The Alternative to Re-Vaccinating Your Pets Annually...

That's certainly where I first developed opinions about a single vaccine being lifesaving during a Parvo outbreak. If you watch enough dogs die of this preventable disease you usually come to the conclusion that if a single vaccine (given once) will save a dog's life, the benefit outweighs the risk. People that don't understand these diseases are still very active in this country (and who aren't watching dogs die from preventable diseases) are apalled at the thought of vaccinating at risk animals. Those of us in the trenches have seen what these diseases do to pets, and offering lifelong protection is the only way to reduce animal suffering. The good news? One well timed vaccine will do it, for life.

Thanks for weighing in Dr. Becker!!!!  I was beat up for saying much the same in the previous vaccine video/article...  :)  

ALWAYS appreciate your comments!!!!

But if you're the one that looses their dog to a Parvo Vaccine reaction.....kind of hard to say that the benefit outweighs the risk when the "benefit" just killed them. No one in the trenches could save him and believe me I spent several thousand dollars trying.

My first dog, when I was a little girl, got distemper.  After a few days at the vet, my mother had her euthanized.  At that time, I found out that my puppy had not received her shots before she came to me. I rescued a lab pup, the day before he was to be gassed.  He went straight to a vet for a physical and shots, before transport.  He appeared healthy but the 2 days after in transport he went down with parvo.  Some 20 years ago, I had a beautiful Himalayan kitten that I took in to be neutered.  

He died from the aenesthetic.  My next Himalayan went in to be spayed and nearly died from the aenesthetic.  Believe me, I know your pain and I'm truly sorry you lost your dog. We all make decisions that we believe are the best for our dog.  There are risks in either decision.  I can only tell you what I am most comfortable in doing for my own.  The more you experience and the more you learn, you make your decision, then your dog could be the 1 in 10,000 it was the wrong decision.

I do believe it is best for mine to receive the initial shots and that it is detrimental to their health to keep receiving them. I base what I do for them out of love and always for what I believe is best for them.    I am sure you did the same and I wish I could give you a hug, because I know that losing someone you love is the worst loss of all.

Hi Cindy: I am a certified veterinary homeopath and I do administer nosodes. However, I have had animals still become parvo positive under nosode therapy. These were pups whose owners took them everywhere (daycare, shelters, parks, etc.) where viral exposure was probably higher. If you have a puppy that will never spend much time outside (sniffing around raccoon poop :) nosodes are a perfect suggestion. Naive (unprotected) pups in viral positive areas may not be protected by nosodes (this was the case of my puppy, Esau, who acquired parvo at 8 weeks).

Adult house cats with no exposure to other fecal cats outside (if they are in a big cage or on a sun porch) are also perfect candidates for nosodes. Holistic vets, including myself, have tried titering after nosodes, but because there's no adjuvent to stimulate antibody production, there is no notable titer. So don't waste your money :).

Dr. Becker, I am curious, since my pup has had one of her puppy series of shots, do you think that nosodes combined with the vaccine she received would be MORE effective than a nosode alone?  (She is due for one more shot, but like I mentioned earlier, her reaction to the last one--as well as her litter mate's reaction to her last shot--has made me very hesitant to re-vaccinate.)  And what about rabies?  She has not received rabies vac at all yet, but I understand rabies can be especially reactive.  How is it possible to avoid rabies vac when it is mandated by law?  Are rabies nosodes effective?  Thank you for all the information you have shared on this topic, as it is of immediate concern to me!,

Jane, If the dog "day care" insists on vaccines, then don't take them there. It's not a law that your dogs are vaccinated (except rabies) so they're just forcing you into something you don't have to accept. Be an advocate for your animal and do what's right for them. Also, for crying out loud if you can't afford decent food for your dog then you shouldn't own them. Good quality food should be your number one priority before your lattes, your cable TV, etc. Good quality food might be a little more expensive up front, but it keeps you out of the vets office in the end. This country wants cheap food and look at our general health and our pets health. Its pathetic.

Rabies? Just break the law and keep your pet healthy. Lots of people don't vaccinate for rabies because the chances of most pets contracting rabies are zilch compared to the chances of serious reaction to this hideous vaccine.

Animals like Children are expensive. I look at it this way if you can not afford either you should not have them. Now in some instances this is a ridiculous limitation because in today's world there are times where it is very affordable for both and many things come into question like losing a job etc.

So I guess if you want to do the right thing you have to plan for the expenses. I am not sure what the answer is. My cats have never been vaccinated they received the homeopathic vaccination called nosodes. I am not sure I would be confident enough to do this with a dog. I would not however repeat vaccinations. I am 56 and years ago all they got was the core vaccinations and none of my animals ever died of the diseases that they were vaccinated for. As far as giving the rabies vaccine every three years is aweful. No evidence that dogs get rabies who have had their original one, and guess what so many more dogs are dying of brain related diseases. We need to make the medical community step up and stop this crap that they are doing just to generate funds and experimentation on our pets. I for one am sick of it.  And we need to demand vaccinations that don't have all the harmful additives to them.  

Many dog day cares accept titer results.  Just ask.   One question I have is that there isn't a titer test for bordetella and many dog day cares and boarding facilities require it - some at every 6 months.  What's your position on bordetella?

drmike4777 Thanks for your reply so I am assuming the reason animals have such a hard time without vaccinations is the same reasons. Poor diet, poor living conditions etc. It stands to reason and also it makes no since humans do not need vaccinations to be healthy and can build immunity to the diseases, but animals can not. My friend has a cat that has never been vaccinated and she used to feed it a raw diet and it also is allowed to roam her country neighborhood hunting the wild life and eating it.

She has as yet contacted any diseases that cats are vaccinated for. She has however gotten sick a few times from eating some infected wild life but not anything a cat would get vaccinated for. It was more like a flu or something like that. I personally do not trust the vaccines mainly because of the preservatives that are used and other things that are added for stability.  My Vet will actually use the nosode if the animal comes down with one of the diseases.

Sometimes it helps and sometimes not but isn't that really about the same odds. I think it is such a bad thing that we are required by law to give the rabies vaccine every three years minimum. I am still convinced that was the reason for my dogs stroke. I will not give it anymore. Fortunately I live in Detroit and their really is not much enforcement here anyway. Another shot would kill him I am sure of it. Once he got to 14 he had reactions to rabies shot, and heartworm medication. So I don't do either and I am really sorry I ever gave the heartworm meds ever. He has been a learning experience for me unfortunately at his expense.

However he is at the ripe old age of 15 human years and for a Collie that is pretty old. He has taught me all about the do's and don't for the next dog. Imagine how old he could be and less effected if he never got those rabies booster shots and the heartworm meds? That will be my mission for my next dog.  Thanks for your reply and friend request.

No no, you can titer ANY time (at least two weeks) after the vaccination was given or any time thereafter.  You can titer 10 years later if you want.  The whole purpose of giving the titer "two weeks" after vaccination is to confirm (at that time) that immunization has happened.  As mentioned in the video, it is rare but some pets will never be able to gain immunity to parvo or to distemper via vaccination.  It is better to know this when they are young so you can be cautious.

Rude? Really? Just trying to point out that if a person takes on responsiblity for a life that care of that life, (as she pointed out ) isn't "cheep". Everyone wants cheap food, a pill as a cure and to vaccinate their way to health. Healthy food for our animals and ourselves should be a first priority above all else. If we don't have our health, we have nothing. Instead, we see the public racing to doctors and vets for pills for any number of diseases caused by our poor choices. Eat right, maintain a healthy weight, exercise, stay off the pharmaceuticals, vaccinate responsibly (or better yet not at all) and see what happens to your and your animals health. You might be surprised. In the end a whole lot "cheeper" then spending thousands at the vet and doctors.

Hi iway2happi, I live in hot weather Texas and control mosquitoes the source of heartworm using 1-part original Avon Skin So Soft to 5-parts water in a spray bottle (it works) and an electronic bug zapper in the yard. Also, I only give "Safeheart" every 6 weeks as a preventative - see scientific articles below :

The University of Pennsylvania vet school (in a study funded by Merial) found: “Development in the mosquito is temperature dependent, requiring approximately two weeks of temperature at or above 27C (80F). Below a threshold temperature of 14C (57F), development cannot occur, and the cycle will be halted. As a result, transmission is limited to warm months, and duration of the transmission season varies geographically.”

Dr. Will Falconer, (www.alt4animals.com) a holistic vet certified in acupuncture and homeopathy, has written an e-book called “Drug-Free Heartworm Prevention Program.”  This 9-page, well-written e-book (currently $9.95) is delivered electronically.  I do not profit from sales of this book.  

More than a decade ago — on June 4, 1998 — the FDA approved a 1/5 dose version of Interceptor heartworm medication, a product called Safeheart. This expensive field trial was conducted and the dosage approved  — but inexplicably the product was never marketed in the U.S.

To duplicate the Safeheart heartworm “prevention” method — which you can’t buy — you have split the Interceptor dose into quarters. Check with Interceptor first, and ask your pharmacist or vet how to do this accurately.  The recommended once-a-month dosage is 0.1 mg of milbemycin oxime per kg of body weight (0.05 mg/lb). (Interceptor’s regular dose of dosage is 0.5 mg milbemycin oxime per kg of body weight.) Print the FDA’s Safeheart report and take it to your vet for your prescription and additional instructions.

Note: At this dose, only heartworms will be treated, not other worms or fleas.

See: www.dogs4dogs.com/.../heartworm-medication-safety

Less meds is best.

Hi iway2happi, I would vaccinate your puppy only one-time with Merial Recombinant Vectored Vaccines given individually at least 4-weeks apart.  Distemper initially; followed by Parvo 4 -6 weeks later. Don’t given simultaneously and never give Modified Live Vaccines. Quoting, Dr. Richard Pitcairn, DVM, PhD (immunology) in the 3rd Edition of his excellent book (Complete Guide to Natural Health in Dogs & Cats): “If you really want to play it safe, keep your new puppy isolated from contact with other dogs and just vaccinate once – at age 22 weeks or older… The only essential vaccines are distemper and parvo.”

RECOMBITEK Canine Parvo helps close the window of vulnerability to canine parvovirus, even in puppies born with high levels of maternal antibodies. While declining levels of maternal antibodies may not protect puppies from viral infection, they may interfere with the effectiveness of a vaccine. RECOMBITEK Canine Parvo breaks through maternal antibodies to provide safe, proven, powerful protection.

RECOMBITEK® rDistemper

Recombinant Vectored Vaccine for Targeted Protection

Through the advanced technology of Type 3 recombinant vaccine manufacturing, RECOMBITEK rDistemper offers safe, proven, efficacious distemper protection to your canine patients, without the potential risks associated with modified-live distemper vaccines.

See: us.merial.com/.../products_recombitek.asp

In closing, I have found nutrition to be most important in building immunity.  I feed Slanker's Raw Grass-Fed Texas Beef from the start, our 8-month old puppy is energetic and healthy (Ground Beef Dog and Cat Food Mix $2.98/ lbs.) "Our premium pet food consists mostly of meat trimmings from all the various beef cuts, heart muscle, jaw muscle, a little organ meat, and tongue, plus some fat that is course ground into a highly nutritious mix that ranges around 90/10 and does not include any additives of any kind.

See: www.texasgrassfedbeef.com/id77.htm

Not when you factor in all the medical expenses you might be paying after a reaction (thyroid issues, auto-immune diseases, seizures, cancer etc)....

And add up all the vaccines over a life time.

Absolutely. In fact you can ask for vaccines without adjuncts, the toxic heavy metals added specifically to cause a more aggressive immune system response. My vet didn't carry singles, but I kicked up such a fuss, provided him the research, etc. He now carries them. I asked him to provide me her first rabies vac without any toxins, and found a holistic vet some distance away that has it. Informed him and offered to go get it if necessary, for licensing in our county. I'm waiting til she's older, with a better developed immune system before we do that. (unless I can get a waiver?!)

Mine cost something like that, but really, that's only the cost of 3 trips to the vet for the 'vaccine series' and if you follow their protocol, you're not done yet! Then there's the cost of all the future health problems your pet would have due to a damaged immune system. Hands down, titre is way more cost effective.

I would go to the natural Vet. Hands down with out a question. If a single vaccine is not obtainable which I doubt but it is possible I guess I am not sure where to go from there. I know I would not risk killing the dog. Perhaps the Natural Vet can do what mine does she uses nosodes. I have never had a problem with the nosodes being ineffective but since it is not medically proven I guess there is some risk that it does not work.  It works for me though. Not sure why Dr. Becker does not talk about nosodes since she is a homeopath.

I make over an hour drive to my homeopathic vet and its well worth it. I'd make the 2 hour drive to him in a heartbeat to save my dog. A single parvo shot killed my pup 5 years ago. He had a horrible, immediate reaction like you're describing and weeks later collapsed and died. Go to the natural vet, hopefully they are a homeopathic vet so they can get the pup rebalanced and then don't vaccinate the dog again. Everyday both vets and regular medical doctors try to convince pet owners and mothers that these reactions are just "coincidence".

Interesting how a once robust individual (human/animal) is suddenly gravely ill and dies or is severely injured after a vaccine and it's just "coincidence". Not coincidence. I totally get the horror of parvo. I get it. But watching my pup die (and his death wasn't an easy one) and then seeing my latest 3 young dogs thriving unvaccinated.......makes me really rethink a lot of my earlier beliefs about vaccination.

Hi AfricaGal,

Please, don't continue with additional vaccinations of your 12-week golden retriever, but contact Austin, Texas Homeopathic Veterinarian, Dr. Will Falconer, DVM (my family Vet - I live in New Braunfels). His web site www.alt4animals.com is very informative & will ease your concerns regarding parvo and the safest way to protect your puppy, without the risk of adverse vaccine reaction.  Contact Info below:

Will Falconer, DVM

Certified Veterinary Homeopath

Alternatives for Animal Health

Austin, Texas

phone: (512)-288-5400

fax: (512)-288-5402

Preference will be given to those caretakers who understand the importance of vaccination problems presented here. If you are interested in an appointment for your animal, please first read info on his web site. Then, please write a brief synopsis of your animal's situation, including age, breed, present diet, current problem, length of time illness has been present, and treatments already used.  Send this with the subject line reading: "Seeking Appointment" to the email: drfalconer@alt4animals.com

Office hours are Tuesday through Thursday 9:30 - 5:00. I will not be able to answer questions about individual animals' health concerns outside of appointments.

IMPORTANT VACCINE STUDY:

The conclusion and clinical relevance of a study conducted by Dr. Larry Glickman, DVM, DrPH, and Emeritus Faculty at Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine showed that young adult small-breed neutered dogs that received multiple vaccines per office visit were at greatest risk of vaccine-associated adverse events (VAAE) within 72 hours after vaccination. (J Am Vet Med Assoc 2005;227:1102–1108).Increases with the number of vaccines given simultaneously.

Adverse reactions to rabies vaccination is even more dangerous & can include autoimmune diseases affecting the thyroid, joints, blood, eyes, skin, kidney, liver, bowel and central nervous system; anaphylactic shock; fearfulness, aggression; seizure & epilepsy.

Thank you for the great replies!  I will definitely check into Dr. Falconer as well!  Very appreciated!

My suggestion is to find a private pet sitter.  If your pet is put in a kennel they spend most of the day in a cage. Start advertising early, join dog clubs and go to the part frequently where you can meet other dog owners and strike up a deal where you can take each other's dogs during vacations. Check out ads for dog walkers.  Often dog walkers are good prospects for taking in a dog during vacation.

And college students who live in dorms might be a very good choice for house sitting, which is often cheaper than boarding your dogs.

But get someone who knows your pets and you can trust.

Fiona, I strongly recommend a herb called Milk Thistle for the liver.  Also, fantastic for the liver after surgery.  Aenesthetic and medication is extremely hard on the liver.  Personally, if I ever have any concerns, or thoughts, I talk to the people in the Health Store.  I tell them the size and age of the dog and what I am concerned about and ask for their suggestions.

Have you talked to other kennels about their demands?  If you are gone on vacation, could you not choose a vacation that you can take your dogs with you?  Do you have pet-sitters in Hong Kong?  In Canada there are people who will stay in your home and take care of your pets and plants and your home is better protected with someone there.  If you do, this would be a much better option for your dogs and for you.  If you do, meet them and ask them if they have emergency training and make sure they are bonded and check them out .  Ask how many years they have been in business and ask for reference's and call them.  If not, do you have a trusted friend or relative who will stay in your home, or maybe they will take care of your dogs in their home?

I have never put my dogs in a kennel and I never will, for many reasons.   Hopefully, people here will have some great advice for you.

My Vet recommends Thuja for that. And there is a site that carries homeopathics for this specifically. Called http:// www.herbalhealer.com.  I have used there homeopathic for MSG and it works great. I use it if I go to a restaurant. I would seek out a pet sitter instead of doggie day care just for that reason.

To treat distemper, the vet should put the dog on a Vitamin C IV.

Dogs do not manufacture vitamin C, like we do.

@CGG:

I believe you have it all backwards. Humans, most primates, guinea pigs do not produce Vit. C, whereas dogs and cats do. In the above mentioned animals along with humans, it is an essential element for survival. This is why, a long time ago, sailors that were at sea a very long time, died of the dreaded disease, scurvy. A vitamin C deficiency.

The respiratory is the first phase of infection.  Infection can move on to phase two which is the neurologic stage with symptoms of seizures, tremors, weakened legs and possibly death.  Per Marvistavet -- stronger animals may not appear ill until the respiratory phase is over.  www.marvistavet.com/.../body_canine_distemper.html

Thanks swinn; on the info for the web site.  I had a dog diagnosed with distemper from a veterinarian and he wanted to put her down. After reading books on distemper at the library, I decided to fight the disease naturally as I would a severe cold. After two weeks she came out of it OK. A year later back at the vet, he asked if this was the same dog, and went on to say, "it probably wasn't distemper after all". How sad is that?

Agreed, I responded in haste and said it backwards.  That is why C-IV's for distemper.

@CGG; Does your veterinian agree with you on vitamin C IV on an animal that already produces it's own vitamin C equivalent to it's size and body weight? Something they have been doing for generations. These animals seem to shy away naturally from foods that have C in it. At least it is something I have noticed. Maybe Dr. Becker can answer this question?

Badboy2,

You must have been able to kick the virus (with the treatment you gave and the dogs own immune system) before it developed to the neurological stage --- NICE...  I do find it amazing how a diagnosis can be changed when the outcome doesn't fit the perceived outcome....  My dog was born with kidney disease.  She has lived with the disease quite nicely now for 5 years -- no medications (except neutraceuticals), no special diet (except raw) etc.  Some believe there is NO WAY she could have kidney disease.  

It must be something else (she has excessive peeing and drinking) --- UNTIL they see her blood work.  Blood work doesn't lie...  If it doesn't fit the norm it must not be so..... grrrrrrrr. FYI -- Dr. Becker does use vitamin c therapeutically -- say for cancer.  I had a discussion with her a year or so ago on the forum side of Mercola Healthy Pets.  I'm pretty sure Dr. Martin Goldstein uses vitamin c therapeutically as well.  I don't have his book with me right now (I'm at work) but I do believe I remember reading as much...  

Dr. Becker is NOT a proponent on synthetic vitamins but for therapeutic purposes she does see their value.  That was the gist of our conversation --- I'm HUGELY ANTI synthetic.. :)

@ swinn: Thanks for the info on VitC.  What I did for my dog was give her my multi-vitamin 3 times a day. Kept a record of her temperature 3x a day. It seemed to be lower in nthe morning after a full night of rest. I would also give her chicken noodle soup with a scramble egg or two in it, since I always heard it was good for a cold. :)  I would hand feed her the best canned dog food I could find., and boil her some chicken and hand feed her that. At around a week an a half her fever started to break.

Back then if one ask if a person took vitamins, they would say, " yeah I take vitamin E". It wasn't as knowledgeable as it is today for humans and animals.

There are many natural ways to help with cancer. Laetrile, Essiac, Hoxsey, etc. Vit C has about a 3 % effect in preventing and fighting it. Combine it with vit E and selenium and that ratio jumps up to 20 %. I find what natural products works in humans will work with most animals. Cats are more sensitive and one should be very careful. Talking to a vet first is recommended.  

Have you looked at D-mannose for your dog's kidney problems? www.d-mannose-utislip.com   This is just one site on the subject. Good luck to you and your dog.

Badboy2,

Cancer is dependant on a process called apoptosis.  Apoptosis is a normal body process where the cell basically commits suicide.  When a cell becomes old or damaged it commits suicide.  When apoptosis is inhibited the cell is able to divide and cancer is born...  Apoptosis goes hand in hand with nutrition --- turmerics curcumin is an antioxidant, laetril is vitamin b17, cruciferous veggies etc.  My chiropractors wife took essiac tea, fresh carrot juice and cruciferous veggies (plus cut out grains from her diet) to fight kidney cancer --- successfully :)  It's amazing what proper nutrition can do for the body.

I think your success was two fold --- the products you put in the body but also NOT trying to reduce the fever...  One percent of the calcium in the body is in the blood in the form of calcium bicarbonate.  When a pathogen gets into the body this one percent of calcium is called upon to neutralize the invading pathogen (called the calcium wave).  When the one% calcium is used up, the muscles in the body heat up to heat the bones causing more calcium to be released --- to fight the pathogen....  By not trying to reduce the fever you allowed the body's immune system to function properly!!!!  VERY NICE :)  If you feed probiotics that is helpful as well.  The good bacteria "prime" the neutrophil white blood cells to be on alert when a pathogen gets in.  

I do have some D-mannose however it is not useful for kidney disease.  It's main use (and possibly only use?) is to fight infections of the urinary tract (including the kidneys) and then only works when the infection is caused by e-coli...  A bad kidney infection can cause enough damage to cause kidney disease but it is not the only cause of the disease.  Audrey's kidney disease was not caused by infection nor does she ever get an infection --- as mentioned although I do have d-mannose on hand just in case.  I've had to use it on my foster dogs more then once... :)

Dr. Becker is not advocating continual vaccinations.  This article is her discussion with Dr. Schultz.  Dr. Becker said:  "There's no reason to re-vaccinate, because giving a dog or cat boosters of the same vaccines doesn't mean he's more protected."  Possibly you believe that pets should not be vaccinated at the appropriate weeks when they are babies?

The other important point I noticed in Dr. Becker's diologue and comments was that she was recommending certain ones because of the volume of animals she'd seen die in her area from those diseases.  i.e. Parvo, distemper. Because of the threat, it should be 'considered.' I thought I recalled her also saying it's a risk the pet owner has to weigh themselves.

It doesn't matter wether they die from the vaccine, complications or the disease, it's every bit as  heart breaking. Since we can't read the future, each of us looks at the evidence, weighs it and makes the best decision that we can at the time. Are we going to make some decisions that in retrospect we'd wish we'd chosen differently? O' yeah. It's a difficult decision. If the risk is high, you may want to give those vaccines, or you may chose to pursue a different route, like immune system boosting, or chose to do both. If your pet is already compromised, then vaccination isn't really a viable option... I think all of that is well represented here.

We are all doing the best we can with the information we have available. This forum is a blessing because there is such a wide variety of information to review, and there are so many well informed participants.

I think there are perhaps situation where vaccines are appropriate especially if the animal is in a high risk environment. However I am not for them either. I have to question the fact humans can grow up to be very healthy adults without ever getting vaccinated yet our animals cannot. I doubt their diseases are any more dangerous than ours are. Perhaps the circumstance are though. In the case of breeding, living conditions, and poor diet are a few things that play a part in low resistance.

Even with the humans I know that do not vaccinate their children their living conditions are such that pretty much supports health not the other way around. I however can't say I know any poor people who have children that are not vaccinated so I cannot say if that has anything to do with it at all. I would love to see some statistics on it though. Just because Doctor B. is for vaccination I however will still read her articles and reply to the posts.