some breeds are more prone to the auto-immune problem.

I do my best to keep them up on vaccines, but at the same time don't want to over load their immune system and throw them into AIHA. All we can do is educate ourselves and make the best choices for our pets, that we can with the info available.

It's a personal choice issue and we all have to live with the consequences of our own decisions.

scarpi wrote:
Dogs can have issues with over vaccinations. Years ago we had our dog vaccinated and after that we have our vet at our dog's yearly checkup including the typical blood work, also check what is called the titer or level of protection for various diseases.

I have several patients on annual titer testing. One thing you need to be aware of is that having a certain level of antibody does NOT guarantee that the animal is protected. There seems to be a lack of correlation between antibody levels and protection to the point that many academics think titer testing is a useless diagnostic tool when deciding about timing of vaccinations.

Not to get too technical, but the titer measures a certain antibody that may or may not be protective against exposure. Immunity is a complicated thing. We "think" achieving a certain titer level is protective, but this has not been tested in studies where exposure to the pathogen proves protection.

scarpi wrote:
Dogs can have issues with over vaccinations. Years ago we had our dog vaccinated and after that we have our vet at our dog's yearly checkup including the typical blood work, also check what is called the titer or level of protection for various diseases. To our vets surprise and ours, her titers have remained high meaning she is protected and she has not had the typical vaccines for years (other than the ones required for her license). Why give a vaccination yearly when your dog does not need it? Get a blood titer check for that disease and you will know if your dog needs a vaccination. I'll bet that once you get the vaccination, your dog won't need another one for the same issue for years.

There are some issues with titers... Cost being the major one. For the average pet-owner, it is cheaper to vaccinate vs. perform a titer. Not saying yearly vaccines are the correct route, just pointing out that not everyone can afford titers.

Also, I have not yet found a city/state/municipality that will accept a rabies titer as proof of immunity to rabies. There is still a legal requirement to vaccinate for rabies - heck, I even vaccinate my HORSES yearly for rabies for legal protection. Violate that law, and you might find yourself in a VERY expensive situation if it is determined that your pet has to be quarantined at a vet hospital, or worse, euthanized and necropsied. I've seen both situations happen... Until titers are legally accepted, I will continue to get yearly Rabies vaccines.

Dogs can have issues with over vaccinations. Years ago we had our dog vaccinated and after that we have our vet at our dog's yearly checkup including the typical blood work, also check what is called the titer or level of protection for various diseases. To our vets surprise and ours, her titers have remained high meaning she is protected and she has not had the typical vaccines for years (other than the ones required for her license). Why give a vaccination yearly when your dog does not need it? Get a blood titer check for that disease and you will know if your dog needs a vaccination. I'll bet that once you get the vaccination, your dog won't need another one for the same issue for years.

There are still a bunch of vets that recommend the every year routine. Almost all of the distemper vaccines have a 1 year DOI (duration of immunity) listed on their inserts, so many are going with that until the inserts change. That probably isn't going to happen as it would cost large sums of money to prove efficacy through challenge testing and would result in decreased vaccine sales.

There is ample evidence that immunity lasts longer than 1 year, but in making the decision vets are taking on a greater liability going against package inserts/recommendations.

There is a statistical association between some immune mediated diseases and frequency of vaccination, but your dogs are far more likely to develop a disease that could be protected rather than one of the very rare immune mediated diseases. A huge majority of dogs have gone through life with annual vaccination and no repercussions.

We're kind of going through a similar thing with kids now. Many parents are opting not to vaccinate against measles based on fraudulent claims of an association between autism and vaccination (despite repeated repudiation by multiple people and studies in this field). As a result there is a marked increased incidence of measles in kids with deaths reported.

Sometimes it's hard to get through the hype.

My dogs are happy, healthy, and disease free. So... as long as I have achieved that I'm a happy camper.

I appreciate the comments/input, and will certainly ask my vet why he's still got me going on annual vaccinations (with the exception of the 3 yr rabies).

I am teachable..
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I have not seen anything on the vet boards about parvo outbreaks, just an HGE like disease in Ohio and influenza on the east coast.

Parvo always tends to spike during the summer, lots of puppies and warm weather leads to increased incidence.

I'm not aware of any strains that are not addressed by the vaccines available now, so it is important to have up to date protection for everyone, especially those of us who travel and may have exposure to places like rest areas.

As far as vaccination schedules, the AVMA/AAHA guidelines now recommend every three years for core vaccines (Rabies, Distemper, adenovirus and Parvo) then all the others on an as needed/risk assessment basis. Most of our clients still opt for the annual rabies vaccination but do the three year interval for the distemper/parvo. This is what I do for our dogs (including the 3 yr rabies) and feel comfortable with this protocol.

I wouldn't hesitate to travel to AZ or any other part of the country.

There is a pretty short incubation period for parvo (several days to a week or two at most). If proper isolation and quarantine procedures as well as disinfection of transport vehicles are in effect, there should be no problem with shelter transport.

Doug, DVM

The Dung Beetles wrote:
I vaccinate annually, and will do so until my veterinarian tells me otherwise.

Not to derail this thread, but the AVMA and (as far as I'm aware) every vet school in the country has recommended the three-year vaccine schedule for many years now. I'll take their collective recommendation over the recommendation of one single vet.

Regardless of whichever vaccine schedule one chooses, and regardless of the fact that no vaccine is 100 percent effective, I highly doubt it's the vaccinated pets who are the main culprits in spreading parvo.

Nothing to do with puppies being shipped from shelter to shelter. I see puppies in shelters across the country on my newsfeed. They get it the old fashioned way, in over-crowded kill shelters, before they are pulled.

Typically they are pulled when it is discovered that they are sick, as they will be killed otherwise, or when exposed for the same reason, or they are pulled and go into a foster home and are discovered to be ill at that point.

From there they go into a hospital/quarantine setting until well enough to go to a foster equipped to deal with them, and are then quarantined until a vet gives the all-clear.