DANGERS: Pet Vaccinations

Are veterinarians over vaccinating? Recently, vaccinations have become a very controversial subject. Gone are the simple days when your pet would receive a series of kitten shots and then shots every year.

This was the typical method used to keep our pets healthy.

But, with the advent of cancers and immune diseases thought to be associated with vaccinations, the route of vaccines has become a hot topic.

The ‘Vaccination Business’ is a Major Profit Center for Many Veterinarians. The markup on rabies vaccines is astronomical – 2400 to 6200 percent in many cases.

Estimates are that removing the one-year rabies vaccination, office visit for dogs alone could reduce a veterinarian’s income from $87,000 to $25,000. And this example involves just one variety of one vaccine, and only dogs.

One conservative estimate is that over half of dog visits and nearly three quarters of  cat vet visits are for vaccinations.

When you consider the markup on vaccines, the number of vet visits scheduled only for immunizations, and the typically short duration of those visits, the vaccination "business" can prove to be very lucrative for veterinary practices that promote it.

Veterinarians aren't the only ones making a living off vaccination shots. The drug companies who manufacture vaccines have enjoyed an increase in sales of seven percent per year for the last 10 years. The U.S. is the largest consumer of vaccines by a huge margin over any other country.

How Re-Vaccinating Your Pet Can Harm His Health

Once your puppy or kitten is fully immunized against viruses, he is immune for years, and often for a lifetime.

Vaccination against bacterial pathogens creates a memory in your pet’s immune system that helps protect him if and when he’s exposed to dangerous organisms.

After your pet has received all his puppy and kitten shots, the antibodies he develops to the viruses he’s been immunized against will actually protect him from the same viruses introduced in future vaccinations.

Correct Place to Give Injections
In other words, if his puppy vaccinations are successful, his immune system response to subsequent vaccinations will fight off their effect, rendering them useless.
Correct Place to Give 
Feline Leukemia Injections
Vaccines, like any Vaccines is a pharmaceutical drug, and are not without side effects.

So re-vaccinating for the same pathogens year after year is more than just a waste of your money – it also poses ever increasing risks to your pet’s health.

Many in the holistic veterinary community believe what vaccines do inside your pet’s body is change the form of diseases from acute to chronic.

For example, the symptoms of the feline virus panleukopenia are GI-related and include intense and rapid onset of vomiting and diarrhea. Canine parvovirus has similar symptoms.

Pets are routinely vaccinated for both these diseases, and the incidents of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a chronic autoimmune disease of the intestines, has been rapidly increasing in both cats and dogs. Coincidence? Unlikely.

Stop Over Vaccinating Your Pet
There is a potential connection between rabies vaccinations and an increase over the past 20 to 30 years in the number of fearful and aggressive companion animals.

There is concern among many veterinary professionals that vaccination is a risk factor for serious autoimmune diseases such as the potentially fatal canine disorder known as autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA).

Delayed vaccine reactions have been shown to cause:
  • thyroid disease 
  • allergies arthritis 
  • tumors 
  • seizures in both cats and dogs.
There is also evidence of a connection between feline immunizations and incidents of vaccine-induced sarcomas (a type of cancerous tumor).

How to Be a Smart Vaccine Consumer
To see the Class Action Lawsuit Update, Click Here
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.”

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.

Basically the same ingredients are in pet vaccines as human vaccines
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)
Do not vaccinate your dog or cat if it has had a serious life-threatening vaccine reaction. Make sure your pet is healthy with no signs of any illness. 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.
Read: Pet Tales - Blue's story raises questions about rabies vaccinations
A 13-year-old flat-coated retriever died 13 days after receiving a rabies vaccination. (February 27, 2016)

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.

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!

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.

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-vaccinating is one of the primary reasons the general health of house cats is deteriorating.

What About Puppy and Kitten Shots –Are They Really Safe?