I'm back after the holidays, and hope you all had a wonderful and restful holiday season. This first blog post of the new years is about vaccinating your Chihuahua or other small breed dog.
As immunizations go, we are in a time of what seems to be mass confusion. For both children and puppies, the "experts" can't seem to make up their minds whether we're overimmunizing or underimmunizing. That is because the very diseases that we immunize against are upredictable. They are invisible, they change and mutate, they appear once in very minor form and then come back later strong and virulent and wreak havoc on their vitcims...and on the minds of those who treat the victims.
The current train of thought among veterinarians seems to be that we over-vaccinate our dogs....at least our adult dogs. Many believe that once a dog has completed his puppy series, he may well have immunity for life. Others believe that while lifetime immunity may not be the case, yearly vaccinations are not necessary either...once every three years is what that school of thought recommends. Some say we should not bother to immunize for this disease, or that disease, at all. And in truth, there are some diseases, such as leptospirosis, that present so many different strains that it is impossible to immunize against them all. And for "lepto", the vaccination won't prevent infection...it'll simply mean that if your dog contracts it, he may become a carrier of it, infecting other animals, and you may not ever even know it. And then there are some clinical illnesses, such as kennel cough, that are almost always caused by more than one organism, and it is often difficult to determine which organisms are causing the problem, because there are several. Most people think "bordetella" when they hear "kennel cough" and while bordetella is very often part of the cause, it is rarely the entire problem and in fact, possibly may not be present at all. Fortunately, kennel cough is easy to treat and a rapid and complete recovery is almost always the outcome unless there are other factors present. And then you have at least one vaccination, for a protozoal disease called giardia, that will not prevent infection, but claims to reduce clinical signs and the amount of time that the animal sheds the disease. And, in reality, the same is true for parvovirus. Even a full series of shots and yearly boosters may not prevent your dog from getting parvo. It will, however, decrease the chances of your dog contracting parvo, and it will also significantly improve your dog's chances of survival.
In the end, the debate over whether and when to immunize stems from the necessity of it and relative safety of the vaccine itself. The "big 5", which is what I call the 5 diseases that all combination vaccines immunize against are Parainfluenza (a possible contributing factor for kennel cough), Adenovirus Type II (which offers cross immunity against Hepatitis also), Distemper, and Parvovirus. These vaccines are widely accepted as necessary and I, personally, agree. All vets give them as part of their puppy shots and also as part of their yearly boosters. I have never known the safety of these vaccines, in puppies, to be an issue. Some combination vaccines also include a vaccine for Coronavirus. This virus presents much like the Parvovirus and is often very difficult to diagnose, as there is no easy, in-house test that your vet can administer. Usually, Coronavirus is not as deadly as parvo, but it can still make your dog very sick. As with the "big 5" vaccines, I know of no safety issues, for puppies, with the Coronavirus vaccine. The safety of the bordetella vaccine is, to my knowledge, not in question, nor is the safety of the giardia vaccine for use in puppies. But, then we have the vaccine for leptospirosis. This vaccine is frightening to me, as the owner of the smallest breed in the world. At least one of the makers of this vaccine actually puts a warning on the label against vaccinating puppies and small dogs of any age with this vaccine at all. My vet doesn't use the vaccine in the first 2 puppy shots, but they do in the last two in the series because of the age and relative size of the puppies. But the "lepto" vaccine is known to cause some significant side effects, especially in small dogs.
When I say that I know of no safety issues in puppies, you must understand that what I mean is that the resulting immunity far outweighs the possible side effects of the vaccine. Also notice that I said "in puppies." This is because in adult dogs, the vaccines can actually have the opposite effect intended. This means that the dog's antibodies that were produced as a result of the puppy series of vaccinations, which may actually "fight off" the vaccine, instead of allowing the vaccine to help the dog's body to produce more antibodies, thereby rendering the vaccine completely ineffective and exposing your dog to the possible side effects, with absolutely no benefit.
Another consideration in vaccinating your puppy has to do with timing. When pups are born, they nurse from their mothers, right? During the first couple of days after birth, they are consuming colostrum, which is rich in antibodies for all of these diseases which the mother's body has produced. Depending on how aggressive a nurser each individual puppy is, and also dependant somewhat upon order of birth, each puppy may get a different amount of colostrum, with means that each pup would get a different amount of immunity from the mother. But, as the pups get older, the immunity that they get from the mother's milk gradually wears off. This is where it gets tricky. In most cases, if you immunize too early, you could face a situation where the maternal immunity is present enough to fight off the vaccine, rendering it completely ineffective. However, there may be a window where, while the maternal immunity kills off the vaccine, it's not strong enough to kill off an actual infection. This is part of the reason why we do puppy shots in a series, to try and present the vaccine into the puppy's system at the correct time, so that the maternal immunity cannot fight it all off, but before the puppy is actually exposed to any infectious disease, because each pup will be different in this timing.
Some say that there may be a solution to this problem. It's called a "high titer vaccine." What this means is that the vaccine contains more "antigens" (or infectious bodies) than the regular vaccine. The point of this is to introduce enough antigens into the body to bind up all the maternal antibodies that are present and still leave some antigens left over to stimulate the puppy's body to produce antibodies of its own. Theoretically, it sounds great. In practice, I'm not sure how well it will work, and the higher concentration of antigens may also lead to more severe reactions to these vaccines.
Finally, the rabies vaccine has become quite an issue in some areas. Most cities now require dogs to be registered, and the registration process includes a rabies vaccine. However, there are some things that you should know about the rabies vaccine before giving it to a small breed puppy. First, it is the strongest of the vaccines. We are more likely to see a reaction to the rabies vaccine than to any other vaccine except the Lepto vaccine. So, it is important not to give the rabies vaccine at the same time that other vaccines are given. We also suggest that you wait as long as possible before giving the rabies vaccine. The closer your puppy is to six months old, the better.
Also, be aware that vaccine manufacturers are now producing a three-year rabies vaccine. These are NOT recommended for small breed dogs of any age though. The original vaccine is strong enough, and the three-year vaccine is that much stronger. Like the other vaccinations, rabies is often a lifelong immunity, so there is no sense risking a reaction by giving that extra strength rabies shot. It is best to stick with the one-year vaccine for small dogs.
In the end, there is so much conflicting data regarding when, how, what and if to vaccinate that all we can really do is sort through it the best that we can, find a vet that we trust and follow his/her advise, and hope that we've done the best that we can for our animals.
Here is a link that we have found very informative in regards to vaccines and their possible side effects.
http://www.labbies.com/immun.htm
Tips and General Information for Chihuahua Owners and Lovers
