Vaccines - are they really necessary?

[brigid67]

See this is what happens when you are an insomniac.....  you surf the web till 4am looking for all kinds of things.  I have come across several message boards, articles, etc about how bad vaccines are for yor dog.  Vet schools are now teaching that all of the vaccines are not necessary.  Now, Ihave always vaccinated my dogs (just like my 2 legged kids) because that is what I was told was the right thing to do.  But is it?  Should we be drawing titers to see if our furry children actully need the vaccine.  Why re-vaccinate if the body is already showing an immunituy?  My breeder does not vaccinate and has not for 3 generations.  She states that it actually weakens the immune system.  And I believe to some degree that she is right.  Are rabies vaccines really necessary every 1-3 years.  If your dog has the antibodies then it should mean that a vaccine is not required.  Maybe al the un-necessary vaccinating is causeing all of the major health problems seen in our pets.  A vet friend of mine told me that they actually make pretty decent money off of routine vaccines.  It cousts them almost nothing to buy it in bulk and then charge 10-20.00 (at least at my vets office) for a single dose.  Also, the multiple vaccines like the 7 in 1 etc etc are worse then just a single vaccine.  Anyway, just wanted to know if other people do not vaccinate or if someone had any other info on the topic.

ok - hope I can finely get some sleep...maybe if those darn sugargliders will stop barking.
good night all
Timmie
p.s please excuse all typos it is 4am 

[Kermit]

I wish I could get a straight answer on this topic, too. I have read so many conflicting opinions. Zoot was only given a rabies vaccine every year up until I had to kennel him last year, and he was around other animals often and has always had great immunity. Who knows? I'll bet it's different in every dog.
I'm about to find out if the kennel cough vaccine works. Zoot and Nigel have both been vaccinated for it, and over the last few days I kept a temporary foster puppy who had a horrible case of kennel cough. Well, I don't have a quarantine unit in my house, (who does?), and so the pup ran with my dogs, ate with my dogs, kissed them, you name it. She has gone to the rescue group now so in 10 days if my dogs are not coughing, I can at least have faith in the KC vaccine. If my dogs come down with it though, I will be infuriated at the veterinary world. We shall see...
Here's that sweet coughing puppy sitting with Nigel...

[brigid67]

Well supposedly there are nosodes which are a more holistic type of vaccine.  Thet are suppose to be completely safe but still give the dog an immunity to the offending disease.
Timmie

[Anky]

I'm about to find out if the kennel cough vaccine works. Zoot and Nigel have both been vaccinated for it, and over the last few days I kept a temporary foster puppy who had a horrible case of kennel cough. Well, I don't have a quarantine unit in my house, (who does?), and so the pup ran with my dogs, ate with my dogs, kissed them, you name it. She has gone to the rescue group now so in 10 days if my dogs are not coughing, I can at least have faith in the KC vaccine. If my dogs come down with it though, I will be infuriated at the veterinary world. We shall see...
Here's that sweet coughing puppy sitting with Nigel...

I don't like the KC vaccine.  It covers like 5 strains of KC and there are well over 300.  My English Setter got KC from the vaccine itself within 18 hours of receiving it.  And the little foster pup I had with the wicked kennel cough a few weeks ago??  Sanity was with her constantly during the day for almost a week and he never got it.  He even licked her eye goopies (That was gross and I didn't notice he was doing it right away.  Of course I stopped him when I saw it.)  He hasn't been vacc'd for it either.  My kennel requires Bordetella for Day care, but I'm going to talk to them about it.  It might be a state board thing, in which case I'll get the useless shot.

Ang

[RedyreRottweilers]

For a FACT serial vaccination WILL lead to autoimmune disease in dogs because canine vaccines contain bovine DNA.

Purdue did a detailed study on this. See it here:

http://www.homestead.com/vonhapsburg/haywardstudyonvaccines.html

I do 2 parvo/distemper vaccines, at 9 and 12 weeks.

I do titers at about 20 weeks to determine if there has been a good response to the parvo and distemper.

They get nothing else lifetime except Rabies as required by law, and I don't do that after age 8.

***DISCLAIMER***

The above is in no way to be considered instructional or as a recommendation to ANYONE else as a protocol for vaccinating their pet.

This is what *I* do, and not in any way a recommendation .

***END DISCLAIMER***

[Saintgirl]

We vaccinate them as pups, and rabies because by law we have too. We had vaccinated Abbey for her bordetella, and wouldn't you know it, she came down with kennel cough maybe a month after she was vaccinated. That is when we decided to research on our own and came to the conclusion that it is best if we do not give them their regular vaccines. It is a personal choice for us, and works well in our family.

[LuvmyMal]

I have read different discussions also, I know that we had to get Tonka the bordetella vaccine before she could take obedience class and before she is allowed to receive a pooch pass for the dog parks around. Rabies, well we have had a lot of breaks here so she will get that one, but someone that is in vet tech school was telling me that lyme disease vaccine, does not fully protect animals. That was weird for me. I trust the vets, but it does make you wonder sometimes. Until I research more we will continue to get our vaccines,  but I am going to question some of the more.

[brigid67]

Yeah, the more I read the less I like.  I have found a holistic vet here in Vegas.  I will ask what she thinks.  One breeder told me to not get the parvo vaccine but to use PARVAID.  Not sure what that is but I think I will look into it. 

[newflvr]

We lost our Newfie girl, Lucille, to vaccinations so we're going to titre from here on out.  The vaccinations overwhelmed her immune system and she started bleeding from everywhere.... surface of tongue, ears, gut, under skin, gums, etc.  She was on steriods for 4 months to control the bleeding and we lost her when a fungus that attacked her heart.  Chester has had his puppy shots and from now on we'll just check his immunity once a year.  Cowboy was titred this year and he was still at 100%, so nothing for him this year!  My vet completely supports our decision.  It's working for us...and we'll deal with rabies as it comes.