Vaccinations for Dogs: Kennel Cough and Rabies

Kennel cough, usually caused by the Bortadella bacterium, can really be a term used to describe any extremely contagious upper respiratory infection in dogs.
Because of this tendency to spread easily to other dogs through aerosol droplets, supportive home care is the usual course of treatment, rather than hospitalization. The disease, which can last up to three weeks, generally exits the acute phase within the first few days and is self-limiting. Symptoms are influenza-like in nature, and complete recovery is the norm.

Vaccinating dogs against this disease is very common. Since, like many other vaccines, the usefulness is questionable and negative side effects occur with some regularity, you might well wonder why it is even necessary. Like the rabies vaccine, politics are responsible for the majority of dog owners getting their dogs inoculated against these two diseases.

In the case of rabies, as we have seen, a serious, usually fatal disease that can be transmitted from animals to humans cannot be overlooked as a public health concern. Legislation in most states requires rabies vaccination in order to license a dog. This is not negotiable, so in order to reduce vaccine-induced reactions, one should try to limit other, not-so-necessary inoculations.

Dog owners will have difficulty avoiding kennel cough vaccination, as well. If you board your dog, this will have to be done if not up-to-date. Otherwise, the kennels will not board your dog. If your dog needs hospitalization, the veterinarian will require the same. Therefore, this is another shot that many dogs receive on a regular basis.

Although you cannot avoid these two inoculations, limit vaccine exposure by choosing against other, unnecessary (and ineffective) vaccinations; avoid getting more than one vaccine inoculation at a time and don't get vaccinations early--wait the full, required time before boostering.

In the near future, I will be discussing homeopathic "nosodes" for immunity to common diseases. Stay tuned.
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Rabies Vaccination

Rabies affects all warm-blooded animals.  It is only considered a threat in some and not others, however.  For example, mice and squirrels can contract rabies; their size and the speed with which the disease kills them however, keep them from being much of a public health problem.  Where they present a problem is when a cat comes into contact with them, setting the stage for infection.  Cats and dogs, infected by wild animals like foxes, coyotes, racoons, skunks and even fisher cats (though most don't survive that encounter!) are the main concern of public health officials, both because they live in close proximity with humans and also because we are in a position to control their health care, including inoculating them against disease.

The rabies vaccine, first developed by Louis Pasteur, was used on a human bitten by a rabid dog circa 1885.  The boy survived.  Until about 1920, the vaccine was only used on humans.  A killed-virus vaccine was then developed for use on animals.  Generally, inactivated virus vaccines are used on dogs and cats today.

The efficacy of the rabies vaccine is unclear.  Some studies have shown the vaccine to induce the paralytic type of rabies in cats receiving the vaccine.  Catherine Diodati, author of Vaccine Guide for Dogs and Cats,
relates the experience of Pennsylvania in the late 1980s.  Rabies vaccinations were legislated for cats in 1987, despite no increase in rabies cases.  What did increase, however, were the cases of negative reactions at the injection site, including cases of fibrosarcoma.  When researchers examined the tumors, they found traces of aluminum, which was used in the vaccines.  Of course, they couldn't prove that the tumors were caused by the rabies shots; she notes, however, that the cases of fibrosarcoma in Pennsylvania outnumbered the number of nation-wide rabies cases in 1991 alone.

For cats, the risk of health problems due to inoculation are probably greater than that of contracting rabies.  Since these vaccines are usually administered  along with two or three others in one shot, the risk of complications increases.  From a public health point of view, vaccination doesn't always alleviate the risk of humans contracting rabies from a cat that has been bitten by a rabid animal.  Just handling the cat can allow infected saliva to enter wounds or breaks in the skin; the idea of rabies seldom enters the minds of concerned owners who see Tom limping home after a rumble, wounded and needing care.

Can you guess what the solution is?  Keep your cats indoors!

Happy Labor Day, when we remember all those who came before us, fighting for the 8-hour day, child labor laws and work place health and safety legislation.
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Rabies, Vaccination and Public Health

When I was a kid, I remember watching a movie on a Saturday afternoon. It was about a man, bitten by an angry dog, who became obsessed by the notion that he had contracted rabies. I'm pretty sure this movie was black and white, from the 1950s or even 40s. The entire film followed the hapless fellow as he lurched from one room in his apartment to another, thirsty but unable to drink a glass of water (a nod to rabies' misnomer, "hydrophobia"). As it turned out, he didn't have rabies at all, just a hysterical rendition of the illness.

Rabies is a deadly disease, no doubt about it. Of course, there are other diseases just as horrible, but rabies occupies a special place in our psyche. The attack, possibly a maiming one, of a virus-maddened animal (remember, "Cujo"?); the creeping insidiousness of the disease as it takes hold, causing lack of control, madness, then an agonizing death. No wonder we fear it!

Cats, more than dogs, tend to exhibit the furious (aggressive behavioral symptoms) v. the dumb (progressive paralysis) type of rabies. Changes in behavior, particularly an aggressive fearlessness, lack of coordination and hypersensitivity to stimuli are symptoms of furious rabies. Once the virus replicates at the infection site, it moves through the body via the nervous system to the brain, then the salivary glands. This progression is the same in dumb rabies, where paralysis starts in the throat causing an inability to swallow (aha!). The infected animal can shed the virus for months or even years, as in cases where the animal recovers without exhibiting debilitating symptoms. So, even if an animal doesn't die of rabies, he can still infect others, who may not fare so well.

Rabies is one of the few true zoonoses (pathogens transmissible from animals to humans) and this fact, along with the disease's seriousness, make it a true public health threat. Since the virus may take several weeks to move from the point of entry to its destination in the brain, people handling these animals run a very real risk of infection. Hence the laws requiring pet (particularly dog) vaccination against rabies.

Next week we'll take a look at the efficacy, side effects and risks associated with the rabies vaccines being used on our cats and dogs.
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Vaccinating against Upper Respiratory Disease in Cats

If your cat has been vaccinated at any point in time, chances are that he has received the Feline Calicivirus (FCV) and Feline Viral Rhinotracheitis (FVR) shots. These two, always given together (and often combined with other vaccines, as well) are two of the four "biggies", the other two being Feline Panleukopenia (or distemper, as it is inappropriately called) and Rabies.

Both of these infections present as a nasty cold, or influenza. runny nose, sneezing, coughing, eye irritation and discharge and anorexia (no interest in food). There may be fever present, and with FCV there may be joint inflammation and lameness, although this is temporary. These infections are self-limiting and cats generally recover within a week or two, though some cases take up to six weeks to fully resolve. Those cats that tend to develop complications such as pneumonia are usually the very young and very old, as well as those animals with compromised immune systems. Formerly infected cats can shed either or both viruses, since these diseases sometimes occur together, for several months after recovery. Neither are considered fatal diseases.

Despite the fact that these respiratory diseases do not cause high mortality, veterinarians have been routinely immunizing cats against them for decades. Vaccination does not prevent infection or shedding of the virus; some experts claim that it does at least prevent the most serious symptoms of the disease from evolving, although this theory is contentious. In older cats, the vaccine has been known to actually trigger disease; because of this, and the fact that older cats should be kept indoors anyway even if they were previously let outdoors occasionally, vaccination of older cats should not be done. Since these shots are often bundled together with panleukopenia and rabies, increasing the incidence of negative reactions. If you are concerned, immunizing kittens, who also suffer the ravages of this disease due to their immature immune systems, may be useful. If you keep them indoors, however, it is unnecessary (hint: Keep them indoors).

Tomorrow: Panleukopenia and vaccination.
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