At Dogs Naturally, we’re both saddened and amused when surfing through veterinary clinic websites. We decided to post a Top Five List of some of the just plain bad vaccine advice commonly dispensed by vets. Here are some real snippets of wisdom, pulled off various veterinary websites.
1. Prevention is better than cure. Vaccination is the way we cause animals to become resistant (immune) to infections. A vaccine consists of a modified or killed virus or bacterium. It is prepared in such a way that the body’s defences recognise it as a threat and react to it as if it were a real infection. The body will produce antibodies which are proteins which recognise and attach to chemicals on the surface of the organism, killing it. These antibodies are then available to kill any of the real infection organisms the animal might pick up during its life. They are lost gradually and the body needs occasional reminders (booster vaccinations) to keep the antibody level high enough to prevent real infections. Vaccination reactions are very rare. A booster is recommended each year.
The body does not react to a vaccine the same way it would to the real disease. When exposed to real virus, the body forms immunity by filing that information away in memory cells. The memory cells, called cellular immunity, are reponsible for mounting a quick attack the next time they are faced with the same disease and the body, armed with the knowledge the memory cells have stored away, quickly neutralizes the disease by triggering circulating antibodies. This is why humans only get chicken pox once and dogs can only get parvovirus once. After the first episode, they are protected for life.
Vaccines try to emulate this, but they don’t do a complete job. Vaccines stimulate circulating antibodies, called humeral immunity, and they bypass the memory cells. This creates an artificial immunity called humeral bias and this essentially turns the immune system inside out. To learn more about this effect, read our article on Vaccines And The Immune System.
But the real problem with this statement is wanting antibody levels to be high. High antibody levels mean high levels of circulating antibodies – or humeral bias. The higher the titer, the more chronically inflamed the body is. This humeral bias and resulting chronic inflammation result in many of the autoimmune diseases we commonly see in dogs today: allergies, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, bowel disease and many, many more. Vaccine reactions may be rare, but the risk and severity of chronic disease that vaccines cause increase with every vaccine given.
2. Your puppy vaccination course should be started at 6 weeks of age. A primary vaccination is first given and a booster 2-4 weeks later. This course must be completed before your puppy is fully protected. Unfortunately the protection provided by vaccinating is not life-long and hence an annual booster is recommended. At ________ veterinary clinic we will send you out an annual reminder to ensure your pet is kept up to date and protected.
Vaccinating a puppy at 6 weeks? According to veterinary vaccine researcher Dr. Jean Dodds, only 30% of puppies will be protected from a vaccine given at 6 weeks of age: yet 100% of them will be exposed to disease when taken to the vet clinic for that shot. Moreover, vaccines create immune suppression for 10 to 14 days. So, choosing to vaccinate a puppy at 6 weeks means exposing him to the most disease ridden location he could possibly be in – the vet clinic, creating immune suppression so he is much more likely to get the disease he is being vaccinating for, and all in exchange for a 30% chance the vaccine will work. That’s a pretty high gamble with a puppy’s life.
The reason the vaccine is unlikely to work at that young age is because the puppy is protected against disease with maternal antibodies – immunity passed down from his mother. This protection wanes over time, but is still pretty strong at 6 weeks. That’s why in most cases the vaccine doesn’t work: the maternal antibodies are strong enough to block the vaccine. Actually this should be in the past tense: the maternal antibodies will be less effective after the vaccine is given because vaccines cause immune suppression.
Problem number two is this statement: “This course must be completed before your puppy is fully protected.” There are two problems with this statement actually. One, you can’t be partially protected: it’s like being a virgin, you either are or you aren’t. Either the immune system has filed that information away or it hasn’t: there is no grey area, you are either immune or you are not. As for the other problem, a course of vaccines is not necessary: it only takes ONE vaccine to protect a puppy – ONE. For more information on this, you might want to read Taking The Risk Out Of Puppy Shots.
3. Primary pet vaccinations do not cover your animal for the rest of their life, so annual booster vaccinations are required for continued protection.
Wow,bad grammar aside, there is one very big problem with this statement – a monumental problem of biblical proportions! Not only do core vaccines last for the life of the animal, they’ve known about this for about forty years! We won’t even go into why annual vaccination is a very, very bad choice – because vaccinating every three years or every five years is also a bad choice, based on unsound science. Nuff said. Think we’re making this up? You might want to read Lifelong Immunity: Why Vets Are Pushing Back for more information.
4. At ______ Veterinary Hospital, we are aware of some of the controversy currently surrounding immunization protocols. However, until industry leaders and experts, such as the vaccine manufacturers and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), arrive at some definitive conclusions, we believe it to be in the best interest of your pet and the general public to continue to adhere to our established immunization protocols. We recommend that your pet should receive annual boosters.
Controversy? Industry leaders and experts? Here is the crux of the problem: these vets are waiting for the vaccine manufacturers and the AVMA to decide how often to vaccinate. Don’t you think that both of these entities have a financial interest in how often you vaccinate your dog? Are they capable of making an unbiased recommendation? Apparently not.
The report of the American Animal Hospital Association Canine Vaccine Taskforce in JAAHA (39 March/April 2003) includes the following information for vets:
‘Misunderstanding, misinformation and the conservative nature of our profession have largely slowed adoption of protocols advocating decreased frequency of vaccination; Immunological memory provides durations of immunity for core infectious diseases that far exceed the traditional recommendations for annual vaccination.’
‘This is supported by a growing body of veterinary information as well-developed epidemiological vigilance in human medicine that indicates immunity induced by vaccination is extremely long lasting and, in most cases, lifelong.’
If you would like to read more about how vets arbitrarily chose the period of three years for revaccination, even though they knew back in 2003 that vaccines lasted likely for the life of the dog, read Lifelong Immunity And The AAHA Revaccination Guidelines.
5. Annual boosters are painless for your pet, and help to fight off contagious illnesses throughout the year. The staff at ______ Veterinary Clinic are expertly trained in the welfare of your pet.
Any vet who advocates annual vaccinations – or even uses the term booster – is clearly not expertly trained in the welfare of your pet. In fact, most vets are woefully inept when it comes to understanding immunity. They are very good at giving vaccines – yet most vets are not taught very much about immunity at all. Perhaps that’s because immunity is taught by the vaccine manufacturers – it’s no wonder that vets are well armed with needles yet lack the knowledge to question just what damage those needles are doing. If you would like to learn more about how little vets feel they were taught about vaccination, and the disease they saw vaccines create in their patients, read our ground-breaking featured article, Vets On Vaccines.
In the end, it doesn’t matter whether vets spew this bad advice out of ignorance or for financial gain (most veterinary practices rely on vaccine money to stay in business). Either way, the bad advice is out there and dog owners – and dogs – will fall victim to that bad advice. If you find your vet dispensing bad vaccine advice, don’t ignore it. Perhaps reading and sharing What Every Vet (And Pet Owner) Should Know About Vaccines will help you both to begin understanding that vaccination involves more than just shots and boosters.
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My vet will not give puppy shots till 8 weeks and staggers the others after they have all of them so they only get one a year. Works for me and I would never not do them.I feel sp0oy for anyone who feels this is not necessary as some day there will be a huge outbreak somewhere and a lot of these unvaccinated dogs will be in trouble.Have had dogs ( all vaccinated for over 60 years and never a problem. If I didn’t trust my vet I would not go to her
“As for having to follow guidelines, BALONEY! Thousands of vets ignore them every day by administering yearly vaccination.”
Can you please post a link to where that information can be found? I have spoken to a vet tech who claimed to me that the AVMA still recommends yearly vaccines.
Thanks!
The AVMA does not advocate annual vaccination. Here is more information: http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/what-every-vet-should-know-about-vaccines/
Hi Guys,
I love this magazine and very happy that you guys are talking about vaccinations. To be honest with I hate them too.
I vaccinated my dog when she was a puppy and DO NOT plan to vaccinate her again anymore. The vet notifications I ignore all the time even for rabies. I stopped dealing with kennels because they require current vaccinations. I try to find a responsible person that would take care of my dog. There are a lot of people that would like to make some extra money – cheaper than kennels.
This article is yet more misinformation, and will lead the public to more confusion over the vaccination issue. Sure, your dog will get lifelong immunity if it gets parvovirus… If it survives. Which, as a veterinarian, I can tell you will run you $600-$2000 in medical bills for a 10 week old puppy with maybe a 50% survival rate ( that’s optimistic). No veterinarian is going to recommend a vaccine at six weeks of age unless, perhaps, the dog received zero maternal immunity. As well, No veterinarian will tell you that a single vaccine at 16 weeks is effective protection as there are zero studies to support that. Veterinarians have to follow guidelines regardless of our personal beliefs because these are based on facts and studies, and my license to practice depends on those guidelines. Want more independent studies…so do we…FUND IT! In the meantime, we have to rely on independent university studies (often funded by manufacturers) and manufacturers studies. Rather than follow the antiquated advice of these poor examples of veterinary medicine and the misinformation recommended in this article – bring it to your vet and have an open an honest conversation so everyone feels comfortable with the decisions they choose when it comes to vaccination.
Gail, you are so very, very wrong. Zero studies to shows that a single vaccine at 16 weeks is efficacious? Gail, there are literally DOZENS. Please, please, please drop us a private email and we will provide them for you – until you understand this, you are a part of the problem. Please, leave your ego by the wayside for just one moment because the decisions you are making are dangerous for dogs. For example, puppies vaccinated just once with distemper were exposed to distemper infected dogs just four hours after vaccination. One hundred percent of the puppies were protected, just FOUR HOURS later.
As for having to follow guidelines, BALONEY! Thousands of vets ignore them every day by administering yearly vaccination. Please Gail, for the sake of the dogs, please contact us or, better yet, contact Dr. Ronald Schultz and he will share with your the 40 plus years of research showing that it does in fact only take one vaccine. You can also refer to this article: http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/what-every-vet-should-know-about-vaccines/
And please consider this quote by the only man who is actively researching veterinary vaccine efficacy: ” “The patient receives no benefit and may be placed at serious risk when an unnecessary vaccine is given. Few or no scientific studies have demonstrated a need for cats or dogs to be revaccinated.” We are not making this stuff up. You are in a position to educate yourself and become a better vet. Please start doing that now and contact us for any information you require. We are here to help anybody who loves dogs.
Wow…you must really know me for the money grubbing, egotistical, uneducated veterinarian that I am, not the veterinarian who took the time to read an article forwarded to her by the head of a rescue group that we provide free examinations for on her free time.
The scary thing for me about your article is that it sounds scientific – but your facts are based on pick and choose of reporting what you agree with. Lets just take section 1 – let’s clarify…there are two types of vaccines – noninfectious (killed vacccines -like Lepto or Rabies) and infectious vaccines (modified live-like Distemper-Parvo). The NONINFECTIOUS vaccines create only humoral immunity and limited or no cell mediated immunity (killerTcell and the like), INFECTIOUS vaccines do just that – infect the body with attenuated organisms that can’t cause disease but produces the same type of immunity that is produced by natural exposure. So your statement that vaccines create no cell mediated immunity is not correct across the board. See where i am going with this…. we can go on from there, but that is why i recommended your readers discuss article with their vet.
As per Dr. Schultz, his latest article in Jan 2010, says that: “Thus, even a single dose of modified live virus (MLV) canine core vaccines (against CDV, cav-2 and cpv-2) or MLV feline core vaccines (against feline parvovirus [FPV], feline calicivirus [FCV] and feline herpesvirus [FHV]), when administered at 16 weeks or older, could provide long-term immunity in a very high percentage of animals, while also increasing herd immunity.”
The word is COULD and the point of the study was actually to encourage vaccination on a “herd Health” basis to eliminate disease – i.e. if everyone gave their pet a vaccine for parvo at 16 weeks or greater we could theoretically eliminate the disease. Anyone can google the AAHA 2011 guidelines for vaccination, of which Dr. Schultz sits on the board, and see the recommended intervals on vaccines. Anyone is welcome to do a titer in lieu of vaccination to know there pet has protective antibody.
Gail, if I thought you were a money grubbing crook, I would not have treated you so kindly.
As for your first comment on vaccines and humeral immunity, what you are explaining is immunity 101. Anybody can read that on a vaccine label and all of our readers (and your clients) are intelligent enough to understand this so don’t insult us. I’m asking you to research beyond these basics…to research beyond what the vaccine manufacturers tell you.
The primary issue with vaccines is the adjuvants which are found in both killed and MLV products. Harold Buttram MD explains the issue as follows:
“Both cellular and humoral immunities are governed by thymus-helper- lymphocytes (TH lymphocytes), the “T” referring to the thymus gland from which they are derived and the “H” referring to helper activity. Early in life
uncommitted or “naïve” TH lymphocytes are differentiated into either armed TH1 cells, which govern in
cellular immunity, or TH2 cells, which govern in humoral immunity. It has been found that this differentiation
has been profoundly affected by cytokines, which are produced by lymphocytes and which serve as chemical
messengers.
“The two cytokines, interleukin 12 and interferon gamma promote and govern TH1 cells of cellular immunity,
while interleukins 4, 5, 6, and 10 promote and govern TH2 cells of humoral immunity. To repeat, once one subset becomes dominant, it is difficult to shift the response to the other subset, as the cytokines from one tend to dominate the other. It necessarily follows that all current injectable vaccines, while bypassing the cellular immune system, are directed toward stimulating the inner or humoral system. This is the key to understanding the route vaccines take when injected into the human body. Furthermore, this will tend to establish the humoral system in relative dominance over the cellular system, entirely the reverse of the natural immunologic scheme that humans evolved with. This in turn results in a viral suppression of interleukin 12, on which the cellular system is largely dependent.”
References: Kerdiles YM, Sellin CI, Druelle J. Horvat B. Immunosuppresion by measles virus: Role of viral proteins. Rev Medical Virology, 2006; 16: 49-63.
Getting to Dr. Schultz, you are really grasping at straws. You state: “The word is COULD and the point of the study was actually to encourage vaccination on a “herd Health” basis to eliminate disease – i.e. if everyone gave their pet a vaccine for parvo at 16 weeks or greater we could theoretically eliminate the disease.”
Theoretical? How much evidence do you need? If you look at Dr. Schultz’s work (my offer is still open to pass his papers on to you), you would see that in the late 1980′s, he completed research showing core vaccines given to dogs after 12 weeks of age lasted for a minimum of 7 and up to 15 years by both challenge and serology. As for the task force that Dr. Schultz sat in on, I think it is important to note that the vaccine manufacturers also sat in and sponsored the task force. Even though the task force noted that the core vaccines had a minimum duration of immunity of at least seven years, they compromised in 2003 with the statement that “revaccination every 3 years is considered protective.” Three years was a completely arbitrary number they picked out of thin air to protect their pocketbooks. Task force member Dr. Richard Ford, Professor of Medicine, North Carolina State University, said “It’s completely arbitrary…I will say there is no science behind the three-year recommendation…” This from a vaccine DOI researcher who was on the board at the time the original AAHA guidelines were developed.
Since then, Dr. Schultz has repeated his research over and over…yet vets like you are not listening. In 2010, he published more ROI research with newer generation, recombinant vaccines. The dogs in this study were protected against challenge for a minimum of 4 to 6 years post vaccination and 100% of the dogs tested were protected.
How much more proof do you need? What will it take for you to stop pointing the finger of blame at people like us and start looking around you and see the dogs you are damaging with your lack of knowledge and, worse yet, lack of initiative to look at this research for what it is. The answers won’t come from a quick google search, if you really want to help dogs, then the first thing you need to do is get your head out of the sand and open your mind. Until then, we can’t help you and if you won’t open your mind to this, you won’t be helping dogs either – you will be harming them with every unnecessary vaccine your give and their owners will not only pay you for these unnecessary vaccines, they will continue to pay you for the chronic disease you are injecting these dogs into. You might not be doing this out of greed, but doing it out of ignorance is no better.
I am so frustrated with vets who hide behind policy. The AAHA guidelines are in place to protect vets and pharmaceutical companies, they are certainly not there to protect dogs, that much is clear…and I hope I have made this clear for you. But don’t take it from us – pick up the phone and talk to Dr. Schultz, Dr Dodds or maybe one of the dozens of vets who write for Dogs Naturally who don’t vaccinate their patients.
I feel sorry for our readers who want to discuss this information with their vet and get the same rehearsed propaganda that you are presenting here. Please open your mind and learn more about immunology. I know it’s hard to move away from what’s comfortable and well rehearsed but if you really want to help dogs, you need to understand this.
“a minimum of four to six years” protection after vaccination…haven’t you just contradicted your own statement about the three yearly protocol being ‘pulled from thin air’? If some animals were only protected for four years, it is not possible to say that core vaccines protect for ‘seven years to life’ or ‘seven to fifteen years’, we have to come up with protocols to protect the animal with the least long-lived immunity. It would be great if we knew when that was in each dog, but as we don’t we make recommendations based on the immunity demonstrated in studies.
I personally believe vaccines save lives, human and animal. I can only hope you never have to experience the misery of an animal dying from a completely preventable illness.
Lucy, the report of the American Animal Hospital Association Canine Vaccine Taskforce in JAAHA (39 March/April 2003) includes the following information for vets:
‘This is supported by a growing body of veterinary information as well-developed epidemiological vigilance in human medicine that indicates immunity induced by vaccination is extremely long lasting and, in most cases, lifelong.’
They admit that immunity from viral vaccines is in MOST CASES, lifelong. I don’t see the contradiction.
As for the three year interval being pulled from pulled air – Dr Richard Ford who sat on that task force stated that the three year interval was a completely arbitrary number. You might want to read http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/why-vets-are-getting-away-with-murder/
not vaccinating a pup is a big mistake… have you ever delt with parvo??? this vaccine can and does save dogs lives.. i fully believe in puppy vaccinations and wouldnt dream of breeding any dog that wasnt UTD on shots to pass protection to their young… parvo is airborne and very deadly. a pup of ours missed one set of puppy shots and ontracted parvo from outside environment and almost died! i do not believe in over vaccinating any dog, but you have to give some immunity to the handful of diseases like parvo that are a very real threat.
Chandra, I have dealt with parvo in an unvaccinated puppy. He pulled through within 12 hours with no issues. I have seen countless puppies contract parvo not only from the vaccine but from the vet clinic. Vaccination suppresses the immune system for a good ten days afterward, possibly more. This immune suppression is likely why your puppy was susceptible to parvo in the first place; the vaccines tampered with his immune system. This is why most vets who understand immunology, not just vaccinology, recommend one puppy vaccine at around 16 weeks of age. Dr. Jean Dodds doesn’t advocate the adenovirus component in polyvalent vaccines because it is one of the biggest culprits for immune suppression – although every virus in the vaccine will have this effect.
Chandra
A few months back one of the NR pups I bred & sold DID get PARVO…from going to the vet’s office for a RABIES shot. Due to a healthy immune system from being a Naturally Reared pup, from NR parents, he only had it mildly & was better within 24-48 hours. The owner wishes now that she had not went to get the Rabies jab either & is now committed to NO more vaccinations for her dog.
Recently, my 6 year old bitch had a booster rabies shot. She was “off” for a couple of weeks after that and finally began having pain which prompted me to take her to the vet. After a battery of tests to rule out some things, it was noted that she had an extremely low platelet count and was diagnosed with Immune Mediated Thrombocytopenia thought to be caused by the rabies shot. She could have bled out and the pain might have been caused by a bleed in a muscle or something like that. We caught it early and she responded to prednisone therapy and is now being weaned off of the drug…might take another 2 months for that because with immune issues, weaning too quickly could make the disease come back. So…no more vaccinations of any kind for her….Animal control will accept a letter from a veterinarian and also if you choose to do a titre, will accept those results…
Not vaccinating against Rabis and Distemper is just about as stupid as the idiots not vaccinating their children. We don’t see as many cases of Rabis due to vaccinations. Wild animals still carry Rabis and Distemper. Go work at a shelter you’ll see there are still lots of dogs and cats sick who don’t make it cause no vaccination (amongst other reasons of course to) I’ve vaccinated my animals for over 30 years no problems but I also go to a good vet. Im glad dog parks,classes etc don’t allow unvaccinated dogs to come I don’t want my dogs around them.
If vaccines are so effective at preventing rabies and distemper, I’m curious why you should be worried whether unvaccinated dogs attend dog parks and classes? Why would they be a threat to your vaccinated dog if vaccines do the job they are purported to do?
The rabies vaccine does NOT protect animals from rabies. When they do massive bait drops in the wild, the incidence of rabies actually GOES UP! In fact, the vaccine for dogs and cats is a crap shoot. It is not protective. Even the health unit where i live KNOW that it is 50:50 whether a vaccinated dog that is bitten by a rabid animal gets rabies or not. Did you not READ the above article? You need to do more reading about vaccines and exactly how they don’t work. Here is a good one for you to learn from: http://www.vaccinationcouncil.org/2012/06/13/interview-with-phd-immunologist-dr-tetyana-obukhanych-by-catherine-frompovich/
Thank you Boohoo kitty……I get tired of arguing with people about vaccinations. Vaccinating is the ONLY way to help insure your dogs and cats do not develop one of these fatal diseases. I bred dogs for over 40 years, and have worked as a veterinary technician. I NEVER, EVER had one of my puppies or adults have an adverse reaction to ANY vaccination. Nada! But I’ve sure seen puppies die of parvo, and occasionally of distemper. Once they are 3 years old, you can go to every 3 years, but until then, you need to vaccinate them. Talk to someone who’s lost their beloved pet to parvo or distemper (I know someone who recently lost an entire litter to distemper. All rescue puppies and mom had it also), and you will change your mind. Thank you again for a voice of common sense!
While veterinarians are appropriately concerned about infectious disease in young puppies, the fact is that behavioral issues—not infectious diseases—are the number one cause of death for dogs under 3 years of age, according to the AVSAB. Veterinarians contribute to these behavioral issues when recommending pets be kept away from possible germs until their vaccine series is complete, the AVSAB stated.
A position statement on early socialization in puppies released in July by the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior encourages veterinarians to recommend puppies be socialized before the vaccine series is complete.
The guidelines state puppies can start socialization classes as early as 7 to 8 weeks of age. In general, they should receive a minimum of one set of vaccines at least seven days prior to the first class as well as a first deworming.
http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/oct08/081001c.asp
I applaud you for this article and I plan to share it with all my subscribers. I love your magazine. Thank you for what you are doing.
Roxanna Whittington, Owner
AlternativeAnimal.com
Do not take your puppy out into the community or to classes until it has had all it’s puppy shots. Going by their rules that would be close to 6 months.
This is a sure fire way to produce a poorly functioning immune system. Certainly, you should avoid heavy dog traffic areas such as dog parks and vet offices, but puppies should get out of the house and exposed to other dogs and environments. This is how the immune system is primed, by gradually exposing puppies to more and more environmental viruses and bacteria. Raising a puppy in a plastic bubble will not allow his immune system to mature. We are a society that has hand sanitizers in the entrance of every public store and area now, it’s ridiculous and only results in an immune system that is under utilized and ill prepared to work when we need it to.
I do not do ANY vaccines……. I learned of the heartbreak of what happens after years of “reactions” with different dogs I owned and showed. With a new breed now, my first one, a male, is 3rd generation no-vax , raw fed and holistic. My bitch was bombarded with everything by 4 months, switched immediately to raw, holistic treatments, etc …… still deal with a few issues from the vaccines. And now have puppies that will not be vaxed at all. I refuse to do even rabies. You have to stand strong and literally fight for ur animals life BEFORE the vaccine.
Linda, I do exactly as you do….The local vet called me foolish and said I’d been lucky with my dogs…..I disagreed. I gave up vaccinating well over 30 yrs ago and around that time I noticed that we weren’t visiting the vet as we had been doing for the 15 yrs prior to my ‘foolishness’. My dogs are never ill, so the vet is not on my side. I’m treated badly by one of the vets at the surgery because of my foolishness.
Do I care?? Not at all. I care for my dogs …I feed and rear correctly and I never vaccinate the conventional way….I use a homeopathic product . I show and breed and I try to sell pups to like minded people. I’m surprised at the amount of prospective smooth collie and whippet owners who come to me because THEY want healthy dogs and THEY want to rear their puppy the way I do. Some people are doing their own thinking now and not just treating what the vet tells them as gospel….they are business men and women and there to make money. …….by getting your pets to visit them whenever possible. I’m sure some vets care about animals but, there are also those who are money driven……so sad
How are we supposed to refuse rabies vaccs when its the law I think this is something that needs to be addressed. Its not fair that we have to continue to poison our dogs even though tiderd tests show they are immune
Unfortunately you basically only have 2-3 choices when it comes to rabies. Give the vaccine according to the law, don’t get your animal its rabies shot and pray you don’t ever have any trouble, or if you’re state allows it AND you can find a cooperative vet get a medical exemption for your pet. It’s not fair and it does suck, but until the law changes there isn’t much to do.
What I find more annoying is that I cannot board my animals, participate in training classes, etc. unless they are “fully vaccinated”.
You can’t Lynette as far as rabies go. The laws need to be changed to accept titer testing. Some states already do, I would check your local laws you might be in an area where you can do a titer test first. I am not so lucky.
Also I believe almost all states allow for 3yrs for rabies so don’t let your vet convince you that there is a new 1yr rabies that is better. Mine did that with my cat, told me it was a 1yr AFTER she vaccinated him. I blew up at her because she knows how i feel about vaccines and it now states at the top of my file that any of my animals only get 3yr vaccinations.
As for the other vaccinations ask them for a titer test if you want to be sure your pet is still immune, most vets have it and if they don’t they can send it out for testing.
Thanks Dogs Naturally for another informative article!!!
Problem is that titers is not a measure of immunity, only of antibodies. Titers can’t measure memory cells.
Concerning titers, I have heard that a low titer may not mean low immunity – only that the animal hasn’t had recent exposure to the virus titered for. Therefore, titers may not be reliable information.
To see the change, we must be the change. We all need to become pro-active and Demand that they accept the science and change the vaccination laws. Dr. Jean Dodd and Dr. Ron Schultz are in the 5th year of a 5 and 7 year study to give our elected officials the documentation proving the efficacy of vaccinations for 5 -7 years. Then the political game starts with the special interests buying our politicians. And this is where we need to come in and start pushing back.
The political game has already started, because they had already completed a study in France that showed a 5 year efficacy for the rabies vaccine (which is what Dr Schultz is repeating now). Linda, you are so right, WE need to instigate change! Dr. Schultz showed that core vaccines last for 7 to 15 years nearly forty years ago and STILL the vets are repeating vaccinations yearly or every three years. Enough is enough!
Support the Rabies Challenge Fund – laws will never be changed unless you can PROVE that Rabies is effective longer than the vaccine manufacturer says it is. The manufacturer has NO motivation to make it longer (they will lose money) SO we have to do it. That takes money so PLEASE supprt the testing so we CAN do what is best for our dogs!