“Update” may be a bit of an oversell in this case, but here’s some more information on the upcoming changes to US dog importation rules that kind of came out of nowhere. We’re still trying to sort out a number of issues, both in terms of the big picture and minor operational details; hopefully we’ll
I know seals are mammals.
I know rabies virus can infect all mammals.
I’m pretty tuned into rabies and rabies prevention.
Yet, I’m not sure how quickly I’d clue in to any rabies risk from a seal bite. (I’d hopefully get there eventually, but I doubt it would jump to mind like it would with
The US has been tinkering (for the good) with their canine importation rules for the past few years, primarily in response to concerns about importing rabid dogs. The US had just announces a new set of rules for importing dogs, that come into effect August 1, 2024. The new rules aim to provide more assurance
In case anyone would like a break from all the canine infectious respiratory disease (CIRDC) posts, take a moment to gawk in disbelief (as I did initially) at this human-created debacle:
Skunk purchased from Michigan breeder tests positive for rabies.
How many things are wrong with this, just based on the headline? Ugh.
For
Vaccine hesitancy by pet owners has been in the news a lot recently, largely due to a recent study about the prevalence and consequences of vaccine hesitancy among dog owners in the US (Motta et al. 2023). The survey-based study reported 37% of respondents think vaccines can cause “cognitive issues, like canine/feline autism”
(TL:DR… check out the TikTok version at the bottom)
When I was a newly graduated veterinarian in general practice, I gave puppies and kittens their first rabies vaccine at 16 weeks of age. That was the standard at the clinic and a common practice elsewhere. Now, if I ask audiences of veterinarians when they vaccinated
While I get lots of interesting infectious disease questions every day, most aren’t new.
This one was.
To paraphrase, the question was basically “If we want to minimize the number of injections when vaccinating a dog, can we mix rabies and core (e.g. distemper, parvovirus, adenovirus) vaccines in the same syringe, using rabies vaccine
As per usual, the annual US rabies state-of-the-union has been published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (Ma et al. 2023). It’s the same general information every year, but always a good reminder of the ongoing challenges with rabies here in North America.
Here are some highlights from the animal-related
