As if the current measles outbreak isn't worrisome enough, there's a new health threat on the horizon--this time from pet parents who are choosing not to vaccinate their dogs. The rabies vaccine is required by law, but vaccines against a host of other illnesses that endanger pets, such as distemper, are not, and therein lies the problem.
Christopher Brockett, president of the New York State Veterinary Medical Society, tells New York magazine that more and more pet owners are deciding to skip routinely recommended vaccines. This despite the fact that animal viruses such as distemper--which causes life-threatening respiratory and intestinal distress--have not been completely eradicated. Texas, for example, has seen a recent surge of distemper cases.
"The fewer animals that are getting the vaccine, the greater the likelihood that you're going to have a firestorm if something that is that highly communicable comes along," Brockett said in the New York story.
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