Are these diseases are basically "gone" like small-pox,mumps and polio?

I am wondering how many list members have ever seen a dog with any of these conditions. Are they over? Is that why people don't want to vaccinate?
If these diseases are gone, then I am super grateful to have been a person who was around to witness that change. My first dog ( rescue pup,l961, ASPCA in NYC) died of canine distemper. Witnessing that suffering changed my life.

i had a rescued litter that were all wiped out by parvo, after being boarded at a vet clinic.on the up side, i had an adult chi who was boarded with them catch it too, and survive. this was 2 years ago now, i believe.

 Quote: betty landercasp

Are these diseases are basically "gone" like small-pox,mumps and polio?
I am wondering how many list members have ever seen a dog with any of these conditions. Are they over? Is that why people don't want to vaccinate?

I can't speak to those who simply do not vaccinate other than the concern is normally the damage that vaccinating does to the immune system.

Personally I vaccinate the puppy series DA2PPv, and then again for distemper and parvo when the dog is 6 years old.

No these diseases are not over and some are fairly common like Parvo and not vaccinating is a calculated decision on the well being of the dog in question. Personally I do believe according to the current protocols being used that we vaccinate too much and vets use this as a gravy train.

I take this away by giving my own shots which reduces the cost of those shots by over 200%. For instance a pack of 50 rabies vaccines from Fort Dodge costs $64 which works out to 1.28 per vaccine. If I were allowed by law to give this shot why on earth wouldn't I vs paying $25 at the vet for it?

Finally the calculated risk portion. Although the vet community is loathe to admit it there is a risk to the current yearly vaccination protocol. It's hard for them to admit at all that there is a side effect window for vaccines, that vaccines can damage the immune system, or that some animals behave differently after vaccines (rabies shots are famous for this). So personally I take it as a calculated risk, yes, my dog may get this virus, but what is the risk of being sick vs the risk of an immune disease. It's the virus we know vs the immune problems we can do nothing about. So personally I take an educated risk on which viruses will kill my dog vs just make them moderately sick.

I vaccinate for parvo distemper at about 12 weeks and again at about 6 months. I buy those shots as single shots and give them myself.
I have the vet vaccinate for rabies at 1 year and every three after that.

Those diseases are still very much real and parvo and distemper are very prevalent in my area.
I have had friends loose dogs to parvo as pups, and a friend who lost her adult dog to distemper, which was a heartbreaking situation.

Betty, I think Melissa summed it up nicely. I did puppy vaccinations before I knew about vaccinosis. I continue to do rabies on a 3 year schedule.

I probably will only do monovalent vaccinations for distemper and parvo on my next pup. Hopefully by then the rabies requirements will be different, based on results from the rabies challenge study.

I do yearly titers for parvo and distemper, in case I need to board her. I do not plan on revaccinating. There is no evidence that I am aware of that dogs lose their immunity to parvo or distemper, but there is plenty of evidence of bad reactions to vaccinations.

It always seemed to me that the yearly boosters were redundant. Problems vaccinating dogs already immune were real, no argument there.
Parvo seemed to come in the late 70s, out of no where, maybe from a mutant
feline virus, if my memory is correct.
I was hoping maybe canine distemper had been stamped out: a frightful, ghastly, heartbreaking and hopeless condition if ever there was one.

Annual vaccinations and spay/neuter are vets' two biggest money makers, along with selling products like heartworm prevention and flea/tick control. Granted, some are necessities, but they still have their biggest markup with them. They want to get you on a regular schedule... for example, 3-yr rabies vaccines are readily available, but most vets still use the one-year, for the simple reason that they are able to get you back in at least once a year. Some states still require annual rabies vax, but that could be easily changed to 3-yr with the assistance of the AVMA.

Right, vaccinations and spay/neuter are what used to pay for the ultrasound machine, the xray machine, the pins for dogs hit by car, the hi-tech stuff that isn't used all the time but is really great when you need it.
Rabies titers don't go up to a long lasting protective place until they have been boosted. I never heard of anyone using a lyr product. We used to give a "3yr" vaccine to all dogs, but if the dog was a pup, and first vaccine at say 4-6 mos, we would boost it a year later- the rabies shot was "good for just one year in a puppy"- I'm pretty sure that's the truth, it requires a booster for long lasting protection.
I myself have been vaccinated for rabies 3x in school and once post exposure. They took titers and kept poking you until you became immune -- sadly, some of us took 3x!
It is a very scary disease that can masquerade as other things. I was glad I had my vaccine history when I was practicing.

I also went thru the rabies vax in school, Betty. Did I understand you to say you've never heard of anyone using a 1-yr product (rabies)? That is still the vax of choice among vets here, and according to my vet it's to keep the clients coming in on an at least an annual basis. Some clients (not the best, of course) only come in for the mandated rabies, but if the vet can at least get them into the clinic then they stand a chance of selling more products. Switch to 3-yr vax, then your chance has been cut dramatically. No disagreement about the rabies vax needing a booster.

Same w/ hw prevention... not necessarily required every 30 days, but it's marketed and sold as a monthly product. "Best to keep clients on a monthly schedule they're familiar with" and not switch to 6-wk schedule.

How did you come to be vaccinated?
I think the vaccine push may have come about when people first began getting their dogs "shots" and vaccine breaks were common, because Distemper was still rampant and there was alot of exposure, of vaccine challenge. Also the concept of maternal immunity blocking vaccine protection was unknown. So the companies tested and found they couldn't guarantee protection unless there were a series of 3 shots, then the yearly booster. You did NOT want to be the vet who charged for "shots" and then put the dog to sleep as it died of distemper or parvo. Time went on and it became a money maker.
The suffering involved with full blown canine distemper, it was just terrible. Vets my age grew up in the polio era too, we FEAR virus. We were all about vaccine, we saw the suffering it could prevent. Pet overpopulation wasnt as much of an issue -pups without vaccine DIED before they could breed. Today, maybe, we got carried away. Too much of a good thing, I don't know.

A cow with neurological problems in the deep winter in Minnesota, daily stomach tubing her, saliva all over my arms, my face, reaching down her throat (she had trouble swallowing). Before she died she became super aggressive. Sent her brain to the U. Symptoms were so like rabies that it was recommended I have the booster while we waited for results. I had a tremendous reaction to that vaccine, fever, shaking chills. I was sure I was dying. The cow ended up having Listeriosis.
Also, I really never did pet medicine, only
livestock and an occasional horse. I hated small animal medicine, it was so arbitrary. It was all on the whim of the client. I hated it. With cattle it was cut and dried. " The cure costs $200. and the cow's worth $1000.-- treat her".
Sorry to go on and on