Rabies Vaccine

[MyPemCharlie]

She should do great. Like Peggy said, we hear about the very small percentage of problems now because of the internet. It would be a good time to ask your vet his opinions on future vaccinations. Some vets still want to vaccinate against every possible disease with an alphabet soup of products. Others are more on the minimum requirements side of the table, and some are "in-between".

[Michael Romanos]

Peggy - we are imdeed an island but there are six countries in the world that are rabies-free and one of them is Australia which is a continent and full of four legged wild life. New Zealand does have many foir legged wild animals - such as possum, deer, pig, thar, weasel, stoat, goat, ferel cat, wallaby, horse etc

[Peggy]

Originally Posted by Michael Romanos

Peggy - we are imdeed an island but there are six countries in the world that are rabies-free and one of them is Australia which is a continent and full of four legged wild life. New Zealand does have many foir legged wild animals - such as possum, deer, pig, thar, weasel, stoat, goat, ferel cat, wallaby, horse etc

Australia is also an island. A continent yes, but an island too. No common boundries with another country.

The point is that while you have wild animals and I did not imply you did not, you do not have a border with another country they can cross at will.

It's the countries that have common borders that are not rabies free.

Peggy

[Michael Romanos]

There are currently more than six countries that are rabies-free and therefore rabies inoculation of dogs are unnecessary. They are: New Zealand, Austraila, Fiji, Guam, Ireland, Britain, Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Japan and Taiwan as well as the islands of Hawaii.

Some of these countries have borders with other countires. That is not the point of rabies carrier animals - the point is who these animals are. Mostly the carriers are dogs. Raccoons in the USA are a major carrier of rabies.

[LaRogue]

I don't know where PA rates on the US scale, but we definitely have rabies. Every summer airplanes drop rabies bait along the creeks and and a few years ago a little girl was bitten by a rabid baby skunk. They closed the park, trapped, tested the skunks and some tested positive for rabies. Our rabies vaccine is every 3 years. I don't know if you can get a waiver for it or not.

[Peggy]

Originally Posted by Michael Romanos

There are currently more than six countries that are rabies-free and therefore rabies inoculation of dogs are unnecessary. They are: New Zealand, Austraila, Fiji, Guam, Ireland, Britain, Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Japan and Taiwan as well as the islands of Hawaii.

Some of these countries have borders with other countires. That is not the point of rabies carrier animals - the point is who these animals are. Mostly the carriers are dogs. Raccoons in the USA are a major carrier of rabies.

Now I didn't say that no countries with common borders were rabies free. I said the ones you mentioned the first time were islands and the main reason they are rabies free is due to no common borders. I've not heard that Finland, Norway and Sweden are rabies free.

Skunks are one of the major carriers of rabies in the US, more so than raccoons. Also bats. It's rare for a dog to have rabies to be honest. There aren't many cases of dogs having rabies. Very few if any per year.

Peggy

[MyPemCharlie]

You are both right. Dogs are the largest carrier of rabies...in the world. In the United States, we have very few cases of domestic animal (dogs and cats) rabies. The US rabies has moved to the wild population: skunks, raccoons, and bats (among others).

Austin boasts the largest colony of bats in North America during the Spring and Summer. Thousands of pregnant bats migrate to Austin from Mexico in March/April and by the mid-summer peak there are as many as 1.5 million bats. Tourists congregate at the Congress Bridge (where the bats sleep all day) at sunset. When the sun sets, hundreds of thousands of bats take flight to go munch on insects all night. It's really quite an amazing sight!

Anyway, we had hundreds of documented cases of rabid bats here in 2007, while not one single domestic dog or cat tested positive for rabies during the same year. The health department also thinks that only 50% of dog owners comply with the rabies vaccination law here. Is it possible that generations of immuzing for rabies has caused our dogs to be born with an immunity? Or are the rabid bats just finding other "meals"?

Things that make you go "Hmmmmm"....

[Michael Romanos]

I don't think borders or no borders is the absolute crux for becoming rabies free. Britain has countries within a country and Australia has several states and a large island close to the mainland. NZ is made up of four main islands. Hawaii is similar. The Scandanavian countries are of course connected directly to Europe. It''s a shame that the bats in the USA and probably Canada are rabid rabies carriers because most countries have bats who are not so lethal. Britain have bats who can carry rabies but it has not stopped that nation from becoming rabies-free for dogs.

[MyPemCharlie]

The US is almost rabies-free for dogs. My last post may not have communicated that clearly.

[Chip's Mom]

Has anyone ever seen a rabid animal other then on Old Yeller? A animal no matter what the species is can attack a dog or cat and give them rabies. The vaccine protects them from getting the rabies. There has now been a few reported cases of rabied fox, raccoon, skunk in our area.

[MyPemCharlie]

Other than movie dogs, Old Yeller and Cujo, I've never seen a "confirmed" rabid animal. While I was at University of Texas I saw several live and dead bats on campus...which I would almost assume were rabid.

I will certainly be keeping Charlie "legal" with the rabies vaccine. We haven't had any dogs or cats with rabies here in Austin, but it wouldn't be worth the risk.

Our state health services department publishes a map of confirmed rabies cases with type of animal and the county where the rabid animal was found. I'd expect many states publish the same data for anyone who's curious. I found it kind of interesting.

Link to Texas 2007 "Rabies" maps:

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/idcu/dis..._positives.jpg

[Peggy]

Originally Posted by Chip's Mom

Has anyone ever seen a rabid animal other then on Old Yeller? A animal no matter what the species is can attack a dog or cat and give them rabies. The vaccine protects them from getting the rabies. There has now been a few reported cases of rabied fox, raccoon, skunk in our area.

Nope, and I hope I never do!

Peggy

[Chip's Mom]

When I was little, a dog was in the house and I have no idea where it came from but it was running around crazy and frothing and drooling severely. Mom and I climbed on the table and my father said it was rabid. The dog went away but I have never forgotten it.

[Kris L. Christine]

Originally Posted by Chip's Mom

Since there has been so much discussion on rabies vaccinations lately, I am very nervous about taking Taffy to get hers. She is just now 5 months old and she should have it and it is all paid for but she is still little although real healthy, I am just dreading it. How often do you see a reaction to the rabies shot.

Chip's Mom,

Given a choice, I would wait until my pup were 6 months old to vaccinate against rabies, and unquestionably (we live in Maine where there is a lot of raibes in wildlife) I would vaccinate my dog. Personally, I would never use a Fort Dodge product.

It's impossible to give you an estimate on how often dogs adversely react to the rabies vaccine because veterinarian are not required by law to do so, and according to the World Small Animal Veterinary Association's 2007 Vaccine Guidleines, "The VGG recognises that there is gross under-reporting of vaccine-associated adverse events which impedes knowledge of the ongoing safety of these products. The recently released World Small Animal Veterinary Association 2007 Vaccine Guidelines are available online at - WSAVA - Scientific Advisory Committee Scroll down to Vaccine Guidelines 2007 (PDF)

There are things you can do to minimize the risk of adverse reactions--only give Taffy the rabies vaccine, no other meds, shots, separated by 2 - 3 weeks from other shots etc...

Combination Vaccines, Multiple Shots--on Page 16 of the 2003 AAHA Guidelines under Immunological Factors Determining Vaccine Safety, it states that: "Although increasing the number of components in a vaccine may be more convenient for the practitioner or owner, the likelihood for adverse effects may increase. Also, interference can occur among the components. Care must be taken not to administer a product containing too many vaccines simultaneously if adverse events are to be avoided and optimal immune responses are sought. "

If you are in the United States, the consequences of not vaccinating your dog against rabies are severe if it happens to scratch or bite someone.

Duration of Immunity to Canine Vaccines: What We Know and Don't Know, Dr. Ronald Schultz Duration of Immunity

The 2003 American Animal Hospital Association's Canine Vaccine Guidelines are accessible online at Special Report .

The 2006 American Animal Hospital Association's Canine Vaccine Guidelines are downloadable in PDF format at About AAHA .

Veterinarian, Dr. Robert Rogers,has an excellent presentation on veterinary vaccines at Home

[Chip's Mom]

Thanks Kris. She had her last set of puppy shots several weeks ago and I opted to hold off of her Rabies for awhile. She is scheduled for spaying in 2 weeks and will be 1 week shy of 6 months old so I have got to give her the rabies shot now so she will have a 2 week reprieve before spaying. I really don't want her spayed quite this young but I have 2 neutered male corgis and a neighborhood full of stray male unnneutered dogs so I can't afford the risk of her coming into heat before spaying. I would also like to thank you for all the information that you have posted here.