The book that I read was called “Vaccine Guide for Dogs and Cats: What Every Pet Lover Should Know”. This book worked perfect for my topic because it gave a strong perspective on people’s beliefs against vaccines and why they don’t like them. My stance is vaccines should, for the most part, be used on animals. So, it is interesting to read about the counterargument to this.
Catherine J.M. Diodati wrote this book to inform pet lovers about the effects vaccines create and alternatives to them. Diodati backs up her reasons with true “horror” stories of animals and the health issues they have experienced after receiving shots. She also adds in virtually every vaccination available to a cat or dog currently, and a description about each. This section better educates the owner on each vaccine is. It can help them decide for themselves what they feel is important for their pet to receive. Because this is a book against vaccines, Catherine ends it with a list and description of holistic treatments for pets. She considers these all alternates to the generic vaccine. Catherine, herself, is considered a “vaccine expert” on humans and pets. She educates and informs all over the world. Even though Catherine does not have her DVM, she has consulted different pet hospitals and doctors to back up her claim.
Although Diodati makes some good points about negative effects of vaccines, I still feel they are important. Her arguments have leaded me to think about counterarguments to each. They have also prompted me to have some “exceptions” to my stance. Diodatis book did not change my stance because she has few examples to back up her reasoning. Out of the millions of house pets that get vaccinated, she used the very few examples, that something went wrong, and ultimately blamed it on the vaccine. She failed to note the millions of other cases where vaccinations didn’t create problems. I appreciate the effort the author makes to find organic treatments. But overall, there is no substitute for the protection against diseases. The only way to ensure all animals don’t suffer from diseases is by providing the same vaccines for all.