[Dailydrool] Vaccinations

[Pamela McQuade]

In my work with rescue, I have had people who did not vaccinate their 
hounds. They claimed the dogs were mostly indoor dogs or whatever, so 
they were not at risk.

It might seem like a nice idea, but you'd have to keep your dog in a 
bubble to keep it really safe. People walk outside, then walk in your 
house, bringing the possibility of disease with them. The dog goes out 
and pees and poops (at least, I hope it does). Your dog will be at risk, 
no matter what. My feeling is that the reason these vaccinations exist 
is because of the dangers to dogs and humans that these diseases 
represent.

If you do not want to vaccinate, have your vet run titers on your dogs. 
It will cost about the same as the shot, but you will know if your dog 
has enough resistance that it doesn't need the shot. Of course, if 
resistance is low, you will still need the shot. But everyone will be 
safe.

I'd love to skip shots with my dogs, but I also don't want to endanger 
other dogs or even my own. If any of my dogs had a reaction to the 
shots, of course that would be another matter entirely, but I would 
follow my vet's advice on it.

We will all face some degree of risk in this world, but I see no reason 
to increase it unreasonably. If we all stopped vaccinating, we could 
have rabies become much more common--but since most towns insist that 
you do rabies shots, you'll at least have to go with that one, unless 
you have a titer.

Pam, food slave to the Dashing Bassets