Melissa –
Just about anything can be life threatening for an immune compromised, very young or very old dog – heck even worms or coccidia can be deadly for these dogs. The way I view it, there is no place for the kennel cough vaccine. A healthy dog is not at risk of death from kennel cough and therefore should not be vaccinated in order to avoid potential side effects from the vaccine. An immune compromised dog who may be at risk of getting seriously ill or dying from kennel cough should not be vaccinated for kennel cough (or anything else) because it’s immune compromised – a dog that’s immune compromised should never undergo a vaccination. The data sheet for the vaccine, from Fort Dodge, contains all of the warnings and contraindications that are listed for the distemper vaccine: only healthy animals should be vaccinated, in the event of anaphylactic shock take immediate action, some animals won’t respond, etc.
Vaccines are a huge risk in and of themselves so before anyone vaccinates their animal they need to weigh the risks of vaccinating versus the risks of not vaccinating. For me – I have healthy dogs with strong immune systems. I don’t feel that it’s worth the risk for me to vaccinate for kennel cough because I don’t feel that my dogs are susceptible and if they ever did contract it, I know it would be mild and non-life threatening. Same goes for lyme. Why take the risk for something that won’t kill my dog even if they contract it? More serious illnesses that could cause death even in a healthy dog (parvo, rabies, etc.) I do feel that establishing immunity in my dogs is worth the potential side effects of the vaccine and therefore I do vaccinate against these serious life threatening viruses.
As for the kennel cough vaccine not having side effects, many would disagree with that.
Excepts from “The Nature of Animal Healing” by Martin Goldstein, D.V.M.
“Kennel cough vaccines offer so little immunity as to be virtually worthless…” (pp. 79)
“….I obtained ownership of the small clinic that became the genesis of Smith Ridge today. Part of the business was a boarding kennel, which I began to manage along with my practice. In order to be as responsible as possible, I made sure that every dog who checked in was up to date on his bordatella, or kennel cough, vaccine. For any dog who wasn’t, I’d administer an intranasal vaccine, which was said to start being effective as soon as it was given, so that the dog could be boarded without delay. Within a few months, I realized that several of the dogs given intranasal vaccines were emerging from their stay at the kennel with flu-like symptoms – among them kennel cough! As owners began muttering that their dogs had ‘caught’ bordetella at our kennel, I quietly stopped giving the vaccines. The incidences of kennel cough dropped virtually to none.” (pp. 91-92)
Regarding the intranasal bordetella vaccine specifically (what, to my knowledge, is given at most shelters – at my shelter anyways): “Unfortunately, intranasal vaccines may also lead to other, more serious, problems, including, in my experience, nasal cancer.” (pp. 92).
Harmless and low risk? I suppose if you don’t mind your dog having their immune system stimulated by a vaccine that has little chance of being effective, having your dog potentially fall ill with the very disease it was vaccinated for and, if your dog is receiving the vaccine intranasally, having your dog potentially get nasal cancer. *shrug* I’ll pass.
