This will likely be the last post in this series, at least for now, but last doesn’t mean least. The potential use of titre testing to inform vaccination decisions is an important issue that drives a lot of questions. A titre (or titer for our American friends) is a measure of the level of antibodies
Vaccination Scenarios, Part 6: How Much Is Too Much?
In previous posts in this series, I discussed the impact on the occurrence of vaccine adverse events of giving multiple different vaccines to a pet at the same visit or different visits, We also need to consider the impact of giving multiple vaccines at once on overall response to vaccination.
There are some vague
Lyme Disease Treatment Duration in Dogs
Determining the optimal duration of treatment for infectious diseases in animals is an ongoing challenge. We typically have very little data to guide us, but lots of deeply ingrained habits and dogma about how to do it. The durations used for treatment of many infectious diseases in pets are longer than those used in comparable
Vaccination Scenarios, Part 5: Splitting Vaccines (Recap)
This post may look familiar, as it’s a repost of a piece from earlier this year, but it fits really well in this series (and it lets me be a bit lazy for the weekend).
Does Splitting Vaccines in Small Dogs Help Avoid Adverse Events?
The short answer: I don’t know, but probably not
Vaccination Scenarios, Part 4: Initial Booster Intervals
Earlier this week (in part 2 of this series) I covered minimal intervals for giving pets different vaccines (when they’re not given on the same day). This post will cover intervals for giving boosters of the same vaccine, particularly in pets being vaccinated for the first time (I covered boosters for overdue pets in part
Vaccination Scenarios, Part 3: Premedication For Preventing Vaccine Reactions
TL;DR: There’s no proven premedication strategy that reliably prevents adverse reactions to vaccines; instead focus on patient risk assessment, appropriate vaccine selection, close monitoring, and prompt treatment if an adverse event occurs.
Vaccine adverse events (AEs) in pets are uncommon, but that doesn’t mean their inconsequential. Clients (and veterinarians) worry about them a
Vaccination Scenarios, Part 2: Minimum Interval For Giving Different Vaccines
Picture this: An owner takes their dog to a veterinarian for routine vaccines. The veterinarian recommends a DAPP vaccine (distemper, adenovirus, parvovirus, parainfluenza), as well as vaccination for rabies and leptospirosis. After some discussion, the owner declines the lepto vaccine, but proceeds with the others. The next day, they call back after doing some reading
Vaccination Scenarios, Part 1: Overdue Pets
Let’s face it, approaches to vaccination in companion animals are based partly on direct evidence, partly on extrapolation from other species, partly on expert opinion, and partly on “this is what we do because it’s what we’ve always done.” The evidence base for much of what we do is incomplete, and for a
Now For Something Completely Different: A Hairball Survey
I doubt I’ve posted anything here about hairballs in cats before, despite having cats that sometimes leave them around the house, as it’s not really an infectious disease issue. However, Dr. Samantha Taylor, a feline and internal medicine specialist who’s been at the forefront of navigating the new realities of antiviral use for feline infectious
Salmonella Contamination of Pet Products: A Tale of Two Companies
Two separate stories regarding Salmonella contamination of unrelated pet products have been in the news lately.
The most recent one was a recall of Salmonella-contaminated pet supplements from Fi, a New York based company (see the link for specific products and lots affected). Details are pretty sparse, but the recall was apparently triggered because