Are Vaccinations Necessary?

Author: Dr. Charles Loops, DVM
Homeopathic Veterinarian
http://www.charlesloopsdvm.com/index.htm

Homeopathic veterinarians and other holistic practitioners have maintained for years that Vaccinations are doing harm. Aside from the immediate risk of vaccination side-effects, such as allergic reactions and anaphylactic shock, there are more compelling reasons to avoid vaccinations whenever possible. Vaccinations represent a major assault on the body's immune system. Attenuated organisms, or chemically killed viruses or bacteria, are injected directly into the blood stream via subcutaneous or intra-muscular injection, an unnatural route of infection. This profound insult avoids the body's first line of defenses, flooding the system with millions of organisms or viral particles, causing irregularities and abnormalities in the immune system which then manifest as chronic diseases in animals. This overall effect, while potentially protecting the individual from a specific, acute disease, is to weaken or create imbalance in the immune system so that underlying tendencies to diseases are brought to the surface. In other words, vaccinations represent a major stress. Following vaccinations, we often see chronic problems begin such as epilepsy, skin allergies, persistent upper respiratory infections, irritable bowel syndromes, auto-immune diseases, and cancer, just to name a few.

What we now confront in our animal companions are generations of over-vaccinated animals, and these current offspring are suffering the penalty of this medical abuse. Where vaccinations have helped in eradicating or reducing the incidents of severe and acute disease processes, the result has been to plague us with more insidious, chronic diseases that are difficult to treat and often incurable and that lower that quality of life for many individuals and animals.

After more than twenty years of practicing veterinary medicine, I am observing chronic diseases that begin much earlier than before. Cancer before five years of age in dogs and cats was a rarity, but now it is not unusual to see fatal cancers in two and three year old animals. And the incidence or number of cases is definitely increasing. While poor breeding practices, poor commercial diets, and other environmental factors play their part, I believe it is the practice of vaccinating an animal repeatedly, with multiple vaccinations throughout their lifespan that factors the most. We have genetically weakened our companions with this practice. A normal dog or cat living to twelve years of age will receive at least twenty and possibly thirty vaccinations during their lifetime. Fifteen or so of these shots will have four to seven disease fractions present in each vaccination.

In all of this, balance in nature has been lost to the pharmaceutical-medical complex's philosophy, propelled in great part by monetary factors, leading us to believe that all vaccinations are beneficial.

Risk of Exposure should be the main guideline for consideration of whether to vaccinate and what to vaccinate against. If your cats are indoors only, or if your dogs' outside activities are on a leash or within a fenced area under supervision, there is little risk. The other considerations for a vaccine's use are its proven safety, its effectiveness, and whether the disease so serious or life-threatening that vaccinating is necessary. Remember, VACCINES ARE NOT HARMLESS. Only vaccinate if the threat is real.


Vaccination Recommendations
The following are some of my recommendations concerning your companions' health in choosing whether or not to vaccinate. Calling our office for an appointment is the best way to insure that the vaccination protocol you are choosing is the best fit for your companions' lifestyle.

1. If you can, do not vaccinate puppies and kittens under three months of age.

Vaccinations are much more stressful on the underdeveloped immune system. Their effects are also temporary and require subsequent boosters. Protect your new kitten or puppy by only exposing them to other healthy dogs or cats. Do not take them to places where a lot of animals congregate and defecate, such a parks and rest-stops. Be aware that they are highly susceptible to serious disease at this age and take responsibility for protecting their environment.

2. After three months of age, if vaccinating, I suggest the following:

Puppies - Give one Distemper/Parvo vaccination. If separate vaccines are available, space the Distemper and Parvovirus vaccinations by three to four weeks. Dobermans and Rotweilers should have the parvo vaccinations after 15 weeks of age. Rabies vaccinations should be delayed until six months of age. Lyme disease, Coronavirus, and Kennel Cough vaccines do not meet the criteria mentioned previously for a useful vaccine, and I do not recommend giving them.

Kittens - Give one Panleukopenia combination (FRCP). If available, give the vaccine components separately spaced three to four weeks apart. Feline leukemia and FIP vaccines do not meet the previous criteria for needed vaccines. IF your cats go outside and you have rabies in your area, give a rabies vaccine at six months of age. Legal requirements vary from state to state.

3. Booster vaccinations are neither necessary nor required.

Studies in animal populations show that long-term immunity to distemper, parvovirus, panleukopenia, and other diseases is conferred by one vaccination for many years. Lifetime protection is highly likely after one vaccination. If you are concerned, titers for distemper and parvovirus can be checked with a simple blood test to see if your companion is protected. If you do choose to give boosters, wait three to five years between them and alternate between distemper and parvovirus vaccinations if single vaccines are available. FRCP in cats is a long-lasting vaccination probably for life.

Rabies boosters are legally required, usually every three years. Check with your local health department.

4. Homeopathic Nosodes can be used when risk occurs before three months of age. Many guardians use these homeopathic medicines to help protect their companions against Parvovirus, Distemper, Kennel Cough, Panleukopenia, and FIP. Some nosodes seem to work more effectively than others. None of these produce titers against these diseases like a vaccination , so they are NOT vaccine replacements. They do seem to moderate a disease condition if the animal is exposed, even if they don't prevent it. It is another option for those guardians who wish to avoid vaccinations.

5. Vaccinations will impede responses to homeopathic treatment and will interfere or reverse progress in healing.

Do not vaccinate any animal under my homeopathic care without checking with this office first. There are procedures we may wish to take to minimize adverse effect from vaccinations. In chronic disease such as cancer, vaccinations are very stressful and should always be avoided unless very extenuating circumstances merit their use.