My take on doggy vaccines

Disclaimer: This post is likely to be controversial and will go against what traditional veterinary medicine recommends, so it is up to you to do your due diligence in deciding what’s best for your pup!

The topic of canine vaccines is a sensitive one — as is the topic of vaccines for humans. Let me stress right off the bat that I am not against vaccines in general. Some are obviously necessary and there are documented medical reasons to provide them. I am, however, against the long list of vaccines that most traditional vets are now recommending. The key word here is recommending — not requiring. Many dog parents conflate the two and automatically accept the vet’s recommendations as gospel. Not me!

I’ve done my homework, I’ve read countless articles about which ones just aren’t necessary or that effective, and I’ve made the educated decision to give our dog, Ellie, only the vaccines required by law, which is usually just the rabies vaccine. This varies by state, though. Although not required by law, the other vaccines you’ll hear about most commonly are those for Bordatella (kennel cough) and distemper. If you’ve ever tried to register for a puppy training class or enroll your doggy in daycare or boarding, you know that these are the usually required before they will admit your dog. There are legit reasons for these requirements and I totally respect them. It’s to protect the dogs from getting each other sick — and more importantly to remove that liability from the business caring for your dog.

Why am I so against all of these recommended vaccines?

In short — I don’t want to pump any unnecessary chemicals and foreign substances into my dog if they generally aren’t going to provide medical benefits. In many cases, they can do more harm than good. Vaccines are a big business. Here is a great article that goes deeper into the dangerous over-vaccination of dogs.

Because of Delilah

My opinion about vaccines for dogs changed after we lost our 9-year-old black lab, Delilah, very suddenly to a fast-growing cancer, called hemangiosarcoma. This vicious cancer can infect the spleen and heart (most commonly) and is incurable, with a very low survival rate. Even if a dog is healthy enough for surgery, which Delilah was not, the removal of the tumor does not prolong their life much at all. It essentially causes internal bleeding and causes the dog to suffer quite painfully until the end.

Because of Delilah, who we only had in our lives for just over 3 months, we suffered some serious PTSD as a result of losing her without much notice. To be fair, we adopted her from a rescue agency knowing full-well that she was estimated at about 9 years old. She came in as a stray, so there was no history provided about her, other than where she was found. We adopted her anyway! Yes, we were rolling the dice by adopting a senior dog, but we weren’t prepared to face this terrible disease and to say goodbye so soon after welcoming her into our home. I will likely reference Delilah throughout this site because, frankly, she’s still with me everyday and I’ll never really get over that experience! But because of Delilah, I’ve learned so much about canine health and common veterinary practices that, in my opinion, should not be common at all.

Delilah

Shortly after Delilah left us, I came across a 7-part web series called The Truth About Pet Cancer, which was incredibly eye-opening and made complete sense to me. I highly recommend it for any concerned pet owner that has ever thought to stop and question their vet’s protocol. It really struck a chord with me and was the turning point for me in questioning what is now accepted as the norm by traditional veterinarians.

Now I’ll never know if over-vaccination was a contributor to Delilah’s cancer, but when you learn about all the environmental factors and the nutrition normally prescribed to dogs, it’s no wonder we’re seeing extremely high cases of canine cancer. I’m not here to convince you one way or the other — I’m just asking you to consider another point of view and make your own educated decisions.

I have chosen to be very cautious and particular about what goes into Ellie’s system. I have no proof that what I’m doing is right or better for her in the long-run, but I’m doing what makes sense to me and I hope you all do the same!