The
Lepto Vaccine: Why Vets Give It Yearly,
and Why YOU shouldn’t!
Leptospirosis is feared by many
veterinarians because it can cause severe kidney or liver disease in its pet
victims. It’s double feared because it’s a zoonotic disease; in other words,
you can get it too. Many vets use this fact to justify the administration of
this supposedly protective vaccine. But a good vaccine should be both safe and
effective. Let’s examine whether or not the yearly lepto
vaccination is either.
The Core Vaccines One
of the most commonly administered vaccines, the distemper/parvo
combination (often combined with adenovirus), has been dubbed a core vaccine by
the American Veterinary Medical Association. For decades, this vaccine had been
administered annually by most veterinarians.
But due to decades of research and recent
consumer pressure, the AVMA has recently adopted guidelines that decrease the
recommended frequency of the core vaccines to every three years or more. This
is a step in the right direction for pets and their guardians, but it’s caused
some veterinarians to worry about the loss of income when moving from annual to
triennial vaccination.
Enter Lepto Because
annual vaccination has been pushed for many years, pet guardians have come to
believe the only reason to take their pets to the vet annually is for
vaccination. Veterinary visits are in decline and when a pet guardian learns
they don’t need to vaccinate as frequently, vet visits drop. So,
what is a vet to do when their income from annual visits goes down? Many began
promoting a separate leptospirosis component to the core vaccines as the new
annual vaccine.
But according to the AVMA,
leptospirosis isn’t a core vaccine. This means it’s not recommended for all
dogs in all communities. Whether or not this vaccine is important for your dog
is left completely up to the discretion of your vet.
In my prior, non-holistic practice,
I saw that the lepto component cause the most serious
reactions in my patients. The typical reactions not only included vomiting or
diarrhea, but anaphylaxis with shock or death and serious immune-mediated
diseases, which may manifest as bleeding disorders.
I haven’t used the lepto vaccine in my holistic practice for almost ten years.
Reactions have been virtually eliminated and the incidence of lepto in my patients is extremely rare. The cases we’ve
seen have come in from outside the regular practice clientele. I believe our
general clientele who provide holistic care and natural nutrition to their pets
have given me a patient base of more naturally resistant dogs with stronger
constitutions!
A pet guardian must make a
well-informed decision on the benefits and risks of any vaccine. Obviously, if
the risk is very small and the benefit is a certainty of protection, a loving
pet guardian would be likely to consider vaccination. Nobody wants their pet to
suffer from preventable kidney or liver disease. But can the lepto vaccine prevent it?
Why Lepto Isn’t A Core
Vaccine A leptospira is technically a
spirochete, a corkscrew shaped bacterium; it’s not a virus like parvo or distemper. So the injection given to prevent an
infection with this organism is not really a vaccine, but rather a bacterin. Unlike
viral vaccination, bacterin vaccines like lepto don’t prevent infection; they can only decrease the
severity of symptoms. Unlike many other vaccines, the bacterin
vaccine can be shed in the environment, potentially infecting your dog, other
dogs, wildlife and you.
So, what exactly is the benefit of
the lepto vaccine?
Not only is infection not prevented,
but because symptoms are less severe, you may not notice that your pet is very
ill. You might think your pet has some gastrointestinal upset which will pass.
Instead of seeking veterinary care early on in the disease process, the
infection will brew, causing permanent bodily harm. Without early detection,
leptospirosis is very difficult to treat!
Because the manufacturer of the lepto vaccine has demonstrated that it doesn’t last any
longer than one year, it’s been dubbed an annual vaccine. So this vaccine
potentially solves the problem of how a vet once more gets his patients in
every year.
In reality however, this vaccine
doesn’t even last a year. A dog who is vaccinated with this vaccine receives
well less than one year of inadequate protection but is placed at great risk
for vaccine-related illness.
Hopefully this will help you make an
informed decision on whether the lepto vaccine is
needed for your dog. And remember, only the rabies vaccine is required by law
in the US and Canada (although not in some lucky provinces) But that’s a topic
for another time!