Pet Vaccinations

How to Be a Smart Vaccine Consumer
1.Discuss what kinds of vaccines your pet needs, and how often, with your veterinarian. I strongly encourage you to seek out a holistic vet to care for your pet, and especially when it comes to vaccinations.

If you can’t locate a holistic vet in your area, make sure not to take your pet to any veterinary practice that promotes annual or more frequent re-vaccinations, or sells “puppy packages,” where you get all the vaccines for a “bargain price.” And don’t use any boarding facility, groomer, training facility or other animal service that requires you to vaccinate your pet more than necessary.

Ideally, well educated people in the pet community accept titers -- seek out and support these businesses.
2.Make sure each vaccine your dog or cat receives meets the following criteria:
◦It is for a serious disease (this eliminates many on the list immediately)
◦Your pet has the opportunity to be exposed to the disease (indoor cats have little to no exposure)
◦The vaccine is considered both effective and safe
◦If you do vaccinate your pet, ask your holistic vet to provide a homeopathic vaccine detox called Thuja (for all vaccines except Rabies)
3.Do not vaccinate your dog or cat if it has had a serious life-threatening vaccine reaction.
4.Rabies vaccines are required by law. There are two varieties of the same vaccine – the 1-year type and the 3-year type. Ask for the 3-year vaccine, and ask your holistic vet about the homeopathic rabies vaccine detoxifier called Lyssin. There is also an immunologically less reactive vaccine called Purevax, but it’s only labeled for 1-year duration. If you are working with a holistic vet, ask to have the rabies vaccine given after 4 months of age, preferably closer to 6 months, to reduce possible reactions.
5.Insist on a Vaccine Titer Test. This test will help you and the doctor determine whether your pet has adequate immunological protection from previous vaccinations. Antibody levels can be measured from a blood draw. The type of titer that best assesses immune system response to vaccines is called the indirect immunofluorescent antibody (IFA) test.

Many veterinary state teaching hospitals will offer this test, as do private veterinary labs such as Antech or Idexx. Remember, you can’t add immunity to an already immune pet, so don’t keep vaccinating!
6.Discuss with your vet the risks vs. benefits of the vaccines you’re considering, as well as the likelihood your pet will be exposed to each disease.
7.If your cat lives indoors and never goes outside to risk exposure to infectious diseases, she does not need to be vaccinated annually. It is my belief that over-vaccination is one of the primary reasons the general health of housecats is deteriorating.


What About Puppy and Kitten Shots – Are They Really Safe?
Companion animals are not born with lifelong protective immunity, it must be established. And unlike many of the human infectious diseases that have been eradicated from this country, there are still lots of outbreaks of parvo and distemper across the country every year.

As Dr. Ron Schultz (head of the Immunology Department of the University of Wisconsin Veterinary School) says (and I paraphrase), ideally “more immunized dogs would have less vaccines and less immunized dogs would have more vaccines.”

In essence, vets still see lots of young pets die from preventable infectious diseases. The reason these diseases have not been eradicated is there is a pool of unvaccinated domesticated pets that are harboring these diseases.

Dr. Schultz argues that if these animals had been protected against disease, less disease would be transmitted. Likewise, if we would stop unnecessarily vaccinating already-protected pets, less degenerative disease would occur, and he’s right.

At my clinic, Natural Pet Animal Hospital, we tailor make all vaccine protocols to minimize risk and maximize protection, taking into account the breed, background (was the pup orphaned, etc.), nutritional status and overall vitality.

Most of the time, with healthy animals, we follow Dr. Schultz’s protocol of providing a single parvo and distemper vaccine at or before 12 weeks of age, and a set after 14 weeks of age. We titer pets 2 weeks after the last vaccine and if they have been successfully immunized, they are protected for life.

Nice, huh?

Should the titer tests indicate vaccine levels are low, we recommend a booster for only the specific virus or viruses that titered low. Hence the importance of working with a holistic vet that carries single vaccines.

We do not use or recommend combination vaccines (six to eight viruses in one shot), which is the traditional yearly booster. We also offer the option to boost a pet’s immunity naturally with homeopathic nosodes rather than traditional vaccination. Nosodes cannot be guaranteed to be effective and will not result in a measurable titer.

Reference:
Vaccinations in Veterinary Medicine: Dogs and Cats