Groomers care deeply about pet health, so why is a dangerous trend spreading in our industry?

I recall a time when my dad messaged the story of how he lost his first puppy. He was about the age my youngest son is now, around 8. An age where you have some understanding of the world but not yet a deep understanding or an ability to process emotions without the help of an adult. My dad would have got his puppy in the late sixties, when adults didn't process emotions well let alone teach their children how to. It was still a time where boys weren't allowed to cry and my dad would have had the belt if he did.

This puppy was the friend he needed and I could tell what joy that puppy brought to him when he described the day it was gifted to him from his mum. My dad grew up in a poor area and this was a huge treat that he truly appreciated. You can imagine the fun he must have had with his new puppy but my dad doesn't remember much of that. What he does remember is noticing the puppy go off its food and trying to sneak it treats of meat from his dinner without being noticed. He remembers the puppy starting to sneeze with mucous coming out of its nose. He remembers feeling relieved that it was just a cold and making sure the puppy always had fresh water. He remembers the puppy shivering violently and wrapping it up in a blanket. He remembers it going on for over a week and nothing he did helped the puppy get better. He remembers the tremours becoming more violent and he remembers the puppy having a seizure and dying in the garden while he watched helplessly. He watched canine distemper virus take his new puppy away in an agonising death. He remembers that very well. "Don't worry", his mum urged him, "we'll just get you another one". She didn't know what else to do. 

Canine distemper virus has an 80% mortality rate in puppies. If you seek treatment early there's a 20% chance the puppy will survive but treatment is aggressive with antibiotics and fluids, pain relief and fever medication. Prevention really is better than the cure yet there's a growing trend amongst groomers who are against vaccinations. Groomers who are supposed to advocate for pet health are not vaccinating their own dogs. These groomers are also cleaning their salons with flash or Dettol, which doesn't destroy these disease-causing pathogens. Distemper and parvovirus are non-enveloped viruses, which means they lack a lipid membrane (envelope) surrounding their protein shell, or capsid. Because they lack this fragile lipid layer, they are highly robust and resistant to environmental stressors like heat, harsh detergents, extreme pH, and dryness. They require virucidal disinfectants tested to EN standards, such as Virkon S or Anigene.

These dog groomers are resolutely failing to safeguard not only their own pets but also their clients. They don't disclose this information to their customers, they're proud to be natural.

No veterinarian will deny there are risks associated with vaccines but the risk of death from the leptospirosis vaccine in the UK is 0.0017%–0.0033%. That's less than 1 death in every 10 000 dogs vaccinated. Risks of adverse reactions are also rare.

Historically, canine distemper virus was a major killer of dogs in the UK until vaccines were introduced. In the early 20th century, Distemper was the "black death" for dogs in the UK. It was so devastating that a popular country magazine called The Field actually started a massive public fundraising campaign to find a cure. Researchers Laidlaw and Dunkin, working in London, successfully developed the first effective vaccine against Distemper in the early 1930s. Early versions were "killed" vaccines, which weren't very strong, and the Modified Live Vaccines (MLV) we use today were perfected and became widely available in the UK by the late 1950s. These vaccines existed when my dad got his puppy, but they weren't yet "routine" for families in poorer areas. It was often seen as a luxury for "pedigree" dogs or show dogs, rather than a basic necessity for every pet. His meant that these nasty diseases were still around and a major risk to vulnerable dogs.

When puppies are born, they get temporary protection from their mother’s milk (colostrum). However, these antibodies eventually fade. There is a window of time where the mother’s protection is too low to fight off a virus, but the puppy is still too young for their own vaccines to be fully effective. This is when they are most vulnerable and why today it's common practice to not take puppies out until they've been fully vaccinated. But many groomers are now avoiding vaccinations because of the media hype around the more modern leptospirosis vaccine and are avoiding all vaccines as a result. What's protected vulnerable dogs up until now is herd immunity. When a disease pathogen can't find a host or will eventually die and won't spread. Since the practice of vaccinating all puppies since the 1950s, these once common, deadly diseases have become rare. With the growing trend of anti-vaxxers, these diseases will be on the rise and will put many puppies and vulnerable dogs at risk. 

Not all vulnerable dogs are puppies either. When I fell pregnant for the first time, the midwife found that I had no immunity against MMR via a routine blood test. She asked if I'd received it as a child and my mum assured me that I had but I was given it again shortly after labour as a precaution. When I fell pregnant with my second child the midwife informed me that I had no immunity against MMR. When I told her I had had it two years previously she explained that sometimes our bodies reject the vaccine and treat it as a foreign body. This meant that my only protection against measles, mumps and rubella was herd immunity. People who choose not to vaccinate their children are choosing to put the health of their children and of people like at risk as they are creating the opportunity for these diseases to grow again. The risks of adverse side effects from traditional vaccines are extremely low and no medicine is risk free. So, if you're taking paracetamol or inhalers or any other medication for your ailments, you are risking some side effects. Taking any form of medicine and not vaccinating is the epitome of double standards, and quite frankly, it's selfish. Unless you want to live on an island and be completely self-sufficient, you're part of a community and sometimes we have to make conscious choices for the greater good.

If you choose to bypass the simple and most effective method of prevention, I hope you remain a minority and don't have to endure the trauma my Dad did as a young boy. Especially since you're making that decision for an animal with no voice.