Definitions:
Vaccinate: Treat (person or animal) with a vaccine to produce immunity to a particular infectious disease or pathogen.
Titer: As known as an antibody serology testing, measures a dogs blood for antibodies to determine if they’ve responded to a vaccine. It can identify if a dog has enough antibodies to protect against disease & avoid unnecessary vaccinations.
My 1st dog as an adult was the dog pictured at the top of this post, his name was Sam, he was my 5th foster dog. Sam (formerly Champ then Scout) was about 5-6 months old when he first came into the rescue I was with at the time. I had my 1st foster & asked to take him when Molly got adopted. I had no idea how that worked yet, but it didn’t matter because he was adopted by the time Molly was adopted. Sam was returned (don’t know why) a few months later, but glad he was away from them, I’ll tell that story another time. I was asked if I wanted to foster him & I said yes. That was June of 2002 & he was then 9 months old & I fell in love & adopted him. In 2004 I took him in for his series of vaccines like I thought you were supposed to do. Shortly after that he had his worst seizures so far, drooled, vomited, shook & dedicated all while on my bed. He was so stressed from it he became fearful & didn’t want to leave the house, so not like him. I hadn’t put together the previous seizure that had started around when he was vaccinated.
I started to investigate vaccinating dogs yearly as this was the trigger to the seizures. I also checked the laws where I lived & found that rabies was the only vaccination required by law where I live. A pet’s Veterinarian could send a letter to the state requesting waiver out of medical necessity. I also found out where I live there has not been a case of rabies in a dog since about 1970.
I also realized that I hadn’t been vaccinated since I was about 15 years old, I wondered why? Well, that was because I had built up immunity to the diseases they vaccinate kids for & I never got those diseases that I got shots for. I thought if I could build up immunity why wouldn’t my dog? As an adult I have had the hepatitis B vaccine prodigal because I work in a health care field. I had a situation where a number of years ago there was a possible exposure to Hepatitis B thru a patient & the Dr found out at least one of her vaccines was not good. I decided to have a Titer test for hepatitis to be sure I had the antibodies needed to be safe. It was a simple blood test, & results showed even after 10+ years I was more than safe.
In my research I found out that you could Titer test dogs before you vaccinate to see if they even need it. There is a great research project out there by Dr Schultz (think called the Dr Schultz’s Vaccination Research Project) that is worth looking up & reading. My Veterinarian at the time only mentioned vaccinations & never mentioned Titer test, I had to ask her if about doing titers. She tried to tell me they cost more than just doing the shots. I said “if he doesn’t need shots why would I want to put more chemicals in his body”. I figured I pay for titers once (maybe once every 3-5 years depending on results) & my dog doesn’t get over vaccinated. That was a no brainier to me. Many Veterinarians are of the old school mindset that you just do shots yearly because they say to & don’t ask questions. This is what they were taught in Vet school & many never researched or studied alternative options. In my quest for a more natural approach I started to look for a Veterinarian who thought more about treating pets naturally. I started to seek an Integrative Vet or a Holistic Vet. http://www.holisticvetlist is a source, but not all are listed. If you don’t find one near you on this list or after doing a Google search call some friends or call some local Vets & maybe one will give you a name or a place to start.
You can get titer tests done for Distemper, Parvo-virus (a puppy disease), leptospirosis, Lyme’s disease & rabies. I did Rabies titer for my information because Sam was medically exempt from rabies. I was just curious where Ace’s #’s were at.
In March 2005, before I knew you could titer for rabies I had titer tests for Distemper & Parvo done & that day had his rabies vaccine done & that night the seizures started up & continued having episodes over the next few months. When I got Sam’s titer test results back I was floored at how high they were. Sam was 4 1/2 years old & had not had Distemper or parvo vaccine for a year at the time he was tested.
The Distemper range to be safe is 1-32, Sam’s was 1-256
Parvo-virus range to be safe is 1-164, Sam’s was 1-4096
The rabies to be safe was a .5 & both Sam & Ace were at .9 when they were tested.
My belief is that most Veterinarians don’t believe the dangers of over vaccinating outweigh the possible issues/reactions I have read & learned from others. Some don’t believe vaccines are the reason a dog had seizures, vomited, had a rash at the injection site, had a lump develop at the site, had another allergic reaction, or died shortly after a vaccine. My current Vet gives vaccines in the tail, so if there is a reaction a dog or cat can do without a tail, but many Vet give vaccines in the neck or shoulder & you can’t cut those off.
If you are one that boards your dog or it goes to a groomer ask if they accept titer tests. If they don’t maybe find a groomer who works out of her home or a pet-sitter who come to you or your pet goes to their home. Maybe you’re not ready to consider titer testing & not vaccinating then do 3 year vaccines. Most people don’t know a 3 year rabies & a 1 year rabies vaccine is the same dose. YES, you read that correctly. Being in rescue for 20+ years you build relationships with Vets & they tell you stuff. I can’t confirm this about the DHpp vaccines(parvo, distemper ect…5 in 1, or 3 in 1) because I never did those vaccines after the titer tests came back. I have a hard time not believing it is not the same dose. You pay more upfront, but only doing it every 3 years & less chemicals going into your precious pets body. I would have asked my Vet when I saw her a few weeks ago, but didn’t know I was going to be doing this blog post now. My dog Hunter was due for his rabies, so I had my Vet give him a 3 year rabies & she does a Mercury free rabies vaccine & she recommends doing a detox right after which I do. Yes, there is Mercury in the rabies vaccines.
Mercury dangers: may have toxic effects on the nervous, digestive, & immune systems & on the lungs, kidneys, skin & eyes. Mercury is considered by WHO as one of the top ten chemicals of major public health concern.
Scary to think that rabies vaccines contain Mercury, but unless Veterinarian special orders Mercury free they do. Do the Mercury free ones cost more, yes, but when I saw what they did to my dog Sam’s nervous system I saw the dangers/risk. Our Pets rely on us to look out for them & do whatever we can to help them be as healthy & safe as possible. If you adore your Vet talk to your Vet about vaccines or maybe see an Integrative/holistic Vet for the rabies every 3 years & your regular Vet for everything else.
I honestly think many Vets are concerned if they suggest 3 year vaccines then people won’t come back for 3 years. Please be a responsible pet owner & take your pet in for an annual yearly exam where they check their ears, eyes, listen to heart, lungs, pulses, take their temperature, plus you should be doing a Heartworm test yearly & a stool check as well.
Please note it is never a good idea to vaccinate a pet that is sick (ill), if it appears your pet is near the last year of its life talk to your Vet about foregoing any vaccinations.
I hope you found this informative & interesting plus you’re going to do some research & speak to your Veterinarian about your pets vaccination protocol. Maybe your going to look into an Integrative Vet to help you treat more naturally or holistically. I would appreciate you sharing my blog posts with your friends & family. Liking, sharing & commenting on posts helps me get this information out to more people. Please also subscribe so you don’t miss out on future posts(you won’t get spam, just alerts to knew posts). If you have questions you can email me at echoinggreatpetcare@gmail.com Thank you so much for reading, come back soon & often. Debbie
Echoing Great Pet Care 