Rabies vaccines; it's a hot topic these days. www.rabieschallengefund.org The Rabies challenge has brought it to the forefront and is digging into the facts. I have always got rabies vaccinations for my dogs but now into their senior years and having health issues I am not willing to compromise their health. With Titers you can reliably test the amount of immunity a dog has to certain diseases.
Great article on Titer testing
With a good titer result; our dogs are still protected but sometimes this isn't enough for the officials. With simple common sense it should be; you can have titers done for humans as well and that seems to be enough for us. Why should be re-vaccinate when the dogs body has enough immunity? They are finding out that over vaccinating is alot more dangerous than once thought.
I have a very inquiring mind; I always want to know more. If I hear about an important issue that I hadn't heard before then I dig in; I want the facts. I listen to what people have to say; take what I think is important and toss the rest. Life is a constant education; to deny facts, to turn away in an "I don't want to know" manner is really useless.
Take the whole Autistic/vaccine debate going on in the human world right now. Many just don't buy it; thankfully many are also digging.
Information on the Rabies challenge
We are only human and humans make mistakes; but to turn away from the facts is a disservice to us and our animals. Before you re-vaccinate; research, research alot.
Great article! Pet owners really need to be proactive concerning their pet's care. I do believe that puppies should receive the necessary core vaccinations to provide them with the immunity they need especially against parvo and distemper. Having done rescue for a number of years I took in many puppies that were going to be euthanized by the humane society and the dog pound that had parvo or distemper. These facilities do not treat the disease and due to the high contagion they euthanize animals that test positive. With the care of a holistic vet we saved more puppies than we lost...still a heartbreaking situation. My personal dogs, at that time 2 dobermans, 1 greyhound and 3 whippets all lived in the home and ranged in age from 8 months to 14 years. Although we kept the puppies isolated there is every likelyhood my personal dogs received some exposure to these diseases. None of my dogs ever contracted any disease even though almost all had only received the series of puppy vaccinations. In fact my 14 year old greyhound had only had 1 booster after his initial puppy vaccines at the age of 7 when his titer levels came back a little low. I am not anti vaccination but I am anti over vaccination even in people. Being a Canadian that married an American you have to be screened for communicable diseases and if you do not have you vaccination records you have to be revaccinated. As I could not locate mine I received a cocktail vaccination conatining all the normal childhood vaccines. I felt like I had the flu for a few days, apparently normal. I continued feeling tired and not quite right. Things continued to get worse over the next few months and finally I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism which is an immune system disease. My specialist believes as do I that the vaccinations I received overwhelmed and compromised my immune system in effect causing my body to attack itself. I never had any problem with the vaccinations I received as a child just as most pets do fine with their baby series. The problem comes when we introduce too much of a good thing to a body that already has the protection it needs.
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