Gundog Training Forum

shamykebab wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2017 8:20 pm

Gundogs11 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2017 3:15 pm Recently I have heard "horror stories" about the new Lepto 4 vaccination. Obviously there have been many dogs having no issues with the vaccination and this will only reflect a small percentage, but enough to make me think before getting the L4 vaccinations.

"Horror stories"...sigh.

Drugs have extensive, stringent testing and clinical trials to assess safety and efficacy before a license is granted for use and marketing. Stories on Facebook, the Daily Mail, word of mouth etc are just that: stories.

Some people don't seem to know the difference between sheer coincidence, correlation and a causal link. Have any of these dogs that "died because of Lepto 4" had a post mortem carried out? If the vaccination was indeed causing health problems the drug would be recalled.

Unverified scaremongering should not overrule facts and evidence-based medicine to the detriment of health.

I agree with this Shamy, but vets do not always report adverse reactions, so any "evidence" that would cause a recall is ignored.

Vets do not report all minor adverse reactions such as 'off colour', 'small swelling' etc. But they do report near death experiences and fatalities!

Four strain Lepto vaccine update...

This vaccine is safe. It is NOT killing thousands of dogs. The most recent data supplied by the VMD suggests a total reported adverse reaction rate (this is all suspected reaction from swellings to deaths) of less than 6 in 10,000 for L4 and 2 in 10,000 for Lepto 2. So, yes, more reactions are reported to L4 than Lepto 2...but it's newer and human nature is to watch newer drugs more closely for reactions. It is rarely possible to say with certainty that the vaccine was the cause as other products are so often given at the same time (lepto vaccines are often given with DHP and/or kennel cough vaccines, plus parasites control - rightly or wrongly!), so it is important to remember these are 'reported suspected adverse reactions', not proven reactions.

Over the last few years cases of L. bratislava have been reported in the UK (particularly in the South West I think), meaning that L4 vaccination should not be restricted to dogs travelling to Europe as some have suggested.