In the late seventies, following the canine parvovirus epidemic, it became the custom to vaccinate dogs and cats annually to try and better protect them from such serious epidemic-proportion diseases as Canine parvovirus. Canine distemper, Feline Distemper, Feline Leukemia, and Rabies.There is no immunological evidence that supports the need for these annual shots. Many of these diseases are diseases of puppy and kitten hood, and adult animals will rarely contract them, usually only when there is some immunosuppression going on that affects their resistance. Unfortunately, if the animal is immunosuppressed, vaccinating the animal won’t help either. That is when the use of herbs and nutraceuticals and acupuncture can be very helpful.

Recent studies support this contention, including a study published in May of 1999 in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA) that was performed at Cornell University. They found that after vaccinating kittens for feline distemper only twice, at 8 and 12 weeks of age, that they still carried protection from feline distemper for 8 years. The study was carried out for eight years. The actual protection may last longer. Similar studies are being performed on dogs with similar results.

Colorado State University, Texas A&M University; and The Association of Feline Practitioners all recommend that vaccinations be given at three-year intervals, or not at all depending upon the circumstances of the animal. Certainly, a strictly indoor cat would be much less at risk than a cat that was strictly outdoors in a neighbor hood with many unvaccinated stray cats.

In the last ten years, a new disease has emerged in cats, which is directly caused by vaccination for leukemia and rabies. This is a very malignant and ultimately fatal cancer. It occurs in 1 in every 25,000 to 250,000 vaccinated cats. As a result of this nasty disease, it is now recommended that veterinarians vaccinate your cat not over the neck as shoulder blades as has been also done previously, but instead that it be vaccinated in one of its two rear legs, the left leg for leukemia and the right leg for rabies. This way, if the disease strikes your vaccinated cat, the recommendation is to immediately amputate the leg as the best possible means of prolonging your cat’s life span.

Researchers are also finding links between rabies vaccinations and increased incidence of autoimmune disease, thyroid disease (Hashimoto’s Syndrome) and allergies in dogs and cats.

For all of the above reasons, Boulder’s Natural Animal does not recommend annual vaccinations in adult animals, and recommends a minimal vaccination series when the animal is still a puppy or a kitten.

It is thought that multi-valent vaccines, which contain protection for 5 to 7 different diseases in one shot can also be very disruptive to normal immune system function in your pet. Especially when these shots are given to a young animal whose immune system is not yet fully competent. This may be one factor in the rise of allergies in our pets (along with adulterated pet food diets and poor breeding practices.

Boulder’s Natural Animal has specific vaccination programs for your young animals that use monovalent or divalent vaccines so as to not overly tax their developing immune systems. We also recommend not starting the vaccination series at too young of an age, but instead starting at 12 to 16 weeks of age with the first shot. This may not always be possible for a variety of reasons. After the second booster shot, which it is recommended to be given at an age older than 15 weeks, we recommend that you bring your pet back to us at the one year anniversary date of the last puppy or kitten shot for its adult booster.

That could be the last distemper/Parvo shot your dog ever receives. We recommend that at your pet’s annual examination, we run a blood test measuring antibody levels for the vaccines. If for some reason the test comes back showing insufficient protection, then we will give your pooch the vaccination it needs at no additional charge. That way we can feel comfortable that your pet’s immune system is already geared up to protect it from some pretty nasty diseases.

This does not apply to Rabies vaccine which is needed once every three years after the first year’s initial shot.

The only exception to this is the intranasal kennel cough vaccine, which only lasts 6 months and needs to be given 72 hours or more before you take your pet to the kennel.

Giardia vaccines and Ringworm vaccines are also available, but are only recommended for those animals who suffer from the chronic reoccurrence of these problems. The ringworm vaccine can be given to animals while they have this fungal infection, and it can help them to recover more quickly.

Boulder’s Natural Animal recommends that vaccinations be given on a schedule that reflects the needs of the individual animal being vaccinated. Recent evidence supports the fact that these vaccinations may provide substantial protection for as long as the lifetime of the animal, and therefore not be needed to be boostered at all.

In the last twenty year period veterinarians have been recommending aggressive vaccination programs which include:

Vaccinating every year (or even more frequently!) for the entire life of the animal.

• Using very strong vaccines that provide protect from as many as 7 diseases in a single vaccination injection.

In this same time period we have seen an increase of many immune system diseases and cancer, as well as the emergence of several new diseases, at least one of which can be directly traced to vaccinations:

• Feline Vaccine-Associated Fibrosarcoma occurs in 1 in every 25,000 to 250,000 vaccinated cats. This cancer is inevitably terminal, and has caused many conventional veterinarians to rethink their vaccination policies. The Association of Feline Practitioners now recommends that the rabies and the leukemia vaccines be given at a different location than over the neck. We now give these two vaccines in the right and the left thighs, respectively. This is to enable the amputation of the limb with the cancerous mass as the best way to fight this fatal neoplasm.
• Autoimmune disease, including a form of hypothyroidism in dogs, has been linked by veterinary hematologist, researcher and head of Hemopet, the national blood bank for animals, Dr. Jean Dodds, to our over-vaccinating our animals, especially with rabies vaccinations.
• Feline Hyperthyroidism is another disease with some links to vaccinations, but the scientific evidence is still being gathered to support this theory.
• BNA’s policy is designed to be both safe and effective in vaccinating in a conservative fashion to maintain the long-term effectiveness of vaccinations without stimulating their adverse effects.

Vaccination strategies for maximizing effectiveness of immune system and minimizing adverse side-effects:

• Modifying protocol to address individual patient needs.
• Moderate and safe vaccination program when immune system is still young and developing.
• Minimal if any vaccinations when older. NOTE: immune enhancement with homemade diets, herbal medicine, nutraceuticals and acupuncture are other effective means of protecting your animals who were vaccinated when young against those diseases without needing to vaccinate yearly when they are older and less susceptible to those diseases.

YOUNG DOGS should receive their first vaccination for Parvovirus and Distemper (we have it in a single injection to protect for these two common diseases of puppy hood) by 16 weeks of age. Puppies can be started as soon as 12 weeks of age, and if the puppy is in a circumstance where it may be exposed to the street virus, or may have not received its mother’s first milk which would transfer to it passive immunity from these diseases until its about 12 weeks old, then it would need to be vaccinated sooner.

• In some cases of inadequate maternal antibody transfer, the vaccinations may need to be started as soon as 7 weeks of age or earlier. Whenever the vaccination series is started, it needs to be completed by at least 16 weeks of age or later. Vaccinations are given at 3-4 week intervals for optimal immune system response.
• Rabies is required by law in Colorado by 16 weeks of age, and BNA is not recommending that you not be in compliance with the law. However, the rabies vaccine is probably the most problematic when it comes to vaccination side-effects, perhaps because the rabies virus itself is so dangerous. There have been no reported cases of rabies in cats in Colorado since 1983, and none in dogs in Colorado since 1974.
• If it were possible to delay vaccinating for rabies until the animal is 24 weeks of age, the vaccination would be better processed by the puppy’s system. Rabies is the only vaccination mandated by law. Some institutions, other countries, veterinary hospitals and grooming and boarding kennels may have their own individual requirements for vaccinations other than rabies.
• Protection for other diseases we vaccinate for depends upon the disease prevalence in the region you live.
  • In Colorado we don’t vaccinate for Leptospirosis, as this is not a disease found in our area. This vaccine fraction is also very commonly associated with immediate vaccination hypersensitivity reactions.
  • We don’t vaccinate for Lyme’s disease in Colorado as this is considered to be a non-existent to rare disease in Colorado. Also there are indications that the vaccination can create similar chronic symptoms as the disease itself.
  • Canine viral hepatitis has virtually been eradicated. Vaccinations using the canine adenovirus type 1 fraction can create some eye problems.
  • Many veterinarians question whether there is actually any protection created from the vaccines that are supposed to protect your animal from Upper respiratory diseases such as: Feline Viral Rhinotracheitis, Feline calicivirus, Feline chlamydia, Canine Parainfluenza, and Canine Adenovirus type 2.
  • There is a nasal spray for Kennel Cough, also known as Bordetella. This vaccine lasts only 6 months, but can safely provide protection from the airborne disease complex of Infectious Tracheobronchitis, otherwise known as Kennel Cough. This vaccine does not need any boosters, and will produce an adequate protective response within 72 hours of administering the nose spray even if only one nostril is inoculated.
  • BNA recommends administering vaccination boosters to your puppy at the one year anniversary for its last puppy vaccination (usually at about 16-18 months of age or so), and after that to run annual blood titres to check for protection against the diseases vaccinated against. If your animal’s test comes back showing that it does not have adequate protection, BNA will administer the vaccination for free. This applies to the distemper and parvovirus vaccination.
  • These blood tests that are available to assess your animal’s immune system’s ability to provide protection measures antibody levels. This test is called an antibody “titre” . Experts disagree as to the exact nature of the specific numerical value. Any response at all, though does imply an immune system response to that disease.
    LINK to ANTECH SITE with information about studies done on vaccine titres.
  • The titers are most valuable when taken together with the context of the animal’s health history and risk of exposure, and then developed into an effective prevention or treatment protocol. When an animal has a weak immune system vaccinations will not work as well.
  • Vaccinations are dependent upon a healthy immune response to be optimally effective. At Boulder’s Natural Animal we use tonic herbs and nutrients that can assist the immune-deficient patient in its journey back to health.
    See Q: Immune System Enhancement

KITTENS should receive their first vaccination for Feline Distemper (the feline parvovirus disease) after 12 weeks of age, and receive one additional booster shot 4 weeks later. At BNA we use a monovalent (only a single disease is protected for in this vaccine) Feline Distemper that is of killed origin. Feline distemper virus can be immunosuppressive. By using a killed vaccine we avoid that possibility.

• At the first year anniversary of the kittens’ last feline distemper booster, the first year booster for Feline Distemper should be given. Testing your cat’s blood for antibody titers, every year thereafter is the safest option for your cat. Of course, keeping it indoors where it cannot contract these diseases or be exposed to other diseases that may be fatal for which we do have vaccines for.
• We do not have vaccinations for every disease out there. Just because your animal was vaccinated for one disease (such as Feline Leukemia) does not protect it from other diseases (such as Feline Aids). Feline Leukemia vaccinations are most important when the cat is a kitten, for that is the time that the cat is naturally more susceptible to contract this disease, which is transmitted by intimate contact among cats. This leukemia vaccine is best tolerated by the kitten when given on different days than the Feline Distemper vaccine. BNA recommends that the Feline distemper vaccine be given first, followed in two weeks by the first Feline Leukemia vaccine, and then two weeks later by the second Feline Distemper vaccine, and then two weeks later by the second Feline Leukemia vaccine. It is not recommended to start the Feline Leukemia vaccine before 9 weeks of age in the kitten.
• There is recently introduced to the market a vaccine for Feline Immunodeficiency Disease (FIV), caused by the Feline Immunodeficiency virus, which is a lot like the human disease HIV. We are evaluating this vaccine’s safety, effectiveness and need. As of this time we are not offering it until it has been on the market a bit longer and has proven itself. It could have an immediate usefulness in a multiple cat situation where one cat has tested positive for FIV and you want to protect the other cats if they have tested negative for FIV. Once your cat is vaccinated for FIV ,it will test positive for the disease, making it difficult to determine if a cat has FIV if it tests positive and has been vaccinated.
• BNA does not recommend the Upper Respiratory virus vaccine, nor the vaccination for Chlamydial infection, nor the Feline Infectious Peritonitis vaccine.

ADULT DOGS and CATS, as a result of the prolonged immunity conferred upon by their vaccinations as youngsters, do not normally need to be vaccinated every year. It is recommended that adult dogs and cats not receive annual vaccinations, but instead at each year’s annual examination, run blood tests called titres to check antibodies for protection against the diseases the animal has been vaccinated for.

IMMUNE SYSTEM ENHANCEMENT: Vaccinations are only one way that we try to amplify immune system vigilance against diseases of epidemic proportions. Other approached to immune system health will be discussed with you when you bring your animals in for wellness examination or for vaccinations. Healthy, wholesome, unprocessed, non-commercial diets, immune-modulating herbs and nutrients, omega three fatty acids, beneficial gastrointestinal microflora, and digestive enzymes will all help to keep your animal healthy. The helpful staff at BNA will help you learn how to keep your pet healthy with a few simple approaches to animal wellness.