Vaccination

As Osaka moves from winter towards spring, there are a lot of rainy days. Hope you’re getting better weather where you are! We want to go for walks, but with all the rain they frequently get put on hold…

However, the vet is one place you have to go come rain, hail or shine!

This week a new member of the Design Team, Eri, came with us to the vet…for that rabies shot. No, Kotaro still hadn’t had it. It was surprisingly difficult to find time in which to go. (And by the way, this time I noticed for the first time that the outside of the vet’s building looks like Kotaro!)

Rabies sounds like a disease from quite a while ago, but even today any mammal–even humans–can be infected. Scary!

It’s apparently the disease with the highest fatality rate, so getting a vaccination is very important.

In Japan, the rabies prevention laws made dog registration and vaccination mandatory, even for house dogs. Dogs 91 days old or more have to have one injection each year.

The countries and regions in which rabies is currently non-occurring are:
Japan, England, Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Taiwan, Hawaii, Guam, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, the Maldives, and Phuket. It’s not that many!

In Japan, there have been no cases of rabies since 1956, when vaccination became compulsory.

And that’s why Kotaro got his vaccination, just as he was supposed to!

At the entrance to the vet’s he was so busy sniffing that he didn’t even notice the arrival of a new friend.

(Kotaro: A friend? Where?)

First, they measured how heavy he was. (He was 10.65kg.)
Then they took his temperature. (Completely normal!)

The reason for his unhappy expression is that the thermometer is one of those ones that’s inserted…below.
That wasn’t much fun, was it Kotaro?

(Kotaro: I hate thermometers!)

When he got the injection he was quiet and very well behaved, just like always.

(Kotaro: Was that a mosquito?)

The vet told us that we had to watch Kotaro for an hour after the injection. There was the possibility that we might have had to head straight back there. But happily, Kotaro was fine as always.

On the way back we checked out some plants.

And he seemed to have fun going back into the underground carpark.

(Kotaro: Stairs are so much fun!)

Next time we’re going to write about Japan’s animal insurance.

-Jowen
Editor, Kotaro’s Blog

(Reference Supervision: Eri)
(References: Wikipedia Japan, Sapporo Animal Control Center)
[Photos: Jowen]

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