Pookie, you are not being hissy!! These issues concerning vaccines are very important. It's about getting information out there, like you said.
There are still many, many people who have no idea that there are any concerns with vaccines for companion animals. In my experience vets aren't always discussing issues about vaccines and many still just do yearly vacs even though the AAFP guideline for the core FVRCP (the biggie) is no more frequently than every three years. My vets didn't follow the AAFP guideline (since 1998), and also gave boosters to my cat when he had chronic disease! (one of these was a previous feline-only vet). I wish I had been more clear on some of these issues years ago, but now we have the internet and sites like this where information can be shared. Dealing with kidney disease and learning about the possible issues with the FVRCP vaccine makes me much more aware of these issues.
I'm lucky because in my state cats aren't required by law to have the rabies vaccine (just learned that within the last year or so
). From the state of Michigan website: "Cats are not required to be vaccinated by Michigan law, but it's strongly recommended due to the predatory nature of cats." "
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/rabies_pets_flowchart_134247_7.pdfAlthough laws can be different in cities and municipalities and that makes me a little nervous.
I have heard people saying that your cat or dog will be euthanized if it bites someone and the rabies vaccine is not "current". That doesn't happen in my state and I'm wondering if anyone knows of states that will do this. And actually I know someone who was bit by a family cat and hospitalized for half a day, but the state of MI never contacted them. This was in 2003, so maybe the situation is different now.
Rabies can be a serious problem, but hopefully the rabies challenge studies will show that cats and dogs don't need so many boosters to have immunity. Like Dr. Ronald Schultz says, "vaccinating the animal more often won't increase herd immunity or make the animal any more immune." I also want to say that I'm not implying that animals shouldn't be vaccinated, just that there are concerns (big concerns) with overvaccinating. I'll still do minimal vaccines to make sure my cats have immunity to rabies (and for the FVRCP), and I can get a titer test for $99 to make sure. (a tech from a holistic vet gave me that price)
My understanding about the Purevax, non-adjuvanted rabies vaccine is that they did two studies that showed all of the vaccinated cats had immunity for three years (they were only trying to show immunity was three years, even though it's likely much longer than that), BUT they didn't have enough cats die of rabies in their control groups (that's what happens in research
) to show that the challenge was strong enough according to FDA standards, so they couldn't get the three year approval. So the one year Purevax has been shown to provide at least three years of immunity.
I also think the the adjuvanted vaccines may be more likely to induce injection site sarcomas (cancer) and I'd avoid them, although this is what Dr. Michael Lappin from CSU said recently:
"...problems associated with feline vaccines have been
injection-associated sarcoma. Initially, this problem seemed most apparent in cats
administered rabies virus and feline leukemia virus vaccines that contained adjuvants.
However, recent information suggests that injection site sarcomas can occur with any type of
vaccine. For example, in the United Kingdom in 2006 and 2007, the majority of injection site
sarcomas reported in cats occurred at the site a live vaccine (non-adjuvanted) was
administered. Studies have failed to show a link to individual products. It is now apparent that
cats that develop injection site sarcomas may be genetically predisposed and that any level of
inflammation could result in malignant transformation."
Just wanted to share some thoughts. Sorry if I rambled. I've been looking into this whole subject recently since dealing with kidney disease.
Also, I realize the situation is different for show cats and also for boarding facilities, etc...
Lola, HI!!!!