Kevin Toman, DVMFounder, Helping Pets Live Longer · Veterinary Longevity Specialist

The Canine Flu Vaccine— Is It Right For YOUR Dog?

25 May 2025 · 4 min

Watch on YouTube

3:49

In this YouTube video, Dr. Kevin Toman, a veterinarian with nearly four decades of clinical experience, scrutinizes the routine, nationwide administration of the canine influenza vaccine. He presents 2025 Merck testing data showing that out of roughly 14,000 dogs screened across the United States, only 14 tested positive for the virus, and those cases were confined to California, Virginia, and Georgia. He notes the virus’s low mortality rate (3‑4%) and its overall rarity (well under one case per thousand dogs). Dr. Toman argues that vaccination should be limited to dogs living in endemic regions or to high‑exposure animals such as working or show dogs. He raises concerns about vaccine‑induced inflammation, citing the prevalence of immune‑related cancers (lymphoma, mast cell tumors, myeloma) in older dogs and the broader link between chronic inflammation, accelerated aging, and death. He concludes by urging pet owners to make vaccine decisions based on individual risk and lifestyle rather than blanket recommendations, and invites viewers to follow his “Longevity Vet” channel and website for more longevity‑focused pet health advice.

Chapters

Well, hello you guys and welcome to The Longevity Vet. I'm Dr. Kevin Toman and I'm glad you're here. Listen, I've been a veterinarian for almost 40 years and during those 4 decades in clinical practice I've seen an awful lot of truths come and go from the veterinary world. Here at The Longevity Vet we're going to take an occasional look at some of those so-called truths to see if they really stack up for you and your pets. Today, let's talk about the canine flu vaccine. Is it an essential vaccine, or is it essentially worthless? We discovered the canine flu back in 2004 and had a vaccine for it by 2009, and every year since then, over 500,000 dogs, probably including yours, have been vaccinated each year religiously by local veterinarians against the canine flu. But here's the question, kids: is that really the right thing to do for our dogs? Well, let's have a look at the data. According to the vaccine manufacturer themselves, a company called Merck, so far in 2025, over 14,000 dogs have been tested nationwide in the United States. And of those 14,000 dogs that were tested across the country, how many positive dogs did they find? A grand total of 14 from only 3 states. They found 7 positive dogs in California, they found 1 in Virginia and 6 in Georgia. More to the point, the current canine flu vax— excuse me, the can— let me try that again. The current canine flu virus has a mortality rate of only around 3 to 4%, and so it's not a very serious disease even if our dogs catch it. So the question I would pose to you is, why are we vaccinating dogs nationwide against a disease that is not very serious, has an incidence rate of well less than a thou— one dog in a thousand, and is found in only three states. Again, California, Virginia, and Georgia. Now listen, if you have a dog in those endemic areas, or if you have a working dog or a show dog exposed to lots of other dogs day in and day out, well, bless your little heart and have them vaccinated against the canine flu virus. But for every other dog in Arizona or Colorado or Illinois or Maine, why in the world are we vaccinating our pets against a disease that just simply doesn't exist in those areas? This is really important to me because I'm a veterinarian who believes that every dog's vaccines should be dictated not by something we've read in the book, but by the actual risks, the actual lifestyle that your dog leads. Also, I worry about the inflammation caused by vaccines. Given the fact that 3 of the most common cancers I see in older dogs—lymphoma, mast cell tumors, and the occasional case of myeloma—are all diseases of the immune system, why in the world am I pissing a dog's immune system off with a vaccine that simply does not need to be given? And third, there's clear evidence that inflammation causes aging. And aging causes death. So again, why in the world are we increasing our dogs' inflammatory load by vaccinating them against a relatively minor disease that does not exist across much of the United States? Listen, these things matter. If they matter to you, follow me. I'm not a YouTube guy, but I'm a veterinarian who is passionate about your pet's health and about longevity science. You can follow me at The Longevity Vet on YouTube, or you can hit me up on my website, www.helpingpetslivelonger.com. I'm Dr. Kevin Toman Toman, and let's get to work.