Ages ago I was heavily debating whether or not to vaccinate Steve for canine influenza. The drug rep talked a good talk, and he is higher risk. Flyball tournaments have hundreds of dogs crammed into a small space, barking and spraying their little germies all over the place.
I ended up not vaccinating him.
Last month at a flyball tournament I had the opportunity to have him titered in a study done by the University of Pennsylvania. They titered dogs last year as well. This is the email I received from them a couple days ago.
Good to know.
I ended up not vaccinating him.
Last month at a flyball tournament I had the opportunity to have him titered in a study done by the University of Pennsylvania. They titered dogs last year as well. This is the email I received from them a couple days ago.
We would like to thank you so much for participating in our Penn Vet Canine Influenza testing. We have received the results and can compare them to last year. Last year we tested 104 dogs and 3 dogs had positive titers, no dogs had been vaccinated. This year we tested 102 dogs, 10 dogs had been vaccinated. No unvaccinated dog had a positive titer and only 2 of the vaccinated dogs had positive titers. So this suggests that influenza is NOT on the rise and the vaccine does not seem to maintain a persistent titer. We are not currently recommending that dogs competing in flyball routinely be vaccinated for canine influenza.