I work at an emergency clinic for pets.  Parvo seems to be especially bad
this year as almost every night at least one case comes into our clinic.
Some we can save, some we can't.  The smell of a dog with an advanced case
of parvo is that of a dead dog--literally.  The dog poops and throws up
bloody body tissue, doesn't eat or drink, and will eventually die an
uncomfortable death.  This is a totally preventable disease.  Cats get
diseases that are just as preventable and just as deadly--do you know what
it's like to watch a cat drown in it's own fluid?  People don't want to
vaccinate their animal because they've never done it before and had no
problems, so why should they now?  Or they use the vaccines bought at the
local feed store, which, in a lot of cases, is like giving the animal an
injection of water due to negligence somewhere along the way, or they will
to buy the cheapest vaccine to save a few bucks.  A good deal of the time
those animals will come down with the disease that the owner is trying to
prevent.  Have you ever seen an animal die of distemper?  That is the most
pathetic thing I think I've seen as far as preventable diseases go.  These
things are totally preventable, but people choose not to spend the $20 for
the vaccine at the vet's office because it is "too expensive", but they
*are* willing to spend the $100's it costs to treat the animal--and they
don't always live.  Instead of paying the hundreds of dollars over a period
of 10 years for yearly vaccinations, people will spend it in one night
trying to save the animal's life.
 
Just don't understand...
[Posted in FML issue 2427]