Revaccination intervals for adult dogs and cats: an update

[Extract] Over the last 40-50 years companion animal vaccines have helped substantially to reduce the incidence of potentially fatal diseases of dogs and cats. Before the introduction of routine vaccination in the early 1960s, canine distemper was regularly encountered by veterinarians. Nowadays, it is extremely unusual to see a case in most developed, temperate countries. Similarly, when canine parvoviral enteritis first appeared in the late 1970s it caused severe disease and death in both puppies and adult dogs. Nowadays, parvoviral enteritis is seen much less frequently; and then almost invariably in young dogs that have been inadequately vaccinated. Infectious canine hepatitis and feline panleucopenia-two more diseases against which we routinely vaccinate-have also become very uncommon in many parts of the world. In large part, vaccination should be given the credit for reducing the incidence of these lifethreatening companion animal diseases. Why then, in recent years, have our companion animal vaccination protocols come in for so much scrutiny? Why have some leading veterinary associations and hospitals around the world decided to advocate and/or practice less frequent revaccination of adult dogs and cats (against some diseases) than vaccine manufacturers recommend? The answer to this question comes in two main parts, the first concerning the safety of companion animal vaccines and the second the duration of immunity induced by modern vaccines. In this article, I shall aim to review arguments for and against regular, frequent revaccination of adult dogs and cats. At the end of the article, I shall offer some recommendations