Vaccinations – Don’t Screw with the Immune System

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02- vaccine

I have a few more thoughts on vaccines that I gained from the recent I took to pass on.

In my last post I mentioned a 2005 vaccine study. It showed that the smaller the dog, the more likely it is to have a vaccine reaction. One more nugget from this study was available from Boehringer Ingelheim specifically because they bought out the company that provided the vaccines for the vet clinics in the study.

It turns out that the number of adverse vaccine reactions increases with the number of vaccines given but not the number of antigens given. In other words, if the Distemper, Parvo and Adenovirus antigens are combined in one vaccine, it was safer than giving each one individually.

To understand why this might be, think back to my last blog and how the antigen portion of the vaccine makes up only 1/10-13 of the total volume (1 drop in the amount of water carried in 1,000 tanker trucks each carrying 80,000 gallons). So any given vaccine contains mostly preservatives, stabilizers, adjuvants, and other nasty chemicals.

From this standpoint it makes more sense to give combination vaccines than to give individual antigen vaccines – your pet gets far less chemical stew that way.

Another thing this study showed is that overall about 4 dogs out of every 1,000 vaccinated will likely experience an adverse reaction. Those reactions can range from mild rash and facial swelling to anaphylaxis and death. So the incidence of a vaccine reaction is low, but that is of little comfort if yours is one of those dogs that had a serious reaction.

Having said all of that, it is important to note that this study only noted problems that occurred within 3 days of vaccination. As a holistic vet I’m often more concerned about the long term effects of over-vaccination that may take months to rear their ugly heads.

You can’t screw with the immune system without causing problems. This study found that vaccinated dogs with twice as likely to develop an autoimmune disease (The immune system stacks cells of its own body). This human study found that the more vaccines given to infants, the higher the infant mortality (death) rate (and the US ranks #1 – go USA).

Vaccines are a double-edged sword. To avoid vaccines, do titers!

Do you titer your dog?

3 replies
  1. Sandy
    Sandy says:

    I stressed it out for the duration of my puppys vaccinations. The breeder gave the first one at 8 weeks. (DHPP). I then went to my vet – and I made clear to the vet and techs that I am actually a minimal vaccine owner and wasn’t even comfortable with the DHPP – but went forward with it to appease the breeder. I then went in at 12 weeks for the 2nd DHPP and then his final one at 16 weeks. The tech mentioned that they could start his bordetella – of which I replied that I preferred not doing multiple shots. She then mentioned that they could do it on the next “annual” visit at 20 weeks old. Huh? Any average pet owner would have taken their puppy back for that final 4th “annual” vaccination trusting that they knew what they were saying. As far as another vaccination #4 – I said hell no. I am also not choosing to vax for bordetella.

    Before I picked up my puppy he had already had been wormed as well as being treated for coccidia. On the fecal I had done at 8 weeks old, he was positive (still) for coccidia AND giardia. He went two more rounds being treated.

    For a young puppy – off the git go- having the digestive system compromised by multiple rounds of meds for coccidia & giardia, and then having to go though vaccinations – and being told he would need yet another unnecessary vax of DHPP made me fairly angry. Enough. When I asked if they did Titers, they looked at me like I had two heads. I have since chosen another vet clinic that pays attention to a clients records.

    He has been fed a raw diet since I brought him home from the breeders and has been on pre/probiotics to get his gut back in balance.

    Reply
  2. Connie
    Connie says:

    and cats – who are generally even smaller than smaller dogs (but not small dogs) have an even higher rate of incidents of vaccine reactions, including cancer.. it is a shame they were left out of this post

    Reply

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