15/12/2024
Is your dog vaccinated and up-to-date? Why should you care?
This month, 2 of our patients have died after contracting diseases that would have been prevented through regular vaccination.
The first dog had never been vaccinated and contracted leptospirosis (Weil’s disease). The causative bacteria are found in soil and water that has been contaminated with infected urine, mainly from Rats. This agent causes Liver and Kidneys damage. Sadly, our patient went into kidney failure and was euthanased.
The second dog had been vaccinated, but not for some years. It contracted Parvovirus. This causes an acute haemorrhagic gastroenteritis. This patient died from blood loss and circulatory collapse.
To be clear, this is not an outbreak and these diseases are not new. Whilst the risk of an individual dog that is unvaccinated, getting either of these is still relatively low; it is almost a certainty that one of our unvaccinated and registered patients will. The sad fact is that neither of these much loved pets should have died.
So, why do owners not vaccinate?
The perception it is not necessary or a waste of time and money or the false belief that once vaccinated, they are protected for life.
If covid taught us anything; it is that immunity from vaccination is not all or nothing. Age, health status, genetic factors all play a part along with the amount of virus or bacteria you are exposed to.
Whilst we do not vaccinate against all disease, every year, Leptospirosis is one that requires annual vaccination. Should your dogs vaccines be out of date; for our existing registered patients, we have a long term special price on vaccine restarts.
If you have pet insurance, it is worth reading the small print as it is often a requirement of the policy that the dog is vaccinated. Should it be the case that a dog contracted Leptospirosis or Parvovirus, whether it survived or not, an insurance company is unlikely to cover treatment costs if un-vaccinated
