Age and Long-term Protective Immunity in Dogs and Cats
"Old dogs and cats rarely die from vaccine-preventable infectious disease, especially when they have been vaccinated and immunized as young adults (i.e. between 16 weeks and 1 year of age). However, young animals do die, often because vaccines were either not given or not given at an appropriate age (e.g. too early in life in the presence of maternally derived antibody [MDA]).......... The present study examines the DOI for core viral vaccines in dogs that had not been revaccinated for as long as 9 years. These animals had serum antibody to canine distemper virus (CDV), canine parvovirus type 2 (CPV-2) and canine adenovirus type-1 (CAV-1) at levels considered protective and when challenged with these viruses, the dogs resisted infection and/or disease. Thus, even a single dose of modified live virus (MLV) canine core vaccines (against CDV, cav-2 and cpv-2) or MLV feline core vaccines (against feline parvovirus [FPV], feline calicivirus [FCV] and feline herpesvirus [FHV]), when administered at 16 weeks or older, could provide long-term immunity in a very high percentage of animals, while also increasing herd immunity." |
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| Thank you for this info, Kristine. Oscar suffers from Immune Mediated Disease, so we struggle with constant infections, IBD flare-ups and pancreatitis. Due to this condition, my vet has done titer testing on Oscar for the last four years, instead of automatically vaccinating him. He hasn't needed vaccines for distemper or parvo since we started looking at the antibodies. The only reason my vet still gives him rabies vaccines (3 yr) is because rabid bats are often found in people's homes/attics in our area. I love my vets!!!!! Laurie and Oscar, Mr. High Maintenance |
| You're welcome, Laurie. Doesn't Oscar qualify for a rabies medical exemption given his condition? |
| Yes, he does qualify for a medical exception, but we always have to weigh the pros and cons. Because there had been reports of rabid bats in people's homes in our county, and my own subdivision is surrounded by a golf course and hundreds of acres of forest preserve (large coyote, raccoon, bat populations), we felt that the risk of contracting rabies was high enough to outweigh the risks of potential side effects. We will re-evaluate when Oscar's next vaccine is due, in about a year and a half. It's great to see that my vets are ahead of the curve with all of this. Even before we knew Oscar's immune issues, and he was still receiving all of his regular vaccines, my vets would separate and stagger them, giving them at least a week apart. Oscar never had any overt symptoms from receiving vaccines, but once we found out his immune system was compromised, my vets started the titer testing. With the next pup, we will do things differently from the beginning. Thanks again for the info. Laurie |
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