Canine vaccine ?'s

[VeganSoprano]

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I'm a pre-vet and in my first job at a general practice small animal hospital. My previous experience came in E/CC and internal medicine so lots of general practice stuff is pretty new to me. Specifically, being a bona fide cat person, I'm pretty ignorant on canine vaccine protocol.

The practice where I'm working seems to use every vaccine under the sun - including leptospirosis and corona, which from what I've read aren't really recommended by most authorities.

But then, they also use the FIP vaccine - even though one of the vets once told us point blank that there really is no effective FIP vaccine.

Another concern is that I've seen several patients' charts with a warning that reads "Anaphylactic rxn to vax - premed with Benadryl". To me this goes against my basic instinct to avoid anything that might cause anaphylaxis unless there is some truly compelling, life-threatening reason why it's necessary. To me it would be like deciding it's okay for me to take penicillin for an infection (which I'm highly allergic to) as long as I take it with a Benadryl chaser - it strikes me as foolish and potentially deadly!

Am I right to be concerned? Or am I crazy and/or ignorant. Please enlighten me, oh wise ones! 🙂

 

[birdvet2006]

Am I right to be concerned? Or am I crazy and/or ignorant. Please enlighten me, oh wise ones! 🙂

Certainly you're right in being concerned. Vaccines are not to be taken lightly.

Are you working at a Banfield practice? 🙂 Sounds like whoever you work for has a similar thought process to whoever runs Banfield.

However, I do believe that Leptospirosis is a bad disease and is more common than you might think. Even in lap dogs that you wouldn't expect to be exposed! More and more people are vaccinating for Lepto nowdays. The problem with the Lepto vaccine is that it doesn't cover all the strains of Lepto. At the practice where I work, we have seen Leptospirosis as a cause of acute renal failure in dogs - so I do recommend the vaccine.

Any practice that gives the FIP vaccine is one I do not wish to work for. There is no efficacy to that vaccine. Also, I do not wish to work for a practice where they vaccinate ALL animals on a yearly basis for every disease (even low-risk animals). I am also highly skeptical of any practice that vaccinates for FIV. There is no marker associated with the vaccine - so cats who have been vaccinated will test FIV positive and you cannot tell the difference between them and naturally-infected cats (many people will euthanize such a cat...not necessarily me, but it still happens out there).

 

[VeganSoprano]

No, I'm not working for Banfield, but you're right that the practice is heavily influenced by Banfield. One of the practice owners works for them. I think some of the practices that have been brought are positive - for example, pre-paid wellness care - but giving a dog 5 shots a year doesn't seem to be one of them, from my standpoint!

I'm not super-knowledgeable about the lepto vaccine but from what I have been able to find out my feelings about it are about the same as yours. I have cared for lepto patients in a referral hospital and it is a pretty awful disease - not to mention zoonotic, of course! So if the vaccine is safe (which seems to be the crux of the issue, from what I've read), some protection might be better than none.

I would feel the same way about the FIP vaccine, especially because at least with an IN vaccine you're not risking fibrosarcoma, but based on the AAFP website you're not supposed to vaccinate corona+ cats. I know that a large percentage of cats are corona+ so that's definitely a concern to me.

The day I see an FIV vaccine administered, I will begin looking very, very hard for a new job! That's one I have a real problem with. To me it's almost unethical to even have that vaccine on the market since there is literally no way to tell vaccination from infection.