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- Is Your Pet Dying From Over-Vaccination Due to Vet Economics?
CFPS's Note to Readers: We have in the past requested from our vet to write a Letter of Exempt to the County for our animals that are considered "Senior Citizen's," so that that would not have to get any rabies shots. Your vet should be able to do the same thing. As far as licensing the County pretty much decided our dog could be ignored and stopped sending us letters for licensing. It's up to you!
Secondary Source: belladogmagazine.com
Is Your Pet Dying From Over-Vaccination Due to Vet Economics?
Secondary Source: belladogmagazine.com
Is Your Pet Dying From Over-Vaccination Due to Vet Economics?
Nationally and internationally, companion animals (pets) are being over-vaccinated - a practice that is resulting in vaccine related deaths, severe illnesses, reduced longevity and large monetary costs to guardians (pet owners).
The most common practice is the annual administration of rabies vaccine, based upon the oft-stated supposition that an annual booster is necessary to maintain the vaccine's effectiveness. In reality,there is no research substantiating that practice, and veterinary schools and professional associations increasingly are embracing a triennial administration standard.A study of more than 1,000 cats and 1,000dogs in the United Kingdom by Canine Health Concern in March 2001 showed a 1in 10 risk of adverse reaction from vaccines! The study, which tracked over a seven-month period the health of cats and dogs vaccinated by one UK veterinarian, found that7.54% to 12.42% of the dogs had adverse reactions within a 45-day period post-vaccination. An almost-identical number of cats - from 7.56% to12.44% -- also suffered adverse reactions within 45 days. This is quite contradictory to the vaccine-manufacturers' claim that less than 15adverse reactions occur out of 100,000 companion animals vaccinated. The UK study results were reported at the 99% confidence level. Vaccine manufacturers rely on adverse-reaction statistics from the vets themselves.
In our opinion many vets continue to cling to the annual rabies shot has less to do with a cautious standard of care and more to do with their economic dependence on vaccinations for fiscal solvency. This is especially true of a substantial- if not vast - majority of small vet practices (1-3 people, non-specialty,non-emergency practice).
A vial of rabies vaccine costs the veterinarian about 61cents and is typically administered at a cost to the guardian of from $15 to $38 - not including the $35 office visit. In perspective, an18 oz. package of Kellogg's Sugar Frosted Flakes® is $2.20 to the grocer and approximately $2.75 retail. If the grocer's mark-up were comparable to that of rabies vaccine, Frosted Flakes would cost$137 without the office visit and more than $260with it. To borrow Tony the Tiger's expression,that size of a mark-up is "Gr-r-reat!"®
Take out 1year of rabies vaccination and the consequential office visit-- just for dogs -- and the average small-practice vet's income drops from approximately $87,000 to $25,000 -- and this doesn't include cats or other vaccinations!
The Veterinarian "Shot-based Practice" Model is a systemically flawed economic approach and potentially detrimental to companion animals. Bad practice-management becomes bad medicine,resulting in unnecessary -- and widespread --death, illness, reduced longevity of companion animals and unnecessary cost to owners.
Moolah's Story: What happened to the Standard of Excellence?
By Jim Schwartz, Founder of Next-To-Kin, man of dog
My first generation of companion animals were all named after great professional wrestlers. There was my silver Miniature Poodle, Buddy; named after Nature Boy, Buddy Rogers, the first dual National Wrestling Alliance/World Wide Wrestling Federation champion. There was Nicki, a Black Lab-Shepherd female who was named after Nick Bockwinkle, the American Wrestling Association champion; and there was Rickie, a female marked Maltese - all nine pounds of her - who was named after Ric Flair, the16-time NWA/WWF champion.
Then there was my black Standard Poodle, Moolah, the Standard of Excellence. Moolah was named after Lillian Ellison, who wrestled as the Fabulous Moolah. Lillian is probably the greatest female wrestling champion known to date. For 27years, she was the champ and she trained all the subsequent female wrestlers for many years. I picked Moolah from a litter of 11 puppies. She was such a fabulous dog that I named her "The Fabulous Moolah - The Standard of Excellence."
On October29, 1999, I brought Moolah in for her annual rabies shot. At that time, I asked the vet, "Can we not do the three-year rabies vaccine - like we are doing the three-year parvo and distemper?"
"No," I was told. "Arapahoe County [Colorado] still requires the annual rabies vaccination."
Now Moolah, at the time, was not in the best of health to begin with. Secondly, she was 11 years of age.I would later learn that both of these are critical concerns. I would later learn that the rabies-vaccine label typically states "only administer to healthy dogs." I would later learn that the research is pretty overwhelming that older dogs do not need the vaccination - especially if they arekept in a confined area and out of thewoods.
However,at that time, I was not aware of those points. Nor was I aware that Colorado had passed, in January of 1999, a bill allowing the three-year rabies vaccination - or that it had been enacted into law in July of 1999, four months prior to Moolah's shot.
Moolah developed autoimmune illness.
Every guardian knows his or her dog. Moolah wasn't herself. Normally upon my calling, she would be up instantly. Now she wasn't. Moolah always ate very well. (Once she got into my Werther's Original gold-wrapped butterscotch candies,devouring them. When I looked for themand accused her, she gave me a "who me?"look even as the wrappers dangled like tinsel from her ears). Now she wasn't eating well, either.
Moolah was always at my side. Now, she was in the cool hallway - panting and panting and panting. Her gums became pale. Her blood platelet counts dropped like a rock; Oxyglobin was used, special medication requiring me to wear gloves. Her platelets continued to drop. Her dosages of the steroid prednisone were increased.
She still wasn't eating -- not even Good Times hamburgers with cheese.
I was advised to leave her at the vet's for a 24-hour watch. It went on for days; I visited her several times daily. The last day she looked at me as if to say, "Take me home to die." I didn't. I can still see her face as she went back into the cage.
Then came the call: "You ought to come down."
Five-six-seven thousand dollars later - all to no avail - she could hardly get up; she could hardly breathe.Hearing my voice when I entered, for the first and last time that day, she raised her head.
It was time. I had promised my late-friend Fred Burke to do what he had done: "I bring them into my life,"he said, "I will be the one that takes them out."
I sang to Moolah and held her. The vet sedated her. I kept my promise to Fred Burke.
Sadly, The Fabulous Moolah's case is not isolated. It unfortunately happens every day.
The vet that I liked left the clinic that I was not happy with to join a new clinic. So, this is early inthe year 2000, February or March. It was time for shots for Ellie-or to look into shots for Ellie-my black, female Standard Poodle,and I asked the vet about the annual rabies vaccination.
"No, we can do a three-year vaccination," she said.
I asked, "Did that just occur?"
The doctor replied, "No. I mean, we've had it since 1999."
Well, that was interesting to me. So, I called the vet clinic that had given Moolah her shot, talked with the manager, and asked, "Do you still do the annual vaccination?"
She replied, "Yes."
I asked, "Is it still required by Arapahoe County?"
She said, "Yes, Arapahoe County requires it."
I was convinced that Arapahoe County was at fault. Why would I think otherwise? Why would the vets mislead me? So I inquired at Arapahoe County Animal Control and eventually learned that they were not at fault. As a matter of fact, they had notified everyone of the change in the rabies vaccination law. Additionally, I learned that the vaccination period was not set by county ordinance but by state law.
Subsequently, I learned of a study in Europe indicating that 7 to 12 percent of all vaccinated companion animals experience adverse reactions within the first 45 days, including death and autoimmune illness. The 1-in-10,000 and1-in-100,000 adverse reaction statistics, thrown around by some veterinarians, have not been validated scientifically and are based on reactions reported by veterinarians themselves.That's sort of like Dracula guarding the blood bank. There is no real good data on these adverse reactions that I am aware of,other than that European study.
Based upon all of this information a list of questions was developed and submitted to the veterinary firm(part of a national chain) that had given Moolah the fatal shot. They wouldn't respond to the questions, but they sent the questionnaire on to the veterinary group's Southwest Regional medical director, Dr. Rocky McKelvey. He wrote back that the issue of annual vaccinations is a controversial subject, that it's based on local regulation, and that this national chain of more than 100 free-standing animal hospitals has chosen to practice "conservative medicine" and recommend annual rabies vaccination.
Then on September 1, 2001, the American Veterinary Medical Association issued "Principles of Vaccination"that state that the practice of annual rabies vaccination is based on historical precedent and government regulation not scientific data. And that's the basis for the practice of conservative medicine?
This brings up the real question: Who can you trust? Moolah's rabies shot did not come from a rogue vet or as a random act. The practice of annual vaccinations by this large group of freestanding vet hospitals continued in 2001, according to Dr. Rocky McKelvey. Moolah has passed on and there is no bringing her back. I realize this. Why do I tell Moolah's story? Because what happened to Moolah need not, and should not, happen to another dog. Unfortunately, since December 28, 1999,annual shots bearing potentially deadly side effects have been issued to thousands of dogs and cats knowingly, willingly, systemically by economically motivated "professionals."
Who can you trust? Guardians must ask about alternatives to annual rabies vaccinations because, obviously,the vets are not informing them. Not when the cost of the rabies vaccine to the vets is 61cents per shot and they sell it to guardians for from $15 to $38 along with a$35 office exam. Are vets in professional practices or are they in transaction-based practices - no different than commissioned salespersons? There are many, many,many veterinary practices that thrive and have done wonderfully - as illustrated in their own vet magazines - without being dependent upon transaction-based shots.
Why has this annual-rabies-shot practice gone on for 20-plus years? I can connect the dots only one way, and it draws a picture of economics.
I was financial planner of the year in 1985. I founded the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, the largest fee-only organization. I've written a book on financial planning that's gone into two editions. It's been critically acclaimed and 10 years later has been called one of the few classics in the business. I pioneered no-load insurance in this country and authored or have been mentioned in hundreds of different articles during my time. Had I not had this background, I doubt that I would have put two and two together.
Maybe this is not how the dots are connected. But in light of the vaccination protocols of all of the major vet schools, in light of the American Animal Hospital Association saying three-year vaccinations, in light of the law changes, any vet - any vet - who continues to practice a vaccination protocol of annual rabies shots, without providing guardians with the opportunity for informed consent, in my opinion, is guilty of malpractice and silent,deadly, animal cruelty.
I can't bring the Fabulous Moolah back. But I can carry on her legacy by applying her Standard of Excellence to the veterinary profession and, hopefully, save millions of dogs and cats from death and suffering, and save their guardians from the suffering and the cost.
And thus,we established Next-To-Kin, for The Fabulous Moolah - The Standard of Excellence, and for your fabulous canine companions.
Article provided by: http://www.vaccinationnews.com/dailynews/2003/May/09/IsYourPet9.htm
Posted by Mesa Pet Sitting Expert at Tuesday, August 10, 2010 11:57 AM 
Categories: Stories, Health, Pet Health
Tags: Wrongful Death Dogs Cats Vaccinations Rabies shot Veterinarians Autoimmune Disorders
Categories: Stories, Health, Pet Health
Tags: Wrongful Death Dogs Cats Vaccinations Rabies shot Veterinarians Autoimmune Disorders
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