OT Vaccines

[Guest guest]

If you don’t vaccinate your dog for rabies there is a good chance he won’t get rabies, BUT the reason is because rabies has been kept under control by every one else being meticulous about vaccinating. Please don’t forget where we come from. Not that long ago rabies was a real threat and a horrible nightmare. If you get bitten, and not vaccinated, you die a most horrible death. Once you show signs of the disease, you are going to die of it, it has 100% mortality for humans, dogs, cows etc... This is no joke.

Back in the 50s in Venezuela, where my parents lived for a few years, there was a big problem with rabies. At the time dogs were not being vaccinated and rabid dogs were seen frequently, often every day. People were very wary, and so were my parents. Rabid dogs wander off, are irritable and don’t react like other dogs. Worst of all they have a strong need to bite. People went around killing rabid dogs, but soon more showed up. There were vaccines available for people after they were bitten (you have a couple of weeks’ grace period) that were unfairly reputed to be very painful. A close friend of my parents, a nervous Frenchwoman, nicked her little finger slightly on the tooth of a dog she was trying to shoo away. There was suspicion the dog might be rabid, but she was so afraid of the pain the vaccination was supposed to give that she declined it. She died of rabies. Her early symptoms made the hospital staff think she had gone mad and they would tie her up and give her cold showers. When they realized toward the end that she did indeed have rabies, they all had themselves vaccinated (as she had scratched and spat on everyone by then).

Years later, when my parents were living in Costa Rica, my dad got bitten by a dog out of the blue out in the northern part of the country and he immediately knew it was rabid, as he was familiar with rabies from his years in Venezuela. The Costa Rican health ministry said it couldn’t be, since there was no rabies in CR. But there was rabies in Nicaragua, the country to the north, just 70 miles away. But no, there are no rabies vaccines in CR because there is no rabies. My dad had to import the vaccine from the US and administer it himself, after an agonizingly long battle with red tape, government officials and slow transportation. The vaccine got there in time, saved his life and a couple of years later I was conceived. (Six months after my dad got bitten it was officially discovered there was rabies in CR).

The reason it is the law to vaccinate dogs is to prevent the nightmarish situations that existed in many parts of the world in the past.

There are ways to vaccinate without causing problems with your dogs. Some vets will do a titre, which measures the amount of antibodies in the dog’s blood and will administer only the necessary amount of vaccine to maintain a certain level without excess vaccine. It’s costly to do it that way, but it’s the safest for dogs that are sensitive to the vaccine. Don’t be fooled by thinking your dog would never come in contact with rabies because you keep him fenced in or in the city. Rabies can come via raccoons, possums, cats, mice etc. Rabid animals lose their normal instincts and will easily wander into your neighborhood, into your yard and bite your dog for no reason. It doesn’t take much, if the skin is broken, he’s got it, and you might not suspect anything! When you realize your dog has rabies you and everyone that might have come in contact with him will have to be vaccinated. Never mind the fines, dealing with authorities and possible lawsuits.

Liz

on 7/23/04 7:35 PM, Danni at Danni@... wrote:

Whoa, that vet is in jeapordy of losing their license and rightly so. Rabies is a risk for people and if your unvaccinated dog bit me or my child I sure don't want to wonder whether your rabies certificate was illegitimate! PLease don't do that... if you don't want to vaccinate that's one thing and I support that, but please don't falsify information.