#011 As a blog writer and podcaster, I get a lot of email, especially when things have gone badly in an animal’s world.
One recurring theme that has always rubbed me the wrong way is the reports that puppies were vaccinated, often more than once, before they were sent home. As most leave for their new homes at 8 weeks of age, that translates to vaccines given to pups of 4 weeks or 6 weeks of age, and maybe again at 8 weeks, before they travel!
As there is plenty of science behind this being a dumb practice, I’m calling it out as such in this episode.
Minimally, the early vaccination of pups and kittens does no good but more concerning: every vaccine, given at any age, carries a very significant risk of long term damage to the recipient. Witness the explosion of allergic itchy skin and/or ears over the past many years. Most of this follows vaccination, but often a month later (so, unless you look for this pattern, you'll miss it).
It boils down to what’s long been known about Mom’s colostrum and “passive immunity.” We’ve generated data on that since at least the 1950’s! And that is the #1 reason for “vaccine failure,” meaning the hoped for immunization has failed.
As I understand the breeders’ intent (“We don’t want to lose youngsters to infectious disease!”), I do offer some safe and effective alternatives to all this crazy over vaccination.
Please join me for this discussion and tell me in the comments if you need anything clarified.
The show notes and comments for this episode are here: https://VitalAnimal.com/11
Breeders: Please STOP Doing This!