Controversy and confusion: revaccination of 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 infectious diseases of dogs and cats (Appel 1999). 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 19705 it caused severe disease and death in both puppies and adult dogs (Pollock and Cannichael 1979). Nowadays, parvoviral enteritis\ud 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 life-threatening companion\ud animal diseases