Why vaccinate my pet?
Article donated by Dr. Paula Short, Tasman Bay Vets, Mapua
Over the last year or so we have had some wide eyed kids in the clinic watching their pets get their check up and vaccination. Now that they have had their meningococcal vaccinations they can empathise with what their pet is going through. The comments we have been getting have ranged from "that's a big needle" to "I think that's going to hurt" to "I didn't cry when I had my vaccination". It has been good to be able to engage the younger generation in the vaccination process as many of them have never seen (and hopefully never will see) the diseases which we are vaccinating against.
Unfortunately we have been seeing some of these diseases again recently. This summer we have seen several litters of kittens with cat flu. While this disease generally has a low mortality rate some of the kittens had to be euthanased due to severe damage to their eyes. If not caught early even the animals that recover from the disease can continue to have ongoing eye and sinus problems and become carriers which can spread the disease to others. Vaccinating your cat not only prevents him from contracting "cat flu" it also reduces the chances of him becoming a carrier that can spread it to other cats.
Several weeks ago we had a spate of suspected parvo virus cases in Motueka. This is a highly contagious disease of dogs which causes severe vomiting and diarrhea and often death. Unfortunately in these cases the mortality rate has been very high. The cost of attempting to treat a dog with parvo can easily run to $1000, often with a disappointing outcome. Vaccination can prevent this disease and there are new vaccines available now with a 3 year duration of immunity once a puppy course of vaccinations has been given. Again, vaccination not only helps to prevent disease in your own dog but also helps to reduce the spread of the disease in the dog population as a whole.
Rabbits are becoming really popular little pets now. Rabbit calicivirus has been present in NZ for some years and from time to time will spread through wild rabbit populations putting our pet rabbits at risk. A vaccination is available which is given once the rabbit reaches 12 weeks of age. It is not known exactly how long this vaccine lasts for so the manufacturer's recommend annual revaccination but it possibly may provide protection for a lifetime.
Vaccinations should be considered a "must do" when owning a pet as prevention is always better (and generally cheaper!) than cure.