corrie Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 LINK Veterinary clinic chain says almost half of animals brought in for check-ups are unvaccinated STAFF WRITER FREE PRESS LEADER APRIL 16, 2014 12:35PM CUTE, cuddly and vaccinated – these fluffy friends are ready to be welcomed into a new home, but not all pets are so lucky. Figures from Greencross Vet clinics across Australia show 44 per cent of domestic pets brought in for a check-up were at risk of life-threatening diseases because their vaccinations were out of date. >> Should pet owners be fined if they don't vaccinate their animals? Tell us below or on our Facebook page. Greencross Vets Stud Park director Dr Prue Stanley said it was an alarming trend that could hurt pet owners' beloved animals, as well as their hip pockets. The clinic vaccinates dogs, cats, rabbits and the occasional ferret for diseases including parvovirus, canine cough, cat flu and feline leukaemia. But Dr Stanley said many pet owners did not realise they had to bring their beloved pooch or moggy in for an annual booster to stay protected. "Their animal is only well because everyone around them is vaccinated, keeping the disease out of their immediate area," Dr Stanley said. Treatment costs for parvovirus, which is common in dogs, could run into the thousands because it involved 7-14 days in hospital and blood transfusions. Pets could easily share diseases – which could be prevented or eased with a vaccination – some of which could survive outside the body for several hours, Dr Stanley said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelpiecuddles Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 (edited) The vets idea of out of date is probably different to a good proportion of educated pet owners idea of out of date. I get a roasting from my vet because I choose to vaccinate triannually and my indoor cat is only vaccinated at a reduced schedule too as she doesn't associate with any other cats(outdoor cats in general are very unusual in this area due large numbers of paralysis ticks). I wouldn't consider them to be unvaccinated but the vet does! Edited April 18, 2014 by kelpiecuddles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*kirty* Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Annual vaccinations? Really? Time for Greencross to stop scrounging for more money and learn the AVA protocols. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nekhbet Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 of course Green Cross are concerned ... they have shareholders to think about, SHEESH people not vaccinating yearly is dangerous for their profits! How dare you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corrie Posted April 18, 2014 Author Share Posted April 18, 2014 (edited) . Edited April 18, 2014 by corrie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Gifts Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 I have very little knowledge about vaccinations and do annually when the reminder comes. What do others do? What vacs do you get and how frequently and why? I know when my Stafford girl got quite old the vet said to stop bothering with annual vaccinations so she had none for the last two years. She said she would have enough residual in her system to protect her. I did worry that she would have reduced immunity from her other health issues and if she came into contact with something like parvo that she would not be able to fight it but it never became an issue. I've never really understood how dogs vaccs work compared to say human vaccs that we only have to get once in our life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staranais Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 (edited) Little Gifts, most authorities now suggest that the core vaccines (parvo, distemper, hepatitis) should be given as a complete puppy course (with the last vaccine given after 12 or 16 weeks old) followed by a one year booster - after that, one year vaccines are generally neither beneficial nor necessary. I do my girl every 3 years now that she is an adult. We see parvo all the time at work - we have seen 2 cases of parvo in the last month, including a whole litter of babies that were put down as they were on death's door and the owners couldn't afford any type of intensive care - and I am so sick of that disease. IMO our focus needs to be on getting every single damn dog owner in Australasia to get the puppy series and one year booster. Those are the really important ones. Edited April 18, 2014 by Staranais Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lhok Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 I used to do annually until I heard about tri annual vacs, now I do them. I'll be looking to titre test soon though. --Lhok Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corrie Posted April 18, 2014 Author Share Posted April 18, 2014 Here are a couple of links from the Australian Veterinary Association. LINK LINK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corrie Posted April 18, 2014 Author Share Posted April 18, 2014 IMO our focus needs to be on getting every single damn dog owner in Australasia to get the puppy series and one year booster. Those are the really important ones. Yes to this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Gifts Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 (edited) Thank you Corrie! And I feel the same about the puppy ones and booster. I've never understood why a dog 'couldn't' develop immunities as it got older. Edited April 18, 2014 by Little Gifts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pjrt Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 My dogs get their puppy vaccs (if acquired as puppies) and their first adult booster, and then never vaccinated again. The dog I just adopted at 10 months old. I have no idea if he was ever vaccinated as a puppy, but he had a C5 prior to adoption and I have no intention of ever vaccinating him again. Once it's in there, it's in there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VizslaMomma Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 The vets idea of out of date is probably different to a good proportion of educated pet owners idea of out of date. I get a roasting from my vet because I choose to vaccinate triannually and my indoor cat is only vaccinated at a reduced schedule too as she doesn't associate with any other cats(outdoor cats in general are very unusual in this area due large numbers of paralysis ticks). I wouldn't consider them to be unvaccinated but the vet does! As far back as 13 years, I changed ideas on vaccinations. Only ever had one Vet that disagreed. Current Vet encourages my right to treat my dogs as I pick. The 14 year old male only has age going against him. Titre tests confirm he is OK..... Benefit is no systems overload of chemicals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebanne Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Annual vaccinations? Really? Time for Greencross to stop scrounging for more money and learn the AVA protocols. exactly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebanne Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 with my first dog, way back in 1979, vets in my country town and in Melbourne that my dog went to, advocated a C3 every 2nd year and parvo on it's own in the between years. It slowly evolved to as much as possible every single year along with mutlidose chemicals every month for all sorts of things even if your dogs doesn't have a problem with fleas for example. Pump those chemicals into them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavNrott Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 (edited) Vets like Dr Prue Stanley are a worry. We rely on our vets to keep themselves informed and up to date with current practises when treating our animals. If Dr Prue Stanley and the Greencross vets knowledge regarding the frequency of vaccinations is so outdated we have to ask what else they don't know and haven't bothered to learn about. edited to put the e in Prue. Edited April 18, 2014 by cavNrott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allerzeit Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 So, something I've wondered about for a while - is there any actual difference between the vaccines labelled as annual and those labelled for tri annual use? Is there any issue with vaccinating "off label" with an annual vaccine, but only once every three years, instead of using a tri annual labelled vaccine? Took Nova into the vet a few months ago with a manky ear, vet looked at her chart and said "oooh, she's overdue for her vaccination, I'll just go and get one" Vet not impressed with me when I told her that I didn't want her to "just go and get one"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff'n'Toller Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 (edited) Have had a fair bit to do with Prue Stanley as she was one of our preferred vets for a few years. I think she's an excellent vet, can't fault her, and can't imagine she is not keeping up with the latest info. I'm guessing she has just been told to toe the company line. ETA: I've had triennial vacc's done at Stud Park in the past so it's a bit puzzling! Edited April 18, 2014 by Staff'n'Toller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosetta Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 So, something I've wondered about for a while - is there any actual difference between the vaccines labelled as annual and those labelled for tri annual use? Is there any issue with vaccinating "off label" with an annual vaccine, but only once every three years, instead of using a tri annual labelled vaccine? Took Nova into the vet a few months ago with a manky ear, vet looked at her chart and said "oooh, she's overdue for her vaccination, I'll just go and get one" Vet not impressed with me when I told her that I didn't want her to "just go and get one"! My understanding is that they are the same vaccine and there is no difference. They call it "off label" because the manufacturer's instructions are for yearly use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavNrott Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Have had a fair bit to do with Prue Stanley as she was one of our preferred vets for a few years. I think she's an excellent vet, can't fault her, and can't imagine she is not keeping up with the latest info. I'm guessing she has just been told to toe the company line. ETA: I've had triennial vacc's done at Stud Park in the past so it's a bit puzzling! It's unfortunate that she put her name to it S'n'T. She'll be remembered for stating 'her' view on vaccinating dogs. If Greencross are so desperate for the vaccination dollar that they're spouting out of date information, they should have put it forward as their general view rather than having one of their vets put her name to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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