Originally Posted by Zhillslady
As a former vet tech I agree with you. I have watched animals die from so many preventable diseases. Parvo is somethig horrible to waste away from. I've also had to treat cats that were bitten by some type of animal and they were not up to date on rabies vaccines so had to undergo a series of shots "just in case". My cat is highly allergic to the FVRCP vaccine so she has it separate from all other shots and takes an allergy injection prior. Sounds crazy but having almost lost her to pneumonia twice I get her vaccinated instead.
FYI - one post talked about heartworms just in dogs. Cats are just as much at risk as dogs. In fact a firned has a pet monkey which also gets heartworm prevention.
Originally Posted by Stitcher317
My hubby is a veterinarian. If you ever sat and watched an animal die from Parvo or Distemper you might change your opinion. Vaccines prevent this. States require vaccination against rabies for a reason, it works and it saves lives! All veterinarians practicing in this country today are trained and licensed to provide every service ranging from basic health exams to complicated surgeries covering almost every specialty. Yes, good medicine is costly. In over 40 years of practicing small animal medicine he tells me he has never had an animal die from a reaction to a vaccine.
I am not saying Not to vaccinate your pets. What I am saying is that yearly vaccinations are not necessary (except where mandated). Your pet carries an immunity from his series of puppy shots and then the one year shot for a long time for most diseases. To vaccinate them yearly is not necessary and has the effect of weakening their immune system. Most of your forward thinking vet schools recognize this but vets are very slow to change. It's the drug companies that push for yearly vaccinations and lets face it.... it's the vet's bread and butter. The titers test can be given to determine just which immunities are still active in your dogs.
http://www.dogs4dogs.com/blog/category/titertesting/ I do advocate a yearly checkup with your vet.