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Vaccinating Dogs: 10 Steps to Eliminating Unnecessary Shots
Written by Jan on April 22, 2009 – 9:11 am Permission to reprint or publish on your website, newsletter or blog is granted providing you give this attribution: Jan Rasmusen is the award-winning author of Scared Poopless: The Straight Scoop on Dog Care. Learn more about her book and sign up for her free newsletter at www.Dogs4Dogs.com
When vaccinating our dogs, most of us rely on our vets, trusting that their advice is up-to-date and not biased by economic or political concerns. Unfortunately, unless vets stay current on veterinary journal reading (no easy task) … and actually assimilate new findings … and decide to forgo significant vaccination income, their advice may lag well behind many years behind what experts now advocate.
Vaccination is a serious medical procedure with the potential for adversely affecting health, both in the short and long term. Experts now advise us to vaccinate each dog according to his or her individual needs. But how do you cut back without endangering your dog's health? Here are 10 ways to eliminate unnecessary shots while actually improving pet health.
- Always consider locale, lifestyle, risk and vaccine effectiveness. Bordetella (kennel cough) is for dogs in poorly-ventilated close quarters (like kennels), not for pets sometimes playing with others. Leptospirosis is a disease of wetlands and woodlands, and the vaccine may not protect against the actual disease in your area. Lyme is only for dogs in areas with Lyme disease. Furthermore, each of these vaccines has dangerous side effects and their efficacy is questionable. Don't give them without proven need and benefit.
- Eliminate vaccines on the "not recommended" list of the American Hospital Association's Canine Vaccine Task Force as well as most veterinary organizations and schools. These include Giardia and Coronavirus (found in many combination shots).
- Say no! to combination shots. Combo shots (called names like DHLPPC) assault your dog's immune system with five or seven vaccines at once. Given for (false) economy and convenience rather than health or safety, combination shots are linked to autoimmune disease and other major health problems. Also, they invariably contain unnecessary and even dangerous vaccines.
- Stop vaccinating against diseases for which your dog may already have immunity. Blood serological studies show that parvovirus vaccines given to dogs over 15-16 weeks of age generally give at least 7 years of immunity, as does the Rockborn distemper strain. (The Onderstepoort strain gives 5 years.) Ask your vet which vaccine your dog received.
- Don't allow your vet, kennel owner or groomer to intimidate you into giving unnecessary shots. Suggest titer testing for parvovirus or distemper — or go elsewhere. Require written proof from experts that your dog needs any shot. Your dog's lifelong health is at stake.
- Test immunity; don't automatically re-vaccinate. Titer tests (pronounced TIGHT er) are blood tests measuring antibodies to disease. Renowned pet vaccination expert Dr. Ron Schultz believes that titer tests yielding strong titers for parvovirus and distemper means not vaccinating against these diseases for years and maybe life. (Note: Don't expect everyone to accept test results in lieu of vaccination. This subject is complicated, and most people are programmed to think of vaccination as "the gold standard." Also, the absence of strong titers does not necessarily mean that a dog needs a "booster.") Read my article on titer testing here at Truth4Dogs.com for details.
POSSIBLE ADVERSE REACTIONS TO VACCINATION
Vaccines are known by scientists to cause serious adverse reactions many (but not all) of which are listed below:
Immediately or up to 3 days after the shot:
- Vomiting
- Facial swelling
- Fever or lethargy
- Circulatory shock
- Loss of consciousness
- Death
Up to six weeks after the shot:
Fibrosarcomas (cancer) at the injection site Seizures and Epilepsy Allergies Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA) Autoimmune diseases, including organ disease, allergies and skin problems Chronic digestive problems Muscle weakness, especially lack of hind end coordination Chronic digestive disorders Skin diseases Disease the vaccine was made to prevent Myocarditis Post Vaccinal Encephalitis or polyneuritis Behavior problems: aggression, destructive behaviors, separation anxiety and odd obsessive behaviors (like tail chasing and paw licking)
*** Important: Report any reactions you believe might be linked to any shot to your vet immediately. Make sure it goes in your dog's file and get a copy. You may someday need to apply for a vaccination exemption.
Few of us are warned about these possible adverse effects, and even when our dog develops them, we are not made aware of the connection. The vet may not even recognize unexpected or rare reactions. Adverse reactions are seldom reported; all reporting is voluntary. A federal reporting system for all veterinary vaccines is needed. You can, and should, report reactions yourself. Your veterinarian has a legal and ethical obligation to fully inform you about the risks and benefits of any vaccination. Read what an attorney and veterinarian has to say about a vet's obligation of informed conscent. "After more than twenty years of practicing veterinary medicine, I am observing chronic diseases that begin much earlier than before. Cancer before five years of age in dogs and cats was a rarity, but now it is not unusual to see fatal cancers in two and three year old animals. And the incidence or number of cases is definitely increasing. While poor breeding practices, poor commercial diets and other environmental factors play their part, I believe it is the practice of vaccinating an animal repeatedly, with multiple vaccinations throughout their lifespan that factors the most." -- Dr. Charles Loop
Small dog alert!
The FDA admits that vaccines are not tested for safety except by vaccine manufacturing companies. Vets do not reliably report adverse reactions. The FDA relies on the public to report problems once the drug or biologic is released into the public.
Did you know that a Chihuahua and a Great Dane get the same dose shot? This puts the small dog at a greater risk of adverse reactions. for the rabies vaccine, you can legally do nothing about this.
Small dogs are more likely to experience adverse reactions, and shots containing multiple vaccines are more likely to cause adverse reactions according to renowned pet vaccine expert Dr. Jean Dodds.
Melissa Kennedy, DVM, PhD, DACVIM wrote in DVM360 on-line magazine: "The likelihood of adverse reactions in dogs has been found to correlate with the size of the dog and the number of inoculations given, with higher risk associated with small size and multiple inoculations." This means: no combo shots for small dogs -- or any other dogs for that matter. And NEVER GIVE ANY OTHER SHOT WITH A RABIES SHOT. Wait at least three or four weeks between the rabies shot and other shots.
Read my article based on a study published in the AVMA Journal: Vaccinating Small Dogs: Risks Vets Aren't Revealing Dr. Richard Ford, member of the 2006 AAHA Canine Vaccine Task Force has said veterinarians are confused about how to vaccinate. He said, "he knew of one practice that had 15 vaccine protocols, clients and staff."
Which shots are most likely to produce adverse reactions?
Although any vaccine, including those your dog has previously gotten without incident, can cause an adverse reaction. Vaccines made with killed virus, however, are the most adversely reactive. This includes the rabies vaccine, Bordetella, Coronavirus, and Leptospirosis. Why? Because killed vaccines contain adjuvants (additives that "boost" the immune reaction). Live viruses don't need boosting. Fortunately, with the exception of rabies, these other shots are not recommended for all dogs. Also, they are seldom effective. Don't give them without good reason.
Who Is Susceptible? And To What?
Dr, Dee Blanco, Altvetmed, Santa Fe, New Mexico
There is a question as to who is susceptible and to what diseases, which really distills down to: at what age are the animals most and least susceptible, and what disease are species specific or regionally specific? It is odd to me that the topic of age susceptibility is rarely if ever spoken about and yet it seems to be such an important consideration in the decision about the need for vaccinations. We are not talking about breed susceptibility, we are talking about the ages at which certain illnesses are more likely to manifest. For example, measles and chicken pox are a childhood disease that if allowed to be expressed while young are relatively benign. As the child grows older, the susceptibility to these illnesses decreases. This is the same with many of the animal vaccines. As a clinician it is very, very uncommon to see distemper, parvo, parainfluenza, adenovirus, panleukopenia, calicivirus, herpesvirus, and others in adult animals. These seem to be most dangerous when the animal is young and their immune system is not fully developed. When I see an adult with parvo or distemper, it is frequently a purebred or has other immune dysfunction or is likely poorly cared for. I do see a predominance of parvo distemper in young animals less than 6-8 months old, and less frequently as they get closer to 1 year old. My question is this: why are we vaccinating animals that have passed the point of great susceptibility? Would it not be similar to humans being vaccinated every year of our lives with chicken pox, measles, diptheria, whooping cough, hepatitis, tetanus, etc.?
The other question concerns the vaccination of diseases that are not seen at all in a particular region, or that vaccines are not effective against because the viruses have many different serovariants. For example, leptospirosis. This is a vaccine that does not provide long-lasting protection and will not provide cross-protection for all the different strains of lepto. Then why are we using this? Coronavirus is another vaccine enigma. Corona in dogs produces a mild, transient diarrhea and it is known that the vaccine does not provide protection against an infection with Corona. Hardly worth the vaccine, isn't it? Lepto is not seen in mine and many areas, so why are we vaccinating? I have seen this practice with Lyme, Corona Feline Leukemia, Feline Infectious Peritonitis, and many equine vaccines. This seems to be an issue of convenience since the manufacturers supply all over the country/world. it also seems to fall into the category that the practice of injecting viruses into a healthy body, or an unhealthy one for that matter is a benign process.
Who regulates vaccines? "CVM [USDA Center for Veterinary Medicine] does not regulate vaccines. The USDA monitors adverse drug reactions in vaccines and it is a voluntary, not a mandatory manufacturer reporting process. Vaccines do not receive the same scrutiny as drugs. The testing requirements are different." -- http://www.fda.gov/cvm/PH6QA.htm
If your vet, kennel owner or groomer says your dog should be vaccinated against kennel cough (Bordetella):
In general, if your groomer or kennel owner has good ventilation in her shop and uses good hygiene practices, then experts say kennel cough shouldn't be an issue. Bordetella vaccination is also not for dogs playing together in well-ventilated areas. Think of kennel cough as a canine cold that is transmitted in much the same way human colds are transmitted -- in close areas to a host with compromised immunity. If the service provider is afraid your dog will get kennel cough, offer to sign a letter of informed consent, saying that you've been informed of the risk and waive liability. If he or she is afraid other dogs will catch kennel cough from your dog, then he/she clearly doesn't trust the fact that the vaccinated dogs have immunity to the disease -- so why vaccinate at all? Here's what the top expert, Dr. Ronald Schultz, says: "Many animals receive "kennel cough" vaccines that include Bordetella and CPI and/or CAV-2 every 6 to 9 months without evidence that this frequency of vaccination is necessary or beneficial. In contrast, other dogs are never vaccinated for kennel cough and disease is not seen. CPI immunity lasts at least 3 years when given intranasally, and CAV -2 immunity lasts a minimum of 7 years parenterally for CAV-I. These two viruses in combination with Bordetella bronchiseptica are the agents most often associated with kennel cough, however, other factors play an important role in disease (e.g. stress, dust, humidity, molds, mycoplasma, etc.),thus kennel cough is not a vaccine preventable disease because of the complex factors associated with this disease. Furthermore, this is often a mild to moderate self limiting disease. I refer to it as the "Canine Cold." My preference when a kennel cough vaccine is used is that it should be the intranasal rather than the parenteral, but some dogs will not allow someone to administer the vaccine intranasally."
Dr. Ron Schultz and the U of Wisconsin-Madison, a veterinary immunologist, quests the lack of scientific evidence to support our current practices. In his article in the 1992 edition of Current Veterinary Therapy, Dr Schultz and his co-author, Dr. Phillips, discuss the issue. Their words follow: "A practice that was started many years ago and that lacks scientific validity or verification is annual vaccinations. Almost without exception there is no immunologic requirement for annual revaccination. Immunity to viruses persists for years or for the life of the animal. Successful vaccination to most bacterial pathogens produces an immunologic memory that remains for years, allowing an animal to develop a protective anamnestic (secondary) response when exposed to virulent organisms. Only the immune response to toxins requires boosters ( e.g. tetnus toxin booster, in humans, is recommended once every 7-10 years) and no toxin vaccines are currently used for dogs and cats. Furthermore, revaccination with most viral vaccines fails to stimulate an anamnestic response as a result of interference by existing antibodies (similar to maternal antibody interference). The practice of annual vaccination in our opinion should be considered of questionable efficacy unless it is used as a mechanism to provide an annual physical exam or is required by law (i.e. certain states require annual vaccination for rabies)." Therefore, they are not useful and certainly don't provide more protection if given annually. This report emphasizes that yearly reminders get people into the clinic to give yearly vaccines and put little to no emphasis on a wellness exam. This is a backward approach, isn't it? shouldn't we remind our clients to come in for a yearly wellness check and if necessary then suggest the vaccinations? Have we become so complacent and dependent on these little vaccine vials and their financial power? Are there not other methods of preventative medicine? If you choose these yearly vaccines will your animals be protected against all the harmful diseases known to animals?
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