Not All Shots Are Created Equal

Veterinarians spend a lot of time vaccinating animals- it's a big part of what we do.  Vaccines are important to animal as well as human health.  They prevent many contagious and potentially life-threatening diseases by inducing the individual who gets the vaccine to make antibody against the disease being vaccinated for.  This antibody allows the body to clear the infectious organism before it causes an infection and disease.

There are many, MANY vaccines available for pets.  Making an educated decision about what to vaccinate your dog for can be quite complicated.  Take the distemper vaccine in dogs as an example.  This vaccine is usually protective against Distemper and Parvovirus.  It usually also offers protection against Hepatitis (Adenovirus) and Parainfluenza.  This is considered a "core" vaccine, or a vaccine that all dogs should be vaccinated with annually.  It is sometimes referred to as a "4 in 1".  People will often refer to vaccines as "5 in 1" or "7 in 1" vaccines.  These vaccines have other ingredients, like protection against Leptospirosis, Coronavirus, etc-  When you choose a vaccine for your dog, you choose the one with the most ingredients to give the most protection, right?  Wrong!  If you vaccinate a young small breed puppy with a "7 in 1" vaccine it is quite likely to have a vaccine reaction.  These can vary from a little bit of facial itching for a few hours to full-blown anaphylaxis that results in the death of the pet if untreated.  These also get worse with each exposure, so the puppy that had a little itching after his first vaccine is likely to have a much more severe reaction to his second.

Many pet owners now get their vaccines from retailers and administer them themselves to save money.  It is important to keep in mind that if that vaccine got warm it is not effective.  Did it arrive at the feed store in a cold box?  Did the person stocking the shelves that day care enough to check?  Low cost vaccine clinics are also becoming very popular.  These cookie-cutter vaccine programs usually offer the same vaccine regardless of your pets size or age.  This increases the likelihood that your pet will experience a shot reaction.  Low-cost clinics do not treat these- you will need to go to your veterinarian for treatment. But a single vaccine should be safe, right?  Maybe.  Veterinarians select vaccines like Rabies based on their preference- this is usually somewhat based on whether pets react negatively when they are vaccinated.  Vaccines all have a pH or acid level.  Very acidic vaccines burn when injected.  We are very careful to have well-tolerated vaccines at our clinic.  We don't like it when your puppy cries, either!  A low-cost vaccine clinic  is what it says it is- low cost.  The cheapest vaccine is used to maximize profit.  Whether it burns or is more likely to cause a reaction is not a consideration.

So, when it's time to vaccinate your pets please remember that your vet has spent countless hours learning why vaccines work, complicated details about what vaccines are appropriate and how to avoid negative consequences to your pet from vaccination.  We also have the training to address issues if they should arise. I certainly could never argue that vaccinating at the vet is cheaper- but it is ALWAYS safer.