“We found a stray dog and so we have no idea what her vaccination history is or even if she has been spayed. She is probably about a year old at the most…looks like a small yellow lab.

I want to just have her vaccinated for parvo and distemper only and of course we have to have her vaccinated for rabies. But my question for you is how long to wait between the spaying and the vaccinations? And how long between before she gets her rabies shot? And which order do you recommend having all of this done? I know I have seen this information somewhere on the Internet before but it was a long time ago and I just can’t seem to find it now.

I would really appreciate any advice. At this point I don’t even know which thing should be done first, the spaying or the vaccinations.

Note: I got this question from Kat after she watched one of our K9Author YouTube Videos on vaccinating dogs.

Response: Hi Kat.  I’m no fan of the rabies vaccine because of its many adverse reactions. Neither do I like the idea of vaccinating a stressed dog; the vaccine may not “take” and the chance of side effects increases.

However … because most people wouldn’t be comfortable handling a strange dog with no shot history, I’d either have a titer test done to test immunity for rabies (which would prove immunity and not harm the dog, but would cost $150 or so and not allow you to get a license) … or I’d vaccinate.  If you do vaccinate, wait 3 or more weeks before spaying (or neutering) or giving another shot. If you can have a holistic vet or homeopathic vet give the shot, that would be great.  A homeopathic remedy given with the rabies shot can help prevent a reaction.

I would never vaccinate against anything else at the same time as the rabies shot. Instead, I’d have the vet do a titer test for parvovirus and distemper (the two most important diseases) to see if vaccination is even necessary. (This simple blood test should cost $60 – 80 total.) This is the safest route. Because the dog is an adult, she may well be immune to both diseases.

If you decide to vaccinate against parvo and distemper, do NOT do it at the same time as rabies or surgery. And do not vaccinate with a combo shot containing other, probably unnecessary vaccines. Wait 3 weeks or more after rabies or spaying.  Surgery and vaccination are major assaults to the immune system and should be spread out. Specifically tell your vet to never vaccinate during, or within a week or two, of surgery. If your vet does vaccinate without your permission, file a complaint with your local veterinary board. This is a violation of the legal doctrine of informed consent.

As to whether you should spay or vaccinate first, it depends on what you perceive the risks to be: pregnancy or disease. If you can keep the female away from males, go ahead and vaccinate first.

Note: I’m not a vet, but this is what I would do.

Here’s a second question from Kat:

I had actually called a vet earlier today to see how much they charge to titer test for parvo and distemper. At this particular vet’s it was $82.00 plus $43.00 for the office call. I had also called a spay and neuter clinic to see how much they charge to spay and they told me they could give her the vaccinations at the same time. I said, nope! I told them I would not have it done all at one time because I don’t think it’s healthy for the dog. I like your advice of having the rabies shot given first. So I think I will go ahead with that this Saturday then the spay and then the parvo/distemper all spaced 3 weeks apart.

I already ordered her a breakaway dog collar which is also a life saver. Thanks for all of your work in educating people and thus helping dogs to live happier, healthier lives. — Kat

My response:

Kat, you might try having the blood for the titer test tested at hemopet.com. It’s a nonprofit blood bank and testing facility run by renowned vaccine expert Dr. Jean Dodds. Her prices are usually better. Re the blood draw, it should cost no more than $25. It’s just a draw, done by a tech, not an office visit. Try negotiating with your vet … or try another clinic.

Good luck with your new girl and congrats on being such a good guardian to a stranger!

Another question from Kat:

Technorati tags: dog, dogs, vaccination,vaccines, rabies vaccine, shots

Anyway, on to phase two of this whole thing. I am going to be setting up a spay appointment for about 3 1/2 weeks from now. And also I’m going to be searching to find out about the titer testing for parvo and distemper.

Sorry for getting so wordy with this but I just wanted to let you know how we are doing and also to reinforce the fact that people really need to stand their ground about the vaccinations. Because they have innovative ways to try to convince you that your dog needs all of them and right now!

So finally we got up to the veterinarians. I told them we had found her two weeks ago and knew nothing about her history. So one of them asked if I wanted them to scan her for a chip. I said, sure. He said they are supposed to scan in that circumstance anyway. But I had the feeling he wouldn’t have if I had asked him not to. Anyway, he scanned and found nothing and told me I have a dog. I also asked them if they could tell if she’s been spayed.

Here is an excerpt from a letter Kris recently sent trying to prevent a change in the law in Muncie, Indiana, from three years to one!  This move is clearly to bring in more revenue with more frequent licensing, as the science in no way supports it.

This letter has valuable information we all should read — especially if you’re living in an area requiring shots more often than the national standard of every three years.

“… recommendations of the American Veterinary Medical Association [1] and the Center for Disease Control’s National Association of State Public Health Veterinarian’s 2008 Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control advise that: “Vaccines used in state and local rabies control programs should have at least a 3-year duration of immunity…….. No laboratory or epidemiologic data exist to support the annual or biennial administration of 3- or 4-year vaccines following the initial series.”

A regressive ordinance revision requiring annual rabies boosters for dogs and cats is medically unnecessary and scientifically unfounded.  According to the American Animal Hospital Association, “The minimum DOI [duration of immunity] for killed rabies vaccine based on challenge studies is 3 years; based on antibody titers, it is considered to be up to 7 years..” [2] 

More frequent vaccination than is required to fully immunize an animal will not achieve further disease protection.  Redundant annual rabies shots needlessly expose dogs and cats to the risk of adverse effects while obligating residents to pay unnecessary veterinary medical fees, which could violate … consumer protection laws and obligate veterinarians to engage in unprofessional conduct (Code 25-1) by administering medically unwarranted rabies vaccines in order for their clients to comply with the amended ordinance.  The American Veterinary Medical Association’s 2001 Principles of Vaccination state that “Unnecessary stimulation of the immune system does not result in enhanced disease resistance, and may increase the risk of adverse post-vaccination events.”   

It is recognized that most, if not all, currently licensed annual rabies vaccines given annually are actually the 3-year vaccine relabeled for annual use – Colorado State University’s Small Animal Vaccination Protocol for its veterinary teaching hospital states: “Even with rabies vaccines, the label may be misleading in that a three year duration of immunity product may also be labeled and sold as a one year duration of immunity product.”  According to Dr. Ronald Schultz of the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, whose canine vaccine studies form a large part of the scientific base for the 2003 and 2006 American Animal Hospital Association’s (AAHA) Canine Vaccine Guidelines, as well as the World Small Animal Veterinary Association’s 2007 Vaccine Guidelines, “There is no benefit from annual rabies vaccination and most one year rabies products are similar or identical to the 3-year products with regard to duration of immunity and effectiveness.”[3]  

Immunologically, the rabies vaccine is the most potent of the veterinary vaccines and associated with significant adverse reactions such as polyneuropathy “resulting in muscular atrophy, inhibition or interruption of neuronal control of tissue and organ function, incoordination, and weakness,” [4] auto-immune hemolytic anemia, [5] autoimmune diseases affecting the thyroid, joints, blood, eyes, skin, kidney, liver, bowel and central nervous system; anaphylactic shock; aggression; seizures; epilepsy; and fibrosarcomas at injection sites are all linked to the rabies vaccine. [6] [7] It is medically unsound for this vaccine to be given more often than is necessary to maintain immunity. 

A “killed” vaccine, the rabies vaccine contains adjuvants to enhance the immunological response.  In 1999, the World Health Organization “classified veterinary vaccine adjuvants as Class III/IV carcinogens with Class IV being the highest risk,” [8] and the results of a study published in the August 2003 Journal of Veterinary Medicine documenting fibrosarcomas at the presumed injection sites of rabies vaccines stated, “In both dogs and cats, the development of necrotizing panniculitis at sites of rabies vaccine administration was first observed by Hendrick & Dunagan (1992).” [9] According to the 2003 AAHA Guidelines, “…killed vaccines are much more likely to cause hypersensitivity reactions (e.g., immune-mediated disease).” [10]

*******

Learn more about rabies vaccine dangers at our Rabies Vaccine blog or our Rabies Vaccine Information Page.

References:

[1] American Veterinary Medical Association, 2007 RABIES VACCINATION PROCEDURES
[2] American Animal Hospital Association Canine Vaccine Task Force. 2003 Canine Vaccine Guidelines, Recommendations, and Supporting Literature, p.13
[3] Schultz, Ronald D.; What Everyone Needs to Know about Canine Vaccines, October 2007,  
[4]Dodds, W. Jean Vaccination Protocols for Dogs Predisposed to Vaccine Reactions, The Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association, May/June 2001, Vol. 37, pp. 211-214
[5] Duval D., Giger U.Vaccine-Associated Immune-Mediated Hemolytic Anemia in the Dog, Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine 1996; 10:290-295
[6] American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Executive Board, April 2001, Principles of Vaccination, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Volume 219, No. 5, September 1, 2001.
[7] Vascelleri, M. Fibrosarcomas at Presumed Sites of Injection in Dogs: Characteristics and Comparison with Non-vaccination Site Fibrosarcomas and Feline Post-vaccinal Fibrosarcomas; Journal of Veterinary Medicine, Series A August 2003, vol. 50, no. 6, pp. 286-291.
[8] IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans: Volume 74, World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Feb. 23-Mar. 2, 1999, p. 24, 305, 310.
[9] Vascelleri, M. Fibrosarcomas at Presumed Sites of Injection in Dogs: Characteristics and Comparison with Non-vaccination Site Fibrosarcomas and Feline Post-vaccinal Fibrosarcomas; Journal of Veterinary Medicine, Series A August 2003, vol. 50, no. 6, pp. 286-291.
[10] American Animal Hospital Association Canine Vaccine Task Force. 2003 Canine Vaccine Guidelines, Recommendations, and Supporting Literature, 28pp. and ibid. 2006 AAHA Canine Vaccine Guidelines, Revised, 28 pp.

Technorati tags: dog, dogs, vaccination,vaccines, rabies vaccine, vaccine reactions, adverse reactions, shots

Michael Dym, VMD

For the past several decades, the conventional standard of practice has been to give puppies and kittens, as young as three to four weeks of age, multiple viral vaccinations every few weeks until they are about five months old, then repeat the practice very year through their golden years. Years ago, veterinary immunologists and renowned vaccine experts Ron Schultz, DVM and colleague Dr. Phillips wrote in the XI edition of Kirks Current Veterinary Therapy (used in all vet schools), that yearly vaccination for viral diseases is medically unnecessary and is a practice that “lacks scientific validity,” indicating that immunity to most core viral vaccination persists “for years to the life of the animal.”

In 1997, the first International Veterinary Vaccines and Diagnostics Conference concluded that the duration of immunity is likely more than five years for the clinically important companion animal vaccines. Yet, veterinarians continue to routinely over-vaccinate both puppies and adult/senior dogs and cats.

More recently, evidence has emerged that, along with the nutrient-poor processed commercial pet foods, over-vaccinating has been a major factor in the development of the epidemic increases in autoimmune diseases, seizures, hormonal disorders and cancer seen in younger pets. There’s even evidence that genetic changes have occurred due to over-vaccination over many generations. Vaccinating pets with chronic immune mediated illnesses or cancer, or even a history of cancer, is contraindicated, as all vaccine inserts that come with the vaccinations say for “use in healthy animals only.” Studies are now under way to document that even rabies vaccination has immunity that probably lasts from five to 10 years . (Please see the Rabies Challenge Fund and Truth4Dogs.org).

I recommend that animal guardians become better informed about which vaccines are appropriate for their pets and how often or if they should be given or repeated. The health of our canine and feline companions depends upon learning the truth, just as we are now learning the truth about fresh, more nutritional foods.

In practice for 18 years, Dr. Dym developed an interest in holistic and homeopathic veterinary medicine and has studied with Richard Pitcairn, DVM, and PhD, author of Dr. Pitcairn’s Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats. He practices in New Jersey. For additional information, please visit Dr. Michael Dym’s website.

Note from Jan: Find more in-depth articles on vaccination at my Truth4Dogs.com blog.
Vaccinating Unhealthy Pets: Beware Reactions & Vaccine Failure
Vaccinating Dogs: 10 Steps to Eliminating Unnecessary Shots    
Titer Test: Don’t Vaccinate Your Dog Unnecessarily
On my website: Rabies Vaccine Information and Vaccinating Dogs: What Your Vet Won’t Tell You

dog, dogs, dog shots, dog vaccination, vaccines, pets