Arrrooo fellow pets and humans! I’m scaried of shots and I don’t like them either. We had a new friend, Dogtor J talking with us on our online radio show/podcast Animal Talk, Naturally! last week (which you can go listen to on Tuesday April 18, 2006 at 10AM EST) about vaccinations. He made a LOT sense and from what I can gather as a dog recepient of these things is that I’ve had my quota, WOOF! Well at least bepaws I’m still recovering from some recent illnesses and am actually going through a healing crisis right now. So I am NOT a candiate even for my three-year rabies shot right now, whew! So let’s just read what Pet Medicine Chest has to say about all this:
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There is so much happening in the news that concerns our pets and ourselves that we just have to bring it to your attention so you will know what is going on out there.

Gale, one of our wonderful customers from Hawaii brought the following article to our attention. It is from the Concord, N.H. ‘Monitor’ (the local paper). She was certain that all our pet lover customers and newsletter readers would want to know about this story on dog and cat vaccinations. So here it is in its entirety. You also can contact the author if you so choose.

“Necessary or not?”
Some veterinarians and pet owners are questioning vaccinations.
By REBECCA T. DICKSON
Concord Monitor staff

A Labrador retriever in Maine developed a cancerous tumor. In South Carolina, a Basenji broke out in sores and nearly died. And a Los Angeles couple spent $6,000 on veterinary bills after their dog, Nikki, became violently ill.

A growing group of pet owners and veterinarians say illnesses like these seem to spring up after vaccinations meant to keep their pets healthy. While most animals don’t suffer any ill effects from the preventive shots, and millions have been saved because of them, some people wonder whether the frequency of vaccinations is more a tradition than a necessity.

“It’s important to realize that each dog and cat is unique,” said Katherine Evans,a veterinarian at the Holistic Veterinary Center in Concord. Puppies and kittens who receive timely vaccines will develop immunity later in life, she said. Before getting pets their annual booster vaccines, a blood test, or titer, can determine the level of immunity the dog or cat already has. And that will let a pet owner know if Fido and Fluffy are due for another round of shots, she said.

The only vaccine mandated by New Hampshire law is rabies, which must be administered every three years. As to the rest, some veterinarians and pet owners say less might be better.

Sandy Swain, a Labrador retriever breeder in Alton, said the last time one of her dogs received a vaccine other than rabies was about seven years ago. Swain said she keeps meticulous notes on her dog’s illnesses, among other things. When she reviewed them, she saw a pattern.

“Every spring, we’d go in and get the annual vaccinations, and then we’d spend the next four months back and forth to the vet with ear infections and skin infections,” she said. “Then by the fall, that stuff would clear up, and we’d be okay. . . . I stopped vaccinating the older dogs, and I haven’t had any problems. Ruby is 13. The last time she had (a vaccine), she was 6 years old.” Rick Palmquist, a Los Angeles veterinarian, surveyed animal clinics across the country that had vaccinated 100,000 dogs for distemper and parvovirus. He found that based on the initial shot alone, the animals were immune to the diseases anywhere from two years to more than 10.

Ronald Schultz, chairman of pathobiological sciences at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine at Madison, has been studying the efficacy of canine vaccines since the 1970s. “If a dog was effectively vaccinated as a puppy, and very certainly if it was ever vaccinated at a year old, it is immune for life,” he told Newsdaylast month. But not everyone is convinced over-vaccination is an issue. New Hampshire’s state veterinarian, Clifford McGinnis, said he’s not sure if the studies advocating less vaccination have been intensive enough to support the conclusion. “If they can prove that parvo(virus) maintains an immune level for three years, fine. The manufacturer can write that on the product,” he said. “I know there’s a big push nowadays, where people feel they’re over-immunizing animals. I don’t know if they are or they aren’t. I’d rather see some good scientific evidence. “People get a tetanus shot now every 10 years. It used to be a lot less than that,” he said. “But if I stepped on a rusty nail covered in horse manure, I’d go get another one.”

Swain’s 5-year-old yellow lab, Stella, has never had a vaccine other than rabies. For distemper and parvovirus, Swain has blood tests done to determine her dog’s immunity
levels. Sometimes they are protected, and sometimes they aren’t. But even that doesn’t dictate whether or when Swain will get them another shot. For the remaining recommended vaccines, including distemper and parvovirus, Swain has blood tests done to determine her dogs’ immunity levels. Sometimes they are protected, and sometimes they aren’t. But even that doesn’t dictate whether or when Swain will get them another shot. Stella does not have antibodies for distemper, a contagious and often fatal viral disease that affects the respiratory, gastrointestinal and central nervous systems. Distemper was rampant in the 1950s but practically disappeared after the vaccine was created, although it’s still present in wild animals, such as raccoons, skunks and foxes. “But where would she pick it up?” Swain said. “I take her into the woods enough. But I feel like, what’s the sense of giving her that shot? Distemper’s not out there, so she’s not going to catch it.” On the other hand, Swain said, her dog Shelby received the required rabies shot at 6 months, but a year later, she did not have an immunity level. “That’s funny to me. I had proof of her rabies vaccine. She would have been accepted anywhere she went, but she wasn’t protected,”Swain said. “To me, I think it’s more important to show that she has a titer than a rabies certificate. It can mean nothing.” The American Animal Hospital Association recommends administering vaccines every three years at most, rather than annually. Several canine vaccines such as distemper, rabies and parvovirus last between 7 years and 15 years, according to a recent study by the association.

A similar report, issued by the American Association of Feline Practitioners and the Academy of Feline Medicine and endorsed by AAHA, offers analogous vaccination guidelines for cats. In 1991, three years after Pennsylvania issued a mandatory rabies vaccination requirement for cats, a lab at the University of Pennsylvania reported a connection between an increase in the number of sarcomas, or cancerous tumors, and vaccination in cats. It claimed that in some cats, rabies vaccinations were leading to an inflammatory reaction under the skin.

Soon after, the University of California at Davis reported that feline leukemia vaccines were also likely to cause sarcomas – even more so than rabies vaccines. Researchers now estimate the prevalence of vaccine-induced sarcomas to be as much as one cat in 1,000, or up to 22,000 new cases a year.

Pfizer Animal Health, a vaccine manufacturer, says the decision of how often and which vaccinesto use should be left up to the veterinarians. Vaccination schedules should be assessed each year, based on a pet’s age, breed, health, environment and lifestyle (exposure to disease and other animals), the company said.

Swain said she didn’t decide to stop vaccinating overnight: Even when the older dogs stopped getting annual boosters, she worried about doing the same with her puppies, which are supposed to receive immunity to many diseases from their mothers, she said. “It takes courage,” Swain said.

“They put so much fear into you. They scare you to death that your dog or child is going to die if you don’t do this. “That’s mainly because people don’t have the facts about vaccinations and what’s in them. I just feel confident enough in their health and nutrition. If they get anything, they’ll be able to fight it on their own,” she said.

“But the important thing here is if your puppy or dog (or cat) should contract these diseases, are you prepared to take care of healing them? I have a very good vet and a plan.”

You as our customer can be certain you will have excellent and caring help if anything goes wrongwith your pet. Our philosophy is to build the immune system, feed your pet your own home cooked fresh food, not something out of a box or a can and you will have the happiest, healthiest pet on the block.

We have substantial experience in bringing our customer’s beloved pets who are suffering from the ravages of what these vaccinations do back to health, so you can have peace of mind that we know what to do to help you and your special little pet.

For instance, the skin problems discussed above are solved with our “Skin Saver Package”. Frankly all our “packages” were developed because of the need to help America’s pets get back to health. We ought to be called “the last resort” although we really should be first to help a new puppy or kitten on to adulthood and then onto the wise “old pet that runs your house”.

Once our people see the results of a happy, healthy pet, Pet Medicine Chest Customers never seem to succumb to the pressures of the local vet who is schooled by the big pharmaceutical companies. Our people become thinking people and wise care takers of the Creator’s little miracles.

If you need help with skin problems or any other problems, go here and then call us:
Skin Saver Package Special

Educated pet lovers are our best customers!!!

Yours for excellent pet health,

The Team
www.petmedicinechest.com
“Sick Pets Our Specialty, Healthy Pets Our Mission”
pethelp@petmedicinechest.com
(712) 644-3535

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Have a pawsitively tail waggin’, shot-free, clear skin day, WOOF!

A Dog’s View is brought to you by Pet Medicine Chest