Pet Site HQ

If you are like most pet owners today, you are probably finding the whole issue of pet vaccines more and more confusing. You have your conventional veterinarian telling you that “as a responsible pet owner, you should follow my advice and vaccinate your pet annually” with annual booster shots. And then you’ve heard the horror stories about cats who develop cancer at the site of vaccine injections, and numerous other stories about adverse vaccine reactions in both cats and dogs.

Are we vaccinating our pets too often, with too many vaccines? Are veterinarians really doing what is best for our pets, or is this all about the ‘bottom line’?

There are many, often contradictory, points of view. Veterinarians in general are telling pet owners to vaccinate yearly, that vaccines do not harm your pets… and many approach vaccines casually: “at worst, they won’t cause any harm”. The evidence, along with the experience of many individual veterinarians and alternative pet health practitioners, definitely suggests otherwise.

Why are we vaccinating our pets?

Why we vaccinate in the first place, and a basic understanding of vaccines, is important. The reason we give our pets vaccines is to protect them against infectious disease. When a vaccine is administered, it stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies (”Opposite Invaders”). The new antibody is produced just for the virus we have vaccinated for. Then if your dog or cat is exposed to the actual virus later on, he or she will be able to respond to the disease quickly and produce antibodies to overcome the disease before it takes hold in your pet’s system.

In theory, vaccines sound wonderful, if they are able to protect our pets from life threatening diseases such as rabies and parvovirus. And in that sense, they are, because vaccines have saved countless lives. So if that is the case, what are the drawbacks - what is the reason for caution?

The dangers of vaccines

The evidence is there for us to see, if we simply look. With the medical advancements we’ve made, we would expect our pets to be healthier than ever - but in reality, our pets are sicker than ever before. It is more and more common to see cancer in dogs and cats under 5 years of age, and autoimmune diseases are on the rise as well. Diseases such as immune mediated hemolytic anemia, immune mediated skin disease, vaccine induced skin cancer in cats, skin allergies, arthritis, leukemia, inflammatory bowel disease and neurological conditions are just a few of the diseases that have shown a link to over-vaccination in our pets. In fact, there are links to most of the common chronic health diseases of dogs and cats due to over-vaccination.

The reasoning for this is that when we vaccinate, the immune system can become ‘over-taxed’ and respond inappropriately. This is especially true when multiple vaccines are given at once. Pet owners may see adverse reactions directly (within 24 hours) after their pet has been vaccinated, with their pet having diarrhea, vomiting, or an abscess showing up at the site of the vaccine injection. In other pets, it may show up later, as an allergy, cancer, or a multitude of other diseases. One recent study has shown that the more vaccines that are given at once, the higher the risk of developing sarcoma (soft-tissue cancer). The study shows up to approximately 175% increase in cancer risk if vaccines are administered in the same location.

While over-vaccination may not be the sole reason we have so many sick pets today, it is definitely a major factor. Other reasons include low quality food, environmental toxins, and genetic deterioration due to poor quality breeding. The combination of these factors is leaving each generation more and more susceptible to disorders and chronic disease. Regardless, we are vaccinating our pets too often for more diseases than they truthfully need.

Reasons for over-vaccination

The reasons are many, and include the original belief that “at worst, vaccines will not cause your pet any harm”, to the bottom line of the drug companies that produce vaccines and individual veterinarians. Veterinarians might be ignoring current research because they feel vaccine benefits outweigh vaccine risks, or simply because they continue to rely on ‘annual boosters’ as a major source of income.

By now you are probably wondering if you should vaccinate your pets at all, with the risks of vaccines being so high. In short, I do currently advise a limited vaccine regimen for most cases - just not as often and not as many vaccines as you currently are giving your pet. Alternatives to vaccines do exist, but only if you are willing to make changes in how you care for your pet and how you view the risks involved. In Part 2 of this series, I will provide my recommended vaccine schedule and an overview of vaccine alternatives.

Popularity: 3% [?]