Just my two cents about vaccines.
Nobody I know of has suffered from or died from Polio. We have vaccines to thank for that.
It is one example of a debilitating, crippling disease that is largely non-existant in North America because of vaccinations.
HOWEVER.
When we vaccinate against anything and everything, as MSD pointed out we aren't neccessarily doing ourselves any good.
These days I think the world over-medicates and over-vaccinates. Got a head cold for example? Take some antibiotics, nevermind the fact that if it's a virus you're doing yourself no earthly good.
Just the other day I was watching the Belmont on TV, and they reported that a horse named Incognito was the only horse running in the race who ISN'T on the diuretic Lasix. FYI, horses are given Lasix (sp?) to prevent them from BLEEDING INTO THEIR LUNGS when they run. Gone are the days when people simply didn't run or breed "bleeders." Now they just medicate the crap out of them and onto the track they go!!!
I don't want that for my rabbits. Would I be crushed if in the future my finest champion with ideal type and coat suddenly blew white snot? HECK YES. I'd be devastated!!! And I'd cull that fine rabbit and say "what a shame" and try to look on the bright side that culling the weak leaves genetically superior animals in it's wake.
I want healthy animals. I do not want to coddle them with a pasturella vaccine. If a rabbit is flawed or exceptionally suceptible to disease, I don't want to propagate that in my lines. Especially since there are so many different strains of pasturella!!! I could spend a small fortune to vaccinate all my rabbits against strain A of the disease........ONLY TO HAVE THEM ALL SUCUMB AND DIE OF STRAIN B, for example.
Yes, rabbits do stress easily and their immune systems falter when stressed. To this end, I'm trying to keep an eye on temperament...calmer rabbits who cope with drastic changes and trips to shows without freaking or acting stressed will help my lines stay healthy. For example, Breezy will stretch out and sleep at a show...she'll gladly take treats and food at a show, she'll drink when thirsty and generally acts docile and calm. Probably all of my future Mini Rex will be related to her. Liz, one of my other MR does, is a skittish thing who freaks at the slightest change and panics over anything. I will be watching her litter closely for temperament, and as soon as I either get a good replacement kit out of her OR decide her temperament is genetic and not caused by being bought/sold repeatedly without much handling, she will be removed from my herd. I see her as a possible health risk...again, I'm hoping she's a nutter because of her situation and not her base personality...time will tell. Also, being bred to a very docile, calm buck helps my odds a little.
Disease resistance is so much more complex than just "shoot 'em up with this vaccine" these days. One of the things I've taken away from my human Anatomy and Physiology class is that we are amazingly complex beings...and our rabbits' bodies are no less amazing. A vaccine isn't a magic bullet.
Am I anti-vaccine? No! If tomorrow there was a deadly virus that swept the nation's rabbits, and a vaccine was made to halt it's progress and make it a thing of the past, I'd be all for it!!! I'd vaccine for sure! But I'd want to know for a fact that we'd stamp the disease out (a la Polio) before vaccinating.
I also know that sometimes, vaccines don't work. My dear kitty, Merlot...he had allergies, an immunity disorder (not disease-caused, his was genetic) and he was vaccinated against EVERYTHING. He contracted feline distemper when he was a year and a month old, and died swiftly even with veterinary care. When I heard his diagnosis I was stunned! He'd been VACCINATED against that! But the vet said that his body was so genetically flawed he couldn't produce the antibodies that would fight the infection. In other words, all the $$ I spent to vaccinate my cat, to protect him, did NOTHING WHATSOEVER.
I miss that delightful cat. He lived such a short life.
