Anti-Vaxxers Have a New Group They Want to “Protect” From Autism: Dogs

As human health trends go, so does animal health. As anti-vaxxers the country over continue to claim that vaccinating your children is just asking for them to be autistic, we’re now seeing some hipsters in Brooklyn forgoing vaccination for their dogs on the very same grounds, Brooklyn Paper reports.

are you JOKING https://t.co/HDXdSwEXH6pic.twitter.com/loS65mUrgN

— Matt Pearce (@mattdpearce) August 1, 2017

The idea here is that some owners are afraid their dogs will become autistic despite veterinarians like Dr. Amy Ford of the Veterinarian Wellness Center of Boerum Hill, claiming, “We’ve never diagnosed autism in a dog. I don’t think you could.” Which makes sense… because they’re dogs.

See, the problem with not vaccinating dogs is that some testy pooches bite people. So if we avoid laws that require inoculating them against things like distemper, hepatitis, and rabies, that means we’re opening ourselves up to those diseases. In five years they’re going to have to remake Old Yeller, but they’ll have to put down some rabid hipster instead of a Mastador.

And it’s not all that easy for dog owners to just steer their pets away from danger because, as Ford notes, “They eat dirt. They eat poop.”

Well put.