Get Smart on Rabies [Time sensitive]

Discover Your Options

Rabies has always been a fascinating disease to me, and my background as an “outside hire” by the State of Hawaii in 1989-90 sent me deep down the rabbit hole of the disease.

It was my job to evaluate the then 80 year old rabies quarantine system the islands had in place. As a practicing vet who’d recently moved there, I was seen as a “clean slate,” who could objectively review the 4 month lock up every dog and cat had to endure upon arrival.

I deeply studied all the experts in the field (pre-internet, so tons of papers and books).

My family got a chance to live on the quarantine grounds, in full earshot of all the barking, and daily I’d trot off to interview the caretakers and vet staff and take part in the clinic caring for the pets needing attention.

What I Learned

This was a disease like no other.

Rabies was not airborne nor did it pass through the stool of the infected to the next victim.

It took a bite dripping with saliva to transmit.

Being a nervous system virus, rabies had evolved to hijack the brain of those unlucky enough to get the disease.

That behavior change was its ace in the hole, and allowed its spread.

Hawaii’s concern was that, once established in the islands, it would get into the native mongoose population and be impossible to eradicate. They held up Puerto Rico as an example they didn’t want to duplicate.

As these little carnivores commonly lived under houses, humans were likely to be exposed, and this was (and still is) a disease of human fatality unless caught early.

A Sea Change

In the 11^th hour before publishing my findings the lights went on, and I realized the Hawaiian populace could stay safe from the disease if those incoming pet carnivores were adequately immunized before arrival.

Within a year or two, the state acted on my conclusions and changed its laws to where now, pets can enter by air or sea and, with adequate titers to rabies, go home with their owners instead of being locked up for 120 days.

The Dawn of Deeper Understanding

It was in Hawaii where my practice made its shift. Holistic Veterinary Care was born there and I started looking at disease and its prevention with new eyes.

That deepened with forays back to the mainland U.S. to learn new healing modalities, including acupuncture and homeopathy, each a year long training followed by certification.

That latter training brought to light the depth of illness that is possible with vaccination against any disease, rabies included.

So, while I saw vaccination had a place, and was clearly preventing human deaths in the Third World (where vets would mass vaccinate dogs in village settings in India and Africa), in the West, it was far more common for a different disease to be seen.

A disease named “vaccinosis” from the days of smallpox, and a cause of great suffering to man and animal alike.

In the case of rabies vaccinosis, as I pointed out here, the symptoms of the disease of rabies often began to show in those only vaccinated against the virus!

“…that rabies shot completely changed his personality. He became aggressive and began lunging at other dogs on walks and would nip at people if they tried to pet him, which he never did before. He also became very fearful of everything.

Even though he lived a long life, it wasn't a happy or a healthy life. I couldn't take him anywhere because of his behavior and he also had chronic ear infections, constant itching/skin infections/biting at himself, etc. — Kathleen Pierson, California

You Have Options

Living in the West, odds are you live under some sort of rabies “law” that seems to compel repeatedly vaccinating for this one oddball disease way beyond what it takes to achieve immunity.

Part of my dedication to animals has been to call out ways to avoid vaccinosis, a disease so common in your pets that I saw it in various forms (like Kathleen mentions, among others) in all of my patients.

Right now, students are piling into my deep dive course called Rabies: Knowledge is Power and while learning more about the disease, they are also learning what’s worked over the decades to avoid rabies vaccine illness.

I’m writing now to alert you that we’ll be closing our enrollment tomorrow, Saturday 23 August @ midnight CT.

If you’re interested to learn more about what’s on offer, including some generous bonus courses and getting a peek at the curriculum, here’s the link for all the details.

I hope to see you in the course, where you’ll also have a chance to join our interactive private (non-Facebook) discussion group.