Vaccinating Your Pet

Over the last few years, new research has determined that most pets do not need annual immunizations, as their immune systems maintain the ability to fight off infections for several years following immunization. This news story will speak about the new recommendations for your pet, and present my own holistic recommendation as well.

New vaccination protocols have been established by a variety of medical organizations (AVMA, AAHA, Association of Catlike Practitioners) and the veterinary schools as well. These protocols were developed in response to the increasing occurrence of cancers developing in some felines following repeated injections, most often with vaccines ( rabies vaccine and catlike leukemia vaccine.) The standard of immunization was an annual set of "shots" (determined by each individual practitioner) following the preliminary puppy and kitten vaccination series. While manufacturers of vaccines recommended annual immunization based on testing of the vaccines to fulfill labeling requirements, no knew how "long a shot lasted" in the pet. They only knew that the immunization would protect the pet for at least one year.

Since the discovery of an increasing incidence of sarcoma tumors in some felines who received repeated immunization, researchers decided to start testing felines to see how long immunity from a vaccine might last. The objective was to try to minimize vaccinations, so that the chance of a cat developing an injection-site sarcoma would even be minimized. While they still don't know the exact maximum period of immunity for the various vaccines (from a variety of manufacturers) for felines and canines, preliminary research suggested that most pets maintained immunity for at least three years for the vaccines tested. As a result, the veterinary community has been slowly adopting a three year vaccination protocol. Each year, your pet will get an annual physical examination, necessary laboratory testing for degenerative diseases, and only one vaccine. The following year, the pet would get a different vaccine. This walking of vaccines would make definite that your pet only receives each vaccine every three years, but would get some immunization in the work of each visit.

While this new approach is definitely preferred to the former standard, holistic veterinarians like myself prefer an even more personalized approach. Using a blood antibody check called a vaccine titer allows the doctor to decide each pet's own level of immunity to various diseases. In simple terms, antibodies are proteins made by the pet's white blood cells (specifically B lymhocytes.) These antibodies are made whenever a pet contacts an infectious organism (virus or bacteria, because of a natural infection) or is vaccinated (the vaccine makes use of low doses of infectious organisms, tricking the immune method to form protective antibodies without causing disease as might occur in a natural infection.) Using a titer check reveals each pet's antibody status.

These results are then interpreted in an try to decide if the pet is currently protected against a specific infectious disease or if the pet may need immunization. This way your pet is only immunized when its body shows a necessity for immunization, than an arbitrary three years. After all, if your pet only needs one immunization every five years, even vaccinating every three years for everything is much!