Don’t Be the Enemy of Waxer Dogs
Dog vaccines are good. No one wants Mr. Floofles to die of rabies or pass it on to other pets or people. (Reminder: Untreated rabies is deadly.) But rumors of vaccine side effects are easy to scare, and some people refuse to vaccinate their pets.
The Daily Wire reports that skipping dog vaccinations is what the “hipster idiots” do, but in fact it is a natural extension of the same factors that cause people to avoid vaccinating their children or themselves. (Be honest: did you get a flu shot last year?)
Let’s take a look at the grain of truth behind the fear of vaccines. Some people worried about “vaccine safety” for dogs (a new buzzword for people formerly known as anti-axers) point to the work of veterinary researcher Ronald Schultz , who said dogs are getting too many vaccines. But his research is not about giving up essential vaccines; it is about evidence that some vaccines induce longer lasting immunity than we originally thought.
Another researcher, Nicholas Dodman , identified symptoms of autism in dogs (although autism is a purely human disease, so it technically cannot be “autistic”), but he said he did not believe vaccines cause these symptoms. and would not recommend anyone to give up vaccinations because of their research.
So let’s consider: The reason for getting your dog vaccinated is that the benefits of getting vaccinated (not contracting and spreading canine diseases) outweigh the risks (which are real but rare, such as allergic reactions). Sometimes this is not the case: maybe they have a higher risk of allergic reactions, or maybe they don’t need a cough vaccine in the kennel because they don’t spend a lot of time interacting with other dogs. However, your veterinarian understands these concerns and will be happy to discuss what is best for your dog.