Note, I am not a veterinarian.  This blog post is for information purposes only and shouldn’t be seen as medical advice. All information provided in this blog about is accurate and true to the best of my knowledge, but that there may be omissions, errors or mistakes.  

Besides being a mom to my two sweet human babies, I am also a dog and cat mom.  I have worked in the veterinary field for the past 7 years.  Keeping your pets healthy so that you can in turn keep yourself and your kids healthy is a topic that is near and dear to my heart.  Oftentimes the medical care for a pet that gets cut when babies start to enter the picture. Unfortunately, vaccines are one of those items that can easily become overlooked and overdue.

Vaccines exist that protect your pet against diseases that are only transmitted between dogs or between cats.  Other vaccines protect against zoonotic diseases, meaning diseases that can be spread from animals to humans.  These are the vaccines we will talk about. Children under the age of 5 are at a greater risk of contracting zoonotic diseases.  I am not here to sway you into reconsidering pet ownership. In fact, owning pets can have a huge positive impact on your children’s health. A 2012 Finnish study found that kids raised in homes with pets have fewer colds, fewer ear infections, and need fewer antibiotics in their first year of life than babies raised in pet-free homes. Pets have a great effect on kids, both on their immune systems and on their emotional development. However, as a pet owner, you need to take the necessary steps to keep your children safe.

You can easily keep you and your child safe by properly vaccinating your pets with the vaccines listed below.

Leptospirosis: (dog only vaccine)

• According to the CDC, “The bacteria that cause leptospirosis are spread through the urine of infected animals, which can get into water or soil and can survive there for weeks to months. Many different kinds of wild and domestic animals carry the bacterium.”
• Symptoms can include, headache, fever, vomiting, jaundice and diarrhea.
• Treated with antibiotics but may require IV fluids and hospitalization.

Rabies: (dog and cat vaccine)

• The most common mode of rabies virus transmission is through the bite and virus-containing saliva of an infected host.
• Once clinical signs of rabies appear, the disease is nearly always fatal, and treatment is typically supportive.
• It is a legal requirement that you keep all of your pets up to date on this vaccine.

Low-cost vaccine clinics or your local animal control are good options if you are unable to afford routine care with your regular veterinarian. Keeping your pet up to date on all other vaccines recommended by your local vet, will help avoid your pet becoming sick with one of those diseases (Parvovirus, Distemper, Feline Leukemia, etc.). This in turn keep your child from the heartbreak of losing a pet to a preventable disease.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of treatment.

Stay posted for my upcoming blog post on “Pet Flea Prevention and your Child’s Health”.