Rhode Island Rabies Law--Contact Rabies Control Board Now

RI Rabies Law--Contact Rabies Control Board Now

URGENT--Rhode Island's Rabies Control Board is meeting on April 29, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. in Room 370 (room 300 alternate) Conference Room Division of Agriculture at 235 Promenade Street in Providence, RI. On the Agenda http://www2.sec.state.ri.us/omfiling...2009/72956.pdf is changing the state regulation from requiring dogs and cats to be vaccinated every 2 years against rabies to the 3 year national standard with the inclusion of a medical exemption for sick animals.

Please contact the members of the Rabies Control Board (e-mails listed below) and ask them to change the rabies protocol to 3 years and include a medical exemption clause. Ask any concerned pet owner you know to do the same.

Rabies Control Board Members

Dr. Scott Marshall State Veterinarian and Chair of the Rabies Control Board 401-222-2781 ext. 4503
Betsy Hanson
Charles Brown
Utpala Bandy
Dave Holden
Dr. Christopher Hannafin

Board OKs Change in Rabies Policy Providence Journal News Digest May 1, 2009 http://www.projo.com/news/content/ne...4.38640bf.html


"PROVIDENCE –– The Rhode Island Rabies Control Board has approved a change in policy that could pave the way for regulations that will allow the vaccination of dogs and cats every three years, rather than every two years.

The rabies board also voted its support for regulatory language that would empower veterinarians to exempt certain pets from vaccination requirements under special circumstances, Marshall said. "

For indoor cats I don't like that shot AT ALL. I knew a couple people
who's cat got a sarcoma from that shot. It's not required where I live
(for cats), but I think in some counties in IL it is, depends where you
live. I don't think I'd get my indoor cats one even if it was though.
Leukemia ia another that can cause sarcoma's. No shots where I live are
required for cats....but I still get my cats the distemper one.

Tue, 5 May 2009 02:35:13 -0500 from Gloria :
For indoor cats I don't like that shot AT ALL. I knew a couple people
who's cat got a sarcoma from that shot. It's not required where I live
(for cats), but I think in some counties in IL it is, depends where you
live. I don't think I'd get my indoor cats one even if it was though.
Leukemia ia another that can cause sarcoma's. No shots where I live are
required for cats....but I still get my cats the distemper one.

My cat is strictly an indoor one, but I wonder about airborne
infections. His annual checkup is coming in a few weeks, and I'll
ask my vet.

Also there's the possibility of an indoor cat getting out and getting
into trouble with another animal. Though that scenario may not be
likely, with something like rabies I'm not inclined to take chances.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com
Shikata ga nai...

I, too, would not take a chance, even with an indoor cat, of not vaccinating against rabies. Last winter 3 of my 4 friends who had bats enter their houses had cats that got hold of the bat -- luckily, they were fully vaccinated against rabies.

Felines are far more prone to vaccine-associated sarcomas than dogs are, so you do want to be careful not to overvaccinate them. Below are some links to more information that may be helpful to you.


The following is a link that will take you to the American Association of Feline Practioners website. http://www.aafponline.org/about_guidlines.htm Click on the icon for "Feline Vaccination Guidelines".

Veterinarian, Dr. Bob Rogers', "New Vaccination Protocols" http://www.newvaccinationprotocols.com/

Dr. Pitcairn also practices veterinary Homeopathy; for another great article on Vaccinations, you can read Dr. Hamilton's article (he wrote this with permission for the cat site, but the info re vax is just as valid for dogs; his book expands upon it a little further even) at:
http://www.holisticat.com/vaccinations.html

Feline Vaccine-Associated Sarcoma Awareness http://www.vas-awareness.org/
VAS Links: http://catvaccines.misterlinks.com/cv-vas.htm

http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/heal...uidelines.html (a summary of the AAFP guidelines)

The Feline Practitioners report for 2000 talks about the decreased use of vaccinations http://www.vet-lyon.fr/ens/immuno/T1...ccines2000.pdf. They have elsewhere recommended giving injections in limbs per the manufactuters recommendations - that being, so that if the cat develops vaccine-induced sarcoma, the leg can be amputated. Here are sites with various info regarding feline vaccines.

http://maxshouse.com/vaccine_induced_sarcoma.htm
http://maxshouse.com/vaccine_protocols.htm
http://www.avma.org/publications/jav...stf_050601.asp
http://www.api4animals.org/558.htm

The American Veterinary Medical Association actually established a Vaccine-Associated Feline Sarcoma Task Force in 1996 "in response to the increased incidence of soft tissue sarcomas occurring at vaccination sites." This link will take you to the AVMA website http://www.avma.org/vafstf/default.asp.

This link http://www.avma.org/vafstf/vafstf01.asp will take you to the 2001
Report of the Vaccine-Associated Feline Sarcoma Task Force, which states that: "Most killed-virus vaccines contain adjuvants to enhance the immune response, and injection of some killed-virus vaccines has been shown to result in inflammatory granulomas in cats.2 Some of these inflammatory granulomas to progress to sarcomas.3"

Rabies vaccines are killed, adjuvanted vaccines.

At the end of April 2009, Rhode Island's Rabies Control Board approved a change to allow for a 3 year protocol, yet no date has been set for it to become effective. Concerned pet owners should contact their legislators http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/ and the Chair of the Board, State Veterinarian Dr. Scott Marshall at 401-222-2781 to insist this policy change becomes effective.

RHODE ISLAND - Board OKs Change in Rabies Policy Providence Journal News Digest May 1, 2009 http://www.projo.com/news/content/ne...4.38640bf.html "PROVIDENCE –– The Rhode Island Rabies Control Board has approved a change in policy that could pave the way for regulations that will allow the vaccination of dogs and cats every three years, rather than every two years. "

RHODE ISLAND Rabies Control Board meets February 22 at 9:30 a.m. Room 370, Division of Agriculture, 235 Promenade Street, Providence-- New 3 year rabies regulations to be discussed. http://sos.ri.gov/documents/publicin...2010/84585.pdf Concerned pet owners should make every effort to attend this meeting and ask their friends to do the same.

If you cannot attend the meeting, but want to voice your opinion, please contact the Chair of the Board, RI State Veterinarian, Dr. Scott Marshall at phone: (401) 222-2781 ext. 4503 and ask that the regulatory change to the 3 year protocol be made effective as soon as possible.

New R.I. Rabies Regulations Close to Approval, Providence Journal 2/21/10 http://www.projo.com/health/content/...3.36f414d.html

"New rules, expected to go into effect about March 16, change the mandatory vaccination period from two to three years.

In the meantime, the state veterinarian, Dr. Scott Marshall, has created a transitional policy so that pets now protected aren’t reimmunized unnecessarily just because the old regulations have not yet expired. "

If you have questions about the transition policy, contact Dr. Scott Marshall at phone: (401) 222-2781 ext. 4503