There are two types of rabies vaccination available on the market now. One is an adjuvanted vaccine, one is a non-adjuvanted vaccineThanks, Denice - that means a lot. It was Flint McCullough (above) who said the rabies vaccine is every year now, unless I misunderstood him? It doesn't matter though really. He said that one of them (the 3-year?) causes sarcomas. It seems a lot of vaccines are being linked to disease.
(From Wiki on adjuvants: "Immunologic adjuvants are added to vaccines to stimulate the immune system's response to the target antigen, but do not in themselves confer immunity. Adjuvants can act in various ways in presenting an antigen to the immune system. Adjuvants can act as a depot for the antigen, presenting the antigen over a long period of time, thus maximizing the immune response before the body clears the antigen. Examples of depot type adjuvants are oil emulsions. Adjuvants can also act as an irritant which causes the body to recruit and amplify its immune response.")
The adjuvanted vaccine is the old, traditional rabies vaccination, which conferred immunity for 3 years after the initial boosters. Many vets and state laws recommended an annual vaccination DESPITE the three-year activity of the vaccine. This vaccine is associated with vaccine-site sarcomas, which is why the non-adjuvanted rabies vaccine was developed.
The non-adjuvanted rabies vaccination came on the market with instructions for every-year use. But a recent study shows that it confers active immunity for at least three years! I posted that link above. ( http://winnfelinehealth.blogspot.com/2013/06/long-term-immunity-to-rabies.html )
So there is a HUGE disconnect between laws, policies (with the AAFP considering rabies to be non-core!), and what gets done.
Even the ones that haven't yet been may eventually be linked to some chronic or fatal disease. I'm not taking any chances, even with the rabies vaccine. I think the chances of my cats developing a sarcoma or CRF are MUCH greater than the risk of their ever contracting rabies or distemper as they are indoor-only cats. I've owned 9 cats over the years (if I didn't miss any), and two of these developed CRF and died. Others died young, so the count may have been even higher had they lived to old age. Actually, I even wonder if they died young because of some vaccine, as back then I had them vaccinated yearly. One died of fatty liver disease at the age of 2 - his skin and the whites of his eyes turned yellow. The next cat I got died of FIP at the age of 2, and he had even been vaccinated against it. His first symptom was mange, as he wasn't able to fight the microscopic mites off that all cats have. The next one I got is the cat in the picture - Kermie - and at the age of 3 he was diagnosed with CRF already. That's 3 cats in a row - I was starting to think I had some kind of curse on me. I had 2 cats die of heart attacks a year apart, and they weren't very old, probably 8. I know one had an enlarged heart at a young age already. I didn't even know cats could have heart attacks. And the cries they made? - they howled and writhed in pain, falling to the floor and flipping around until their was no life left in them. With the first one, I drove her to an emergency clinic, and she died there. The second one, I didn't even bother. It was very difficult to watch, to be so helpless to help them. It was all so sudden.
It seems I haven't had much luck with cats, so the two I have now I am going coddle. The shelter I got them from had give them some of their first vaccines while they were there. I believe I was required by them to submit proof that they had received the rest of their first vaccines, and also proof that I'd had them neutered. Aside from those vaccines, they haven't gotten any since. I feed these cats the best foods, take them to the vet when they're sick - no matter how much it costs. I give them spring water instead of tap. I give them love. I worry constantly that those few vaccines they received might eventually take their lives, but I also read that the risk of vaccine-related CRF increases with every distemper booster they receive. So I'm hoping that my decision to forego further vaccination will prevent their lives from being cut short.
Vaccines though aren't anything to be playing around with, as we don't know every detail about how the immune system will respond when a virus is artificially introduced. We think we do, but we don't. So assurances by the AMA, CDC, whoever, are not enough for me. These are viruses - live, killed, or weakened, and the immune system will launch an attack against the virus and anything foreign that might be attached to it. I really wish they would tell us what these viruses are grown in. I know one vaccine (the flu shot?) is grown in eggs, and I happen to have an egg allergy. Not a coincidence, if you ask me.
As the information sheets by the AVMA and the USDA indicate, there's still a LOT of research that needs to be done.
The bottom line is that vaccinations should be based on risk-assessment. And even then, titre testing can be done, to determine if vaccinations are even necessary.