Vaccinate pets, be responsible owners
Metro, 21 Sept 2005

MORE than 4,000 pets were vaccinated in July during Malaysia's first ever nation-wide pet vaccination campaign.  

The Friends of Responsible Pet Ownership (FRPO) announced yesterday that 1,837 new pets were vaccinated in the month-long campaign entitled Pet Vaccination Month 2005. 

It met the objective of its org-anisers. 

Malaysian Small Animal Vete-rinary Association former president Dr P. Vanaja said she was pleased with the results of the campaign. 

The main objective of the campaign was to encourage pet owners across Malaysia to vaccinate their pets and we are glad that 1,837 were vaccinated for the first time, meaning new vaccinations made up 44.3% of the total 4,145 vaccinations recorded,” she said. She also said many pet owners are unaware  of  the need to vaccinate pets

and would bring their pets to the vet when common infectious diseases are at a mature stage, making it difficult for the veterinary surgeon to save the animal. 

“These sort of situations could easily be prevented if they had just vaccinated the animal,” she added. 

The campaign was organised by FRPO in partnership with participating veterinary clinics nationwide with the aim of educating the public on the importance of pet vaccination and as the first step towards responsible pet ownership.  

The public was able to vaccinate their pets at a subsidised rate of RM25 during the campaign.  

Dr Vanaja added that the campaign was also successful in helping veterinarians establish relationships with their neighbourhood pet owners.  

Universiti Putra Malaysia faculty of veterinary medicine dean Prof Dr Zamri Saad said they were pleased with the outcome and it was a positive sign that the veterinary community had taken a “great effort” to spread the educational message to the public. 

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Selangor chairman Christine Chin said the welfare of animals is an extremely important responsibility, which required commitment from owners. 

Pedigree and Whiskas pet foods country manager Chan Chow Keong said he hoped pet owners would take this programme as a first step of commitment to their pets and would continue to take the necessary steps to ensure their pets remain healthy.