More than half of U.S. dog owners expressed concerns about vaccinating their dogs, including against rabies, according to a new study published Saturday in the journal Vaccine. The study comes as anti-vaccine sentiments among humans have exploded in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pets are now often considered to be a member of the family, and their health-care decisions are weighed with the same gravity. But the consequences of not vaccinating animals can be just as dire as humans. Dogs, for example, are responsible for 99% of rabies cases globally. Rabies, which is often transmitted via a bite, is almost always fatal for animals and people once clinical signs appear. A drop in rabies vaccination could constitute a serious public health threat.
In the new study, the authors surveyed 2,200 people and found 53% had some concern about the safety, efficacy or necessity of canine vaccines. Nearly 40% were concerned that vaccines could cause dogs to develop autism, a theory without any scientific merit.
And then they should be spayed or neutered, for responsible population control.
People who don’t spay or neuter their pets piss me off. We don’t need more dogs in the world. More dogs means more of them suffer through neglect and abuse. We need fewer dogs and better owners.
True for any pet…I lost count of how many kittens are impossible to save because they grew as strays. So many of them. I try to do something and I feel like sh1t after seeing how many of those attempts failed, it’s depressing and i am a tad too sensitive for this. Neuter your pet please, I don’t want to see any more neglected pets…
I think it might even be more true for cats than for dogs. I’ve seen a lot more stray cats than stray dogs anyway.
I believe you mean to spay or neuter the animal, right? Not the pet, but the animal who prevented the pet from receiving the vaccine.