Brackenridge Goldens

Vaccinations

As most of you know I lost Maple in May 2003, when her puppies were 3 months old. I lost Melanie this year when her puppies were also 3 months old. Both girls had severe liver damage and the cause unknown. It was devastating as you can imagine. Why and what caused it sent me on a research programme to see if I could come up with anything. What complicated it was that Melanie hadn’t lived here for 18 months and came back to have her puppies.

I tested all the dogs and me for liver function to see if it could be environmental in the house. All was fine. I went on the internet to see what could cause this and came up empty. There was no indication this is hereditary. The lab. had not seen an increase in liver problems in Goldens. I checked the stud dog and his breeder and siblings and nothing turned up. No liver problems anywhere. I checked for mould in the house, the water and plant life around here. Nothing jumped out. I also had liver biopsies done on a daughter from Melanie and a daughter from Maple. They were healthy. Nothing was found.

I was talking to a friend with a different breed and found out she had lost 2 dogs in the last year to liver problems and several of her dogs had a higher than normal liver count. What did we have in common? We came up with vaccinations. In discussing it we commented that a small breed such as a Yorkshire Terrier, gets the same amount of vaccine as a large breed such as a Newfoundland !

I went on the web and found a lot of negative findings about vaccinations. Dr. Jean Dodds is a well known spokesperson on vaccinations. She has given many lectures for years on how we vaccinate far too much. I e-mailed her and then spoke to her on the phone after telling her exactly what had happened. I asked if the vaccinations could have caused the damage. Her reply was, “Yes, the combination vaccines all together, and so soon after the litter, COULD be involved. Typically, healthy adult animals do not need boosters for anything except for rabies, as required by law. Simple blood titer tests can be done annually to determine their antibody levels, and hence assure that they will be protected in the event of exposure. We and others do these routinely --- see

"www.itsfortheanimals.com". Dr.Dodds has a protocol for giving shots which can be found at the end of this article, together with other reference sites that I have also included.

I also talked to another Vet who has a vast knowledge on Natural Healing and asked him the same question. His reply was “Yes. I don’t see how it couldn’t have damaged the liver”. Through discussions and my research I understand that when the puppies get their first shots they have some immunity from Mum and then it builds up. At 1 yr old they should have a titer done to see what their antibody count is, and then if it is low give the shot, but if they have plenty don’t give more. You are overburdening the immune system and more damage than good could be done. If the immune system becomes compromised they can then develop other problems - thyroid, seizures, cancer etc. We don’t vaccinate ourselves or children every year!

The Rabies shot is a 3 year shot at minimum. It usually will last a lot longer. I know of someone who gave the Distemper shot at 1 year and the dog is now 6 and still has a high antibody count with no shots in between. The titer costs more than the shots, but you have to decide what is important to you. The titer could be done every 2 or 3 years depending on how high the antibody count is. Parvo, Rabies, Distemper, Adenvirus and Parainfluenza are the only shots given. I was told that many dogs react to the Leptospirosis and that it is only short lived so shouldn’t be given.

There is a book called “ What Vets Don’t Tell Us about Vaccinations” by Catherine Driscoll. It will really open your eyes as to what we are doing to our dogs. The book isn’t readily available in the book stores. This is the web site about the book.