NEVER vaccinate an animal under stress or anaesthesia!

[Catherine]

Quote: But only the other day I saw a video of a small dog (Chihuahua) who had been seriously injured as a result of his Rabies vaccination. It was a sad video to watch. The dog had been healthy before his vaccination.

I think you made a good point about the vaccine dose being the same for every animal. If the dose is enough to vaccinate a Great Dane, how is it the right dose for a Chihuahua. We need vaccines, but I think we have become complacent about how we use them. If it is dangerous to give vaccines to an anesthetized animal then why are vets still doing it. There might not be a reaction every time, but it increases the risk. Anesthetics are dangerous as well. The good they do out weights the risk, but there is a risk. Some do die from the anesthetic itself.

I think the use of vaccines, anesthetics and any medications needs to be reviewed.  There should be a continual monitoring. It is only when there are a lot of negative results that we hear anything. We would react sooner and adjust how we do things if we knew there was a problem much earlier.

Drugs are only recalled after many people are harmed. I don't know if there are any good statistics for vaccines. They need to be evaluated for reactions, also for what conditions existed when the reaction occurred. They may find there are a number of reasons to withhold vaccination or to alter the dose.  Maybe the vaccines need to be improved. Certainly titer testing should be more available.