The rabies shot.

Thank you all for the negatives. Please, educate yourselves and don't just beieve everything you read just because it's always been that way. For shame for shame.

The rabies vaccine is the ONLY shot required by law for dogs and cats in the United States. This is primarily to protect humans from getting rabies from their pets. The Center for Disease Control declared in 2007 that canine rabies no longer exists in the United States. Your dog will not contract rabies from another dog, but only from wild animals such as bats, coyotes, skunks, raccoons and foxes. Consequences for not vaccinating against rabies depend on the Animal Control laws in your area. At the very least, you won't be able to board your pet, participate in training classes or shows, or use a professional groomer. Many vets will insist on vaccination before boarding or treating your pet. And if your dog or cat bites or scratches anyone, or is picked up by Animal Control, there will surely be a stiff fine and your pet will be impounded and vaccinated (or worse). The one-year shot is NOT safer than the three-year shot, and has to be given more often, making it potentially more dangerous.

and by the way---Catsofmany is my mother!

Not really. She just thinks she is because she practically lives at our house. Catsofmany is MY mother.

Here is Rabies information from Cornell University -College of Vet Medicine....Rabies is a must and it explains why--- http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/askDr/rabies.htm

The best advice for everyone out there - Contact your vet and find out what the laws are in your area. Talk to your vet about 3 years for other shots such as distemper and leukemia. If you have an inside cat, discuss with your vet the option of what shots are really needed for the inside cat. Read the reports from Cornell about Rabies. I agree there are risks with shots being done yearly. But I do not agree that Rabies 3 year vaccine is being phased out. It can't be. It's too risky. We could argue this until we're blue in the face. Let the readers out there do some research and make their own decisions. I'm from New England and Rabies is a serious problem here. There have been children who have been bitten by rabid foxes! The series of shots that they have to endure is painful. Cats have come up positive for Rabies. Please, readers, do some research. Rabies is serious and without treatment, it IS deadly!

The risk is 1 to 4 in 10,000 as stated by Cornell University of Vet Medicine.... In the United States, cats and dogs do not carry rabies. That is, the disease does not perpetuate itself among cat or dog populations. When a domestic animal becomes infected with rabies in this country, it is from the bite of a wild animal, usually a skunk, fox, or raccoon. In Louisiana, skunks are responsible for most cases of rabies in domestic animals. Bats, however, do actually carry rabies. It circulates in their populations, just as it does with skunks, raccoons, and foxes. Bats are mainly active at night and sleep during the day in trees and other secluded places. If you see a bat in the daytime, such as on the ground in your yard or in your house, use caution. This is abnormal behavior and many bats found in such situations do have rabies. Unless you are a trained wildlife zoologist with the proper protective equipment and have been vaccinated previously against rabies, it is safest not to ever handle a bat. I found a bat in my house. What should I do? Bats have very small teeth and sometimes people don’t know whether they have been bitten. If you awaken and find a bat in your room, see a bat in the room of an unattended child, or see a bat near a mentally impaired or intoxicated person, pick up the bat using heavy gloves or push it into a box using a piece of cardboard or some other object. Do not handle the bat with bare hands, even if it is dead. Call your physician to arrange to have the bat tested. If the bat is positive for rabies, post-exposure treatment may be needed for any people that could have been bitten without being aware of it. The CDC has some excellent information for dealing with bats. http://www.vetmed.lsu.edu/rabies_info.htm#I've%20read%20that%20bats%20are%20no%20more%20likely%20to%20carry%20rabies%20than%20cats%20or%20dogs%20are.%20Is%20this%20true

The risk of Rabies FAR out weighs the possible risk of fibrosarcoma. Especially for cats that go outside. Rabies is caused by a virus that attacks the brain. The virus enters the body through the saliva of an infected animal, usually by a bite, but it can also be transmitted if infected saliva gets into an open wound or splashes into mucous membranes such as those in the eyes, nose, or mouth. From the saliva's point of entry, the virus travels along nerve cells to the brain. It replicates there and moves to the salivary glands. In a rabid animal, the cycle is repeated when the animal bites a person or another animal. Rabid animals may be aggressive and vicious, or lethargic and weak. In people, early rabies symptoms of fever, headache, and fatigue are followed by confusion, agitation, hallucination, and paralysis. Once symptoms begin, the disease is almost always fatal, says the CDC. Only mammals get rabies------birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish do not get the disease.

Although birds do not carry Rabies - Bats are one the the biggest carriers of the disease and they can easily get into your house through chimneys, vents in roofs, and just as simply as an open door.

I disagree completely with your opinion... and you might want to verify your information with the Cornell University of veterinary medicine. The 3 year rabies shot carries a HUGE risk of fibrosarcoma is is being phased out by most vets!

Kat, perhaps you need to read it again. The titers are there and our vet does not believe in yearly vaccines because of the risk. YEARLY! But in NH it is the law that dogs get their Rabies shot every 3 years. They’ve tried to pass a law on cats but it’s next to impossible to be able to track cats. Unlike dogs that have to be have town licenses. BUT every vet I know in NH insist that cats have a Rabies shot every 3 years. It is NOT the 3 year Rabies that is being phased out. It is the one year vaccines! Below is the findings from Cornell as well as other sources. Vaccination findings Veterinary research challenges the notion that pets need to be vaccinated every 12 months. Some of the findings: Dog vaccines/Minimum duration of immunity · Canine rabies3 years · Canine parainfluenza3 years · Canine distemper (Onderstepoort strain)5 years · Canine distemper (Rockborn strain)7 years · Canine adenovirus (kennel cough)7 years · Canine parvovirus7 years Cat vaccines/Minimum duration of immunity · Cat rabies3 years · Feline panleukopenia virus6 years · Feline herpesvirus5 or 6 years · Feline calicivirus3 years Recommendations for dogs · Parvovirus, adenovirus, parainfluenza, distemper: Following initial puppy shots, provide booster one year later, and every three years thereafter. · Rabies: At 16 weeks of age, thereafter as required by law. · Bordatella: Use prior to boarding; may be repeated up to six times a year. · Coronavirus: Not recommended in private homes. Prior to boarding, may be given to dogs 8 weeks or older, and repeated every six months. · Lyme: Not recommended. · Giardia: Not recommended. Recommendations for cats · Panleukopenia, herpesvirus (rhinotracheitis), calicivirus: Following initial kitten shots, provide booster one year later and every three years thereafter. · Rabies: At 8 weeks of age, thereafter as required by law. · Feline leukemia: Use only in high-risk cats. Best protection is two vaccines prior to 12 weeks of age, with boosters repeated annually. · Bordatella: Use prior to boarding. · Feline infectious peritonitis: Not recommended. · Chlamydia: Not recommended. · Ringworm: May be used during an outbreak in a home. Sources: Ronald Schultz, University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine; Fredric Scott, Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine; Colorado State University; University of California-Davis Center for Companion Animal Health.

And by the way, it is not MY opinion! It is from my vet! The information I posted came from Cornell.

I have read all of the reports on this discussion and you are wrong, Kat. It is the yearly vaccines that vets have found are no longer needed. The titers have found to last longer than a year on various shots as listed by Cornell. But the rabies shot is still required every 3 years.

You are free to believe outdated vets and information if you wish. I am 100% confident in my information. :o) You can sign up for as many accounts as you want and negative me all you want to... it doesn't change that the information you are pushing is outdated.

What is your problem, SHANE???? You need to get your facts right! Perhaps you live in a state that doesn't have a problem with Rabies. Perhaps everyone on this site should call their vet! I have never heard such nonsense as the 3 year Rabies shot being phased out!

Can fibrosarcoma be treated?

Yes, but prognosis is iffy at this point. In recent years the topic of vaccine induced fibrosarcomas in cats has been a serious concern of cat caretakers, veterinarians, and the pharmaceutical companies that make vaccines for cats. Unquestionably, vaccinations have prevented uncountable deaths in dogs and cats through the years. Just as in human medicine where such diseases as smallpox and polio are no longer health threats due to wide distribution and use of vaccines, so too in veterinary medicine have serious diseases been kept in check by intelligent use of animal vaccines. However, there can be a downside to the wonderful miracle of vaccines. On occasion, and that occasion may be only a single adverse reaction in 50,000, there may be an undesirable outcome for the patient receiving the vaccination. Read Dr. Dunn's article on the use of vaccines in dogs and cats. One unique type of adverse reaction is seen in cats after having been vaccinated for certain feline diseases. Adjuvants are often added to killed (inactivated) vaccines to enhance the immune response; a common adjuvant is aluminum salts and these aluminum deposits are often seen in the microscopic analysis (histopathology) of a section of the offending tumor. There is speculation that adjuvants may be the inciting agents that stimulate a reaction at the vaccine site and which eventually leads to cancer formation. All the facts are not known at this time and many researchers are currently working to find the answers to the vaccine induced sarcoma problem in cats. Progress is being made, though, and scientists and veterinarians are beginning to understand the complex variables that factor into tumor formation at vaccine sites. Some of those factors are location of vaccine administration, type of vaccine and adjuvant, frequency of vaccine deposition in a localized area of the cat, and the state of health of the cat at the time of the vaccination. Hopefully, in the near future these variables will be understood and adverse vaccine reactions will no longer be a consideration when we attempt to protect our feline friends from some very real and dangerous diseases.

It requires aggressive treatment.

http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/askDr/rabies.htm Here is a website from Cornell University -College of Veterinary Medicine....the need for Rabies shots.

By the way, that article from Cornell was dated May 12, 2008.

Is it really necessary to vaccinate my pet against rabies? Yes! In 1955 there were over 4,000 cases of rabies in domestic animals in the United States; in 1999 there were only 601. The decrease is due to the laws requiring rabies vaccination of dogs and cats. But rabies is still very much present in this country; in 1999 over 6,000 cases were reported in wild animals, mostly raccoons, skunks, bats, and foxes. Because cats and dogs can come into contact with wild animals that may have rabies, it is still necessary to vaccinate them and to keep their vaccines up to date. Besides, it's the law. http://www.vetmed.lsu.edu/rabies_info.htm#Is%20it%20really%20necessary%20to%20vaccinate%20my%20pet%20against%20rabies

Rabies cases have been reported in every state except Hawaii, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and are especially prevalent in the country's east coast states. The disease is caused by a virus, secreted in the saliva, that attacks the nervous system and can be fatal. Only mammals can get rabies. Here is what you can do to protect your pets, from the American Veterinary Medical Association: *Have your pets vaccinated. * Try to keep your cats and ferrets indoors as much as possible, and supervise dogs when outside. * Don't leave uncovered garbage or pet food outside, as it may attract wild or stray animals. * Teach children never to approach or touch any animal they do not know, even if it appears friendly. * Observe wild animals from a distance and if they are acting strangely, call animal control officers. * Do not keep wild animals as pets. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/kidsrabies/Statistics/stats.htm

The risk is 1 to 4 per 10,000 as stated by Cornell University of Vet Medicine....The sarcomas are most frequently associated with vaccinations against feline leukemia virus (FeLV) and, to a lesser extent, against rabies virus, the cat doctor observed. www.news.cornell.edu/releases/May97/catshots.hrs.html

In the United States, cats and dogs do not carry rabies. That is, the disease does not perpetuate itself among cat or dog populations. When a domestic animal becomes infected with rabies in this country, it is from the bite of a wild animal, usually a skunk, fox, or raccoon. In Louisiana, skunks are responsible for most cases of rabies in domestic animals. Bats, however, do actually carry rabies. It circulates in their populations, just as it does with skunks, raccoons, and foxes. Bats are mainly active at night and sleep during the day in trees and other secluded places. If you see a bat in the daytime, such as on the ground in your yard or in your house, use caution. This is abnormal behavior and many bats found in such situations do have rabies. Unless you are a trained wildlife zoologist with the proper protective equipment and have been vaccinated previously against rabies, it is safest not to ever handle a bat. I found a bat in my house. What should I do? Bats have very small teeth and sometimes people don’t know whether they have been bitten. If you awaken and find a bat in your room, see a bat in the room of an unattended child, or see a bat near a mentally impaired or intoxicated person, pick up the bat using heavy gloves or push it into a box using a piece of cardboard or some other object. Do not handle the bat with bare hands, even if it is dead. Call your physician to arrange to have the bat tested. If the bat is positive for rabies, post-exposure treatment may be needed for any people that could have been bitten without being aware of it. The CDC has some excellent information for dealing with bats. http://www.vetmed.lsu.edu/rabies_info.htm#I've%20read%20that%20bats%20are%20no%20more%20likely%20to%20carry%20rabies%20than%20cats%20or%20dogs%20are.%20Is%20this%20true

I agree with catsofmany. It is the yearly shots that are being phased out.

Catsofmany is right. It is the yearly shots that vets have phased out. Rabies is still required every 3 years.

You might want to verify that information with the cornell university of veterinary medicine. The 3 year rabies shot carries a HUGE risk os fibrosarcoma is is being phased out!