A study published last fall showed that more than 37% of dog owners believed that dog vaccinations could cause their pets to develop autism, but this belief Animal health experts argue that this is wrong on some level.
A study published in the online journal Vaccine, “Sick as a dog? The prevalence, politicization, and implications for health policy of dog vaccination hesitancy,'' found that more than half of dog owners in this country do not want their pets to be vaccinated. It turns out that there is some degree of anti-vaccination sentiment.
Veterinarians in Maine are frustrated with customers denying vital medical care to their pets.
The link between human vaccines and the development of autism has been disproved by peer-reviewed scientific research, and veterinarians say there is no scientific evidence that pets can develop autism. .
“I've never heard of autism in dogs,” says Dr. Kate Domenico, president of the Maine Veterinary Medical Association. “How would you rate your dog? I would like to know exactly how you would classify your dog as autistic.”
Opposition to vaccines is nothing new, but it is well known when it comes to humans. But vaccine adoption is gaining momentum, and people are bringing their pets along, according to a 2023 study published in The Lancet on human attitudes toward vaccines.
The study was presented to the Lancet Commission on Vaccine Refusal, Acceptance, and Demand in the United States, co-sponsored by the Yale Institute for Global Health and Baylor College of Medicine. The authors, all of whom are members of the committee, said that over the past two decades the human anti-vaccination movement has evolved from what they called a “fringe subculture” into an increasingly organized network.
The study authors said the anti-vaccination movement has grown to the point where it has negative public health impacts, including a resurgence of whooping cough and measles. Both of these diseases had been essentially eradicated by vaccines until recently.
Animal health experts say the same anti-vaccination attitudes that led to the resurgence of measles are spilling over into domestic pet care.
The dog study pointed to an explosion in distrust of human vaccines during the pandemic. That mistrust has led to what researchers call a “spillover effect” in pet vaccinations, according to the study.
Hesitancy or outright refusal to vaccinate pets is nothing new, but animal health experts in Maine say more people nationwide are opposed to vaccinating their dogs and cats. is a cause for concern. In addition to animal owners' concerns about autism, other factors that influence the decision not to vaccinate their pets include access to veterinary care and financial constraints, Domenico said. That's what it means.
In the “vaccine” study, researchers found that 45 percent of U.S. households owned a dog. Of these, nearly 40% believe that dog vaccines are unsafe, more than 20% believe these vaccines are ineffective, and 30% believe they are medically unnecessary.
Veterinarians in Maine want to reverse this trend.
“Vaccines do strengthen immunity against potentially serious or fatal diseases, especially when animals come into contact with other animals in boarding houses, pet stores, animal shelters, shows, etc.” said Robert Causey, DVM, associate professor of veterinary medicine. at the University of Maine. “Vaccines also protect against wildlife-borne diseases such as rabies and environmental diseases such as tetanus.”
Although not unheard of, it is extremely rare for vaccinated dogs and cats to contract rabies, according to research published by the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Of the 1,100 cases of rabies in dogs and cats reported in 21 states, the majority of animals (97 percent) were unvaccinated, according to the study. The remaining 3% had a history of rabies vaccination.
Latest numbers from the Maine Center for Disease Control show 30 rabies cases were reported in the state in the first half of 2023. All cases were found in small mammals in the wild.
According to the World Health Organization, pet vaccination is one of the most effective public health tools available to protect human health because domestic animals act as a bridge between humans and wild animals, which are reservoirs of rabies. One.
Domenico said it's difficult for owners to vaccinate their pets against rabies with misinformation they hear from well-meaning people who regularly interact with pets, such as groomers, breeders and pet store employees.
She has clients who repeatedly feed her misinformation gleaned from the pet industry, such as that certain breeds of animals don't need vaccines or don't need vaccines until they're six months old.
Neither was ever the case, she said.
Veterinarians agree that some pets may react to the vaccine in the same way that humans react to the annual flu shot. In either case, there is no reason not to get vaccinated.
“All vaccines can carry some degree of risk, but a conversation with your local veterinarian can be very helpful in cases like this,” Causey says. “You can have discussions based on the age of your pet.” [and] lifestyle, which vaccines are needed to protect against serious illness, and which are considered selective. ”
These select vaccines, also called non-core vaccines, include Bordetella, Leptospirosis, Lyme Disease, and Influenza in dogs and Feline Leukemia in cats.
“I've seen dogs die from kidney disease because their owners refused to vaccinate them against leptospirosis,” Domenico says. “That didn't have to happen.”
Leptospirosis is a deadly bacterial disease most commonly spread through the urine of wild animals. So if your pet drinks from a puddle in the Maine woods, they can easily be exposed to water.
The non-selective or core vaccines are rabies and distemper and are required by law in Maine.
Domenico said pet owners can choose to spread out individual vaccines over a period of time to further reduce the risk of a reaction.
“Every veterinarian should evaluate every patient to determine if their pet requires these non-core vaccines,” Domenico said. “The decision should be based on the risk of exposure.”
