Vaccine Concerns & Our Protocol
I think many more breeders and owners have had to nurse puppies or adult dogs through an auto-immune related crash than we know - maybe more than will admit it or maybe they don't even know what they were dealing with. It is not pleasant, is very upsetting to the families that must go through it, and can be severe enough to result in the permanent damage or death of the dog. The theory is that perhaps Tollers have a genetic problem with immune related diseases. This is possible. It is also possible that the breed has a weakness, sensitivity or predisposition to these kinds of problems, rather than a genetic link to individual dogs or bloodlines. With this theory, if we reduce the trigger factors that cause an immune reaction and work to build the immune system stronger, then we can reduce the incidence of immune related sickness. Maybe over time the breed will lose that immune sensitivity and we will see a breed with stronger, healthier immune systems. This is an issue that other breeds are dealing with also. We are seeing many different breeds of dogs, as well as mixed breeds that have growing rates of immune issues.
In many incidences this crash occurs within days or weeks of vaccination. It often hits puppies that are going through the normal vaccination protocol of 3-5 sets of multi-disease vaccinations. Co-incidence? Not likely. Over the last few years, I have been doing a lot of reading, searching the Internet and talking to many members of the veterinary community on this subject. I have been fortunate enough to have spoken to some learned professionals and some of the leading experts in this field, from across North America. The consensus? The general veterinary community (at least in this part of the world) is beginning to agree that we are over vaccinating our pets and that we are seeing health issues rising because of this. I have been told that the main reason that animal vaccinations were made an annual event was to get owners to bring their pets in for annual check-ups. There are so many other health issues that vets can find with yearly exams and this is a very important part of health care. However, many people will not bother or they will forget to get Fido to the vet every year unless they have it ingrained that Fido *needs* something from the vet. A lot of vets agreed that if they could guarantee that pet owners would bring their pets in for a check-up every year, that they would be willing to vaccinate every 3-4 years, rather than annually. The Canadian Veterinary Association is now taking a serious look at their vaccination recommendations - last I heard, they were recommending vaccines every 3 years until further notice.
Studies are now saying that often one exposure to a vaccine after the age of 12 weeks, will provide protection for the life of the dog. All I know is that we definitely don't vaccinate ourselves or our children every single year - and we are finding that vaccine coverage in human is often longer than we first thought. I was personally involved in the original testing of the Hepatitis B vaccine and we were told that we should be revaccinated every 3-5 years. They have since discovered that the vaccine protects for 20 years or possibly a lifetime. Could the same not be true of our pets' vaccines?
At this point and time, I do agree with vaccinating our animals. However, I think there are many diseases that we don't need to vaccinate for because our animals will either never be exposed to the disease, the disease is not life threatening or the vaccine has proven to be almost as bad as the disease in many cases. I also believe that we are over taxing the immune systems of our pets by administering multi-disease vaccines, and we are often allowing veterinarians to vaccinate sick or unhealthy pets thus increasing the chances of vaccinosis. If we were to reduce the number of diseases that we vaccinate against, down to those that are necessary (in my mind this is Parvo only - possibly Distemper), and then give single disease vaccines (spaced weeks apart to allow the immune system to recover) only when necessary, I think our 4 legged friends would be much healthier for it. I have left Rabies off my list of necessary vaccines because it is not an issue where I live, though I do understand that it is a problem in many parts of Canada and the US and would vaccinate my dogs if there were a high risk of exposure. I think we have to determine what diseases we expose our dogs to, how dangerous the disease is, how safe the vaccine is, and then determine what vaccinations are given - and how often.
The current recommended vaccine protocol at our kennel is:
- no vaccines until puppy is at least 13 weeks of age
- Parvo vaccine only - given at 13 weeks
(one only)
- Distemper vaccine only - given at 17 weeks (to allow immune system to recover
from Parvo shot) in high risk areas only
- Rabies given at
1 year of age (only if
regulated by law in your area) and only once in the life of the dog
- antibody blood titres done 4 weeks after last shot to determine immune response to vaccine
Our animals trust us to look after them and it is our responsibility to educate and arm ourselves with the knowledge required to do the very best for them.
For more info on general pet health and diet, check out the following site and view Dr. Karen Becker's video library:
