To rant, or not to rant

A soliloquy on the evils of misinformation

The dog-peeve

It should be a pet peeve.  But I am a DogNut, and this is a dog blog (isn't that cute? and I am sure it is completely original HA HA) so it is a dog-peeve today.  I have truly debated today, blog a rant, or not? Right, wrong...here goes. 

For some inexplicable reason, there are people in the world that get an idea (about which they are sadly misinformed) and feel obliged to misinform a whole mess of other gullible people.  

This could easily be applied to many disciplines from politics to religion to...wait for it...dum, dum, dum......animal health care!!!  It's true, I consider myself reasonably well educated in this area, and while I am comfortable with people holding opposing viewpoints, I am hugely opposed to people trying to misinform others, potentially putting others' pets at risk.  This is where I start the slow boil.  Nope.   It is a rolling boil!!!

Let me start with a little background.  I am a Registered Veterinary Technician in the state of Iowa.  What does that mean? It means I have an AAS in Veterinary Technology from an AVMA accredited program, and that I have taken and passed both the state and national board exams. (as an aside, I also have a BS in Equine Science....critters are in my blood)  I have had 15 years experience in the field.  I have taught in the veterinary technician program at Muscatine Community College.  I have (and still do) work for the practice that was literally the FIRST practice in Iowa to adopt the minimal vaccine protocol for dogs and cats, even prior to it being adopted by the AVMA and AAHA.  I have an intense interest in animal health and immunology/ vaccinology and our practice stays on top of current thinking in veterinary medicine. I am proud of the practice where I work for those reasons, and more.

There are those in the world that will believe whatever dramatic thing they read on the net. They are choosing to not educate themselves. I worry something fierce about their pets. 

I have concluded that there are myth spreaders, sad souls that  need attention.  To that end, they will find a little piece of truth and exploit it.  They dramatize it, and make it more that it is, and get a lot of Oooooos and Ahhhhhhs from folks that love their pets SO much the gullible among us choose to believe what they hear and take risks with their pets, with their very best intentions!!! 

Having said that, I want to be very clear that I respect the right of each pet owner to choose how to care for  their animals.  All I wish, is that the clients make choices from a place of good education.  There is a lot of bad information on the web.  Be careful, be clear, and understand what decision you are actually making. There are seldom single right answers in veterinary medicine.  There are personal choices and each choice should be made by the owner with his/her specific circumstance in mind. And each choice is to be respected and not to be judged.

Let me finally get to the point of my rant. In the past month  I have seen instructions from a well-intentioned breeder regarding the vaccine protocol that was expected the puppy owners to follow.  Reasoning:  I have seen too many puppies crippled from distemper vaccine.

I could point out the incidence of crippling vaccine reactions (and the bad pseudoscience blaming the vaccine) vs the incidence of other reactions vs no reactions.  But you get the point.

Then I received a post on Facebook containing an article on the evils of Lyme vaccine.  The post was followed by a pitiful response of owners grateful for the warning of the poison their veterinarian was forcing on them for monetary gain.  I had to point out that the information in the article was from 2001.  Much had changed and the article contained no relevant information.

Today it is an article of the vast veterinary conspiracy that the veterinary community is trying to pull on the dog owning public in an effort to sell heart-worm prevention and tests.  No comment.

Sigh.  

The non-rant  or .... the good news

And then I realized the real truth.  I don't personally know any of these people.  The people I know, are well informed themselves.  The people I know, seek veterinary professionals that they trust, and they know is not scheming to cause ill-health to their pets for profit.  That is my best advise, and no one I know even needs it!!! 

So my conclusion?  Stop reading the garbage Judi!  Recognize the sensible and wonderful dog friends that you know, and be happy that they aren't the sad and gullible folks that prefer to take lay-advise from the internet over the advise of their veterinarian.  Quit fretting about things you can not control.  And for pity's sake...block the posts from those that post them!

Time to go play with my puppies, who by the way, if you didn't know?  Are the light of my life. :D