HESC will be assisting in April with the Rabies Campaign held by Vets4Change and Mphumalanga Veterinarian Services with Dr Johan Kotze as Chairperson of the National Rabies Campaign.
What you should know about vaccination
Vaccinations protect your pet from several highly contagious diseases such as canine distemper, parvovirus infection and respiratory tract infections. It also protects against transmissible diseases such as rabies that also pose a risk to humans. Vaccination will not cure a pet that is already sick. Only healthy pets should be vaccinated. A veterinarian or a veterinary nurse administers vaccines.
Are there any risks?
The majority of pets experience no adverse effects following vaccination. A small number of animals may become feverish and have a reduced appetite. These reactions are mild and of short duration. In extremely rare cases, an animal may experience a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction. Such an animal can be treated successfully if attended to immediately. The possibility of such an event occurring does not justify considering not to vaccinate your pets, however, as that will leave them susceptible to a range of life-threatening infectious diseases.
Against what diseases should I have my pet vaccinated?
Vaccines used for the protection of pets are currently divided into core vaccines and non-core vaccines. The former are vaccines that should be given to all pets in all regions because they protect against diseases that are widespread and have serious effects. Non-core vaccines are only given strategically when a particular disease is prevalent in an area or when circumstances predispose to the appearance of the disease. Non-core vaccines are only administered after discussion with your veterinarian to evaluate the risks.
The World Health Organisation stipulates that 70%of a dog population/community needs to be vaccinated to prevent rabies from spreading/to eradicate rabies. Thus far, due to our teams walking miles and relentlessly hunting down every dog and cat in these communities, we are reaching more than that percentage per day. An official dog count has never been done in this area and for the first time, due to our GPS data collection method, we will be able to provide the government with highly accurate figures of dog population, numbers of rabies cases and numbers vaccinated/not vaccinated animals. This is a huge task, but all that matters is that we are making the difference and saving lives! Thank you to all supporting us!
