This last week a famous saying popped up again. Every time I hear this saying I either get mad or feel sorry for the animals involved. The saying is, “He’s had all his shots.” Well my questions are:
“What shots?”
“When were they given?”
“How were they administered?”
To some people, ‘all his shots’ might just be one dose of blackleg or one dose of blackleg and lepto, with a bang’s vaccination. This does not include anything for respiratory, such as, IBR or BVD. And, what about dewormer, have they had any kind of dewormer? I hear this saying at sale barns and in my practice. I always question that saying.
A good example of this wasn’t in cattle but happened last week in my practice. I had a 4-month-old puppy brought into my practice that was very sick. This pup was vomiting, had bloody diarrhea and was washed out and could only lay on my exam table. With a simple test, Parvo was diagnosed. The owner said this pup had had all his shots. Well, after further investigation this pup had only had one dose of distemper and Parvo at eight weeks of age.
This is not enough protection against Parvo. We need to vaccinate puppies from eight weeks of age every two weeks of age until they are 14-16 weeks of age. The new recommendations coming out from the American Animal Hospital Association and The World Association will say to vaccinate every two weeks until they are at least 14-16 weeks of age. This information will be in print later this year. I learned about this just 3 weeks ago at a meeting where one of the doctors that is authoring these recommendations was talking.
Now how does this transpose into large animal medicine? Well, that same saying, “he’s had all his shots” comes into play and leaves our animals unprotected against diseases that can be devastating and life threatening. This is why some of the special premium sales have not worked in our area. Everyone else was verifying that the calves had their shots and in reality they did not, and now we have a trust issue with the buyers.
A lot of buyers like to see or get a certificate that these vaccines have been given to the calves they are buying. Otherwise, they don’t want to pay any more for them and they will just treat them as naive calves. And most of the time they want to get at least a load of them, which is 48,000 pounds.
After two days of intensive care and IV therapy I lost this puppy. It was the first one I have lost in over five years to Parvo. So, the next time you hear, “He’s had all his shots,” either question a little bit or beware.
Dr. Tim O’Neill owns Country Veterinary Clinic in Farmington, Ark.
