Majority of US dog owners now skeptical of vaccines

[ergophobe]

Additionally, 37 percent were concerned that vaccines could cause "cognitive issues" in dogs and may lead them to develop autism, a theory not backed up by scientific evidence.

https://www.unmc.edu/healthsecurity/transmission/2023/08/29/majority-of-us-dog-owners-now-skeptical-of-vaccines-including-for-rabies-study/

[Brad]

>rabies

I've been wondering how the anti-vaxxers felt about getting their pets vaccinated and now I know. This is not going to end well.

[littleman]

>end well.

You all remember the movie Cujo?

[ergophobe]

Friend got bitten by a bat recently and we all went into a fright researching rabies.

In 2026 what has always been true is still true: if you wait for symptoms to appear before getting the vaccine, there is a 100% death rate. Rabies is not the measles or Covid or the flu. Heck, it isn't even colon cancer. If you have symptoms, the die is cast.

[rcjordan]

>bat

That'll cost him. About 8 years ago, my niece & family had a rabid racoon in the yard and the dog *may* have encountered it and then *may* have spread the virus by contact with the kids.  The dad is a big dog in high tech, so wealthy with fantastic health insurance.  Even so, IIRC, it was $6-7K each for the full course of RX.

[ergophobe]

I believe it was mostly covered by their insurance.

I say "their" because she got bitten and then he inspected bite in a way the bat expert said ciuld lead to infection. The bat biologist said, "On the one hand it's extremely unlikely it would lead to infection. On the other, once you have symptoms, you're dead."

For the first day, he planned to just assume the odds were low and skip the treatment... but as the idea of dying rattled around his head, he decided to write it off as an expensive and painful (shots supposedly miserable) lesson and never do that again.