Protecting Your Pet

Air Date: Monday, May 26, 2008

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Protecting Your Pet: Over-vaccination

Pet owners have long been told that their animals need to get shots...But some vets are questioning the safety and necessity of those vaccinations. 7's Dylan Dreyer has more in "Protecting your Pet."

In the summer of 2004, integrated veterinarian Dr. Marty Goldstein received an emergency visit from a nine-month-old Boston terrier named Cleatis.

Dr. Marty Goldstein, veterinarian
"One of my technicians said we have a dog in critical shape in the waiting room. He was hemorrhaging from his rectum, and he was literally going into shock and dying."

Although he was able to reverse the condition, Dr. Goldstein believes Cleatis' illness was caused by the vaccines he received as a puppy.

Dr. Marty Goldstein, veterinarian
"I see animals comes to me young with tragic illnesses, terminal illnesses. I go back into their history and I see that they have received a series of multiple of multi-dose vaccinations."

Citing examples from his own patients, Dr. Goldstein believes that too many vaccines causes a weakening of an animals immune system.

Dr. Marty Goldstein, veterinarian
"If vaccines didn't have any side effects, I wouldn't have a problem, but I think indirectly over-vaccination attributes to the incredible rise we've seen in cancer since I graduated vet school.

But many vets still say the benefits of vaccinations far outweigh the potential side affects that vaccines may have.

Dr. Ann Hohenhaus, veterinarian
"Vaccinations have done a tremendous amount to extend the life span of our companion dogs and cats and now we can prevent them from ever getting diseases that forty to fifty years ago they died from. There's a small risk, that a vaccination may provoke disease but the risk is very small"

And research has shown that vaccines are lasting longer in pets than originally thought, making the traditional yearly booster shot a thing of the past.

Dr. Ann Hohenhaus, veterinarian
"We still need to vaccinate puppies and kittens frequently as babies so that their immune system gets built up, but now in the adult animal I'm pretty much in all my patients recommending a vaccine interval of every three years."