Vital Animal News: January 11, 2026
Coerced into vax? Let's fix that. / Oh, still using steroids, doc? / Beagle breeder shut down for abuse / HAPPY DOGS! / Bone Fears and more
Vet Coercion Fixes
Oh, Those Miracle Roids!
Lab Beagle Supplier Going Bye
Happy Dogs Make You Smile
Tasty Tip: Bone Fears
Along the Natural Path
Have You Been Coerced by Your Vet?
If you’re my age, you probably remember “No shoes, no shirt, no service” signs on stores.
Now, it’s your pet’s health that’s under such coercion instead of your choice of wardrobe.
Many have told me over the past couple years that veterinarians have refused to see their pet (dogs, usually) if Sadie is “out of date” on shots, particularly rabies.
Let’s look at this a bit deeper, as you need some strategies to get your pet’s needs met.
First: Immunity vs Vaccine Schedules
This is usually the key issue: is your pet immune to rabies right now, regardless of shot dates?
If there’s a history of past vaccination, the answer is likely a solid YES.
We know this from efficacy studies. Vet immunologists have made it clear:
Immunity to viruses persists for years or for the life of the animal — Phillips and Schultz, Current Vet Therapy XI
Do labels on vaccines or “laws” trump that understanding?
Nope.
Labels are a guess (with clear conflicts of interest: shorter repeat cycles = more profits).
And rabies “laws?” If you haven’t yet, you’ll want to review the origin of rabies laws in my free Rabies Short Course. It’ll make your eyes roll…
Titers Prove Immunity
Although titers don’t give us the full story of immunity (e.g. when they run out, it doesn’t mean immunity is gone), they are what’s available and they give a good indication that immunization has occurred after vaccination.
(A titer is merely a measure of the antibodies your animal has created, but hit that link above for more)
Yet many vets seem averse to running these tests of immune status.
Why?
Too expensive (they often overcharge, as they haven’t figured out the cheaper “gold standard lab” to use).
Vaccination is cheaper and easier (and wayyy more profitable, ahem…).
Also (guessing here) hesitant vets may not understand titer results and don’t care to get smart on them.
Common Vet Ruses
To gain your compliance on being “up to date on shots” (instead of, you know, actually immune), the following ploys are commonly used.
—> It’s THE LAW!
“Right, doctor, I’m aware of that, but are you deputized? A sheriff whose job it is to see the rabies “law” is complied with?”
Nope. He’s not.
—> I could lose my license!
“So, if you treat my sick dog who’s “out of date” according to some label or “law,” you’ll be found out? And your license to practice revoked?”
Nope.
No one is checking every record of every patient in every vet clinic to ascertain treatments given to “out of date on rabies” patients. No way, no how.
—> I have to protect my staff!
This one should really get your eyeballs rolling.
You can make this logic crumble in short order:
I see. So, if my animal had rabies shots in the past and is acting normal today, just like she’s done since, well, puppyhood, but she happens to nip one of your staff today?
The bitten vet tech will have to… what, exactly? Get all the antibody shots they give to someone bitten by a rabid skunk?”
Pause, to let this part sink in… Dr. WhiteCoat will likely start feeling out of his depth at this last display of your intelligence.
But, you can go on:
But. If you vaccinate Sadie before we get her looked at today, she’ll be made instantly safe and, and… a nip will no longer send your tech to the Department of Public Health for rabies post exposure shots?”
Is that how vaccines work, really?
Strategies to Get Your Vet Needs Met
This post was inspired in part by a recent email from Mary in North Carolina.
Her quandary:
My soul dog that we adopted about 4 years ago.... his holistic vet retired almost a year ago and I’ve diligently searched for another! I cannot find one that will accept a titer. Because apparently in most States are rabies vaccine is the only way which I am adamantly against!
We’re home bodies and don’t really ever go anywhere so there’s not a huge risk there.…My dog has been suffering with a limp on and off for the last several months and I can’t seem to get help.”
Mary needs vet attention for a problem. But the vets around her refuse to offer help without “up to date” rabies shots.
I had two answers for her:
1. On my Recommended Resources page, there are two lists, the first being “holistic” vets who are members of the AHVMA. They’ll be searchable by location as well as what they practice.
But remember: The H Word and even AHVMA membership is open to all vets.
Mary corroborates how this listing is no guarantee of help:
Even holistic vets I’ve called demand vaccine to be given to be a patient.…Every vet I’ve called and asked even the holistic ones refuse to see me without the rabies shot and my response every time is how are you holistic if you don’t do titers or accept titers!!! Because it’s the stinking law...ugh.”
2. Hire out long distance work towards cure with a qualified homeopathic vet. That’s the second list on that page, followed by this video on how I’d start the sorting process.
Now, when you find someone who looks good, you’ll STILL need to ask the hard questions, even if they are in a totally different state from you:
“I don’t plan to vaccinate further. Will you still work with me to get my dog well?”
And perhaps, “How likely are you to jump to suppressive drugs during our time of treatment?”
Yes: This Works.
I can vouch that distance consulting works well in homeopathic medicine.
Whether you came to see me in my little Austin office or we worked by telephone at 1000 miles distance, we’d need to talk. At length, about how your animal is ill.
Symptoms show us that “how” and can be clarified and remedies arrived at as we wind our way to the goal of getting your animal to cure herself with tiny medicinal prompts.
Take me along in your earbuds with this episode so you really appreciate the language of symptoms:
And this article will help you see that, while not all symptoms are fire engine serious, even the smaller ones can be helpful to a homeopath.
Actually, the podcast above illustrates a classic case I struggled with (The ITCH, of course…) until 10-12 remedies in, the owner revealed an “Oh, I never mentioned this about her, but…” symptom. Her revelation unlocked the case even though that forgotten symptom was totally unrelated to itchy skin.
Now, you may have other strategies that have worked to avoid being coerced into more unnecessary shots, so be sure and let us know in the comments below.
And, I’ll close this piece with perhaps my favorite sign of opposition, in the doorway to the little natural foods store in Paia, Maui:
“No Shoes, No Shirt, No Sweat!”
How Bout Them Roids?
No, not the bulgies on your bottom, we’re talking steroids.
And not the body building type, but the anti-inflammation variety.
You see, long before we had all the “sophisticated” suppressors of the immune system like we do today (looking at you, Apoquel, and you Cytopoint, nasties both) we had cortisone.
And its many cousins, like prednisone, prednisolone, dexamethasone, etc.
The standard old fashioned Dr. WhiteCoat “cure all” when presented with an ADR patient (Ain’t Doin’ Right = diagnosis unknown but do something) was cortisone + antibiotics.
Why such a combo?
Well, there’s probably some inflammation going on somewhere (there usually is…) and those roids are super suppressors and really bring a bit of a “feel good” vibe to the recipient, doncha know.
Umm, okay, but why nuke the gut bacteria?
Oh, that. Heh heh.
Well, since the roids also depress the immune response big time, we don’t want any runaway infections… you know, the ones the <cough> immune system keeps everyone protected from?
So, a blast of germ killer drugs just kinda covers our, um, back door, so to speak.
Wait: Using These Still?
I thought this kind of sloppy practice had probably disappeared, but Karen let me know it hadn’t just yet:
Hello, I have two French bulldog brothers. The one has zero issues and the other has all the frenchie auto immune conditions. Dry eyes, swelling between the paws, crusty growth in ear, his nose swells so he can’t breathe, food allergies. I try so many natural remedies to no avail. I feed them both raw grass fed. I know he must of been born with this condition as their food and environment are exactly the same, but one is sick and the other is not.
I do not vaccinate. I took him to the vet because his hair started falling out and his symptoms got really bad. He got a cortisone injection and ALL his symptoms disappeared for approximately 10 days. It was amazing. Now all the symptoms have returned. I don’t want to keep giving him the cortisone injections. Can you please help me with a remedy or any advice? Thank you!”
Mental Machinations
Was Dr. WhiteCoat hoping to be out of town when the symptoms made their predictable return after being suppressed?
Or did he think he could repeat this a few times, and get away with it before all hell broke loose?
Luckily Karen, after being initially amazed, knew enough to not allow this powerful drug to be used over and over.
Good call, Karen.
I advised her that, while conventional vets have never cured anything chronic like this (but they love to do something), homeopathy has a chance. It will take time and close attention to details, especially when this pup came into life with a treasure trove of inherited disease (see last issue’s take on purebreds).
Real World Causation
Besides inherited illness, how about “food allergies?”
Or “dry eye,” swollen toes, growths in his ears?
All man made, and while some may have come from his ancestors, considering that his brother missed them, these more than likely all came about from past vaccinations this poor little guy was subjected to.
Just guessing, but a vet who gives steroids to turn off skin symptoms probably also goes for annual vaccinations.
Oh oh.
An excellent reason to fire him.
Often vaccination realizations dawn after things have gone sour:
I saw my sweet girl Sarai a Weimaraner fall into seizures and continued bad health after her annual round of vaccines at about 7 years old. Of course I thought that I was doing the right thing! Later at 11 she passed from lung cancer? How did she get that living with a family where no one smoked? — RKIP student, August 2025
One more:
I lost my Zoe. She was 13.5 years old. I promised her that if she were to ever send me a dog, I would do things differently. Throughout the last 6 years of her life, Zoe was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, diabetes and eventually diagnosed with cancer. After she passed, I started doing research after research as to why she got so sick.
I thought I was a good pet parent, she got yearly vaccines, monthly chewable flea and tick meds and she ate a high priced kibble. — Kelly P., commenting on Beware the N Word
New Treatments, Causation Same
Today, hopefully steroids are reserved for life saving emergencies like shock, but that doesn’t mean my profession is any less keen to stamp out inflammation, especially the man made kind like The Itch.
Apoquel tops the current wonder drug list, promising similar amazing results, but…
My dog is on the verge of dying because of this medicine and he was only on it for less than 2 weeks. Otherwise healthy pre-Apoquel, we took him to the vet for an itch, and within 2 weeks he developed a very serious liver issues failing and now does not eat, his bloodwork is bad, lost weight doesn’t eat. — Hank, in comment #705 in my Apoquel post
Once again, to put this into perspective: your decisions around vaccination are the #1 most important you’ll ever make for anyone in your care.
If you haven’t read my free series on vaccines yet, here’s where it starts: Vaccinations: Consider Carefully.
It’s far better to be cautious about “prevention” from Dr. WhiteCoat than it is to have to get drugs afterwards that can never cure the new chronic disease and can cause mayhem in the meantime.
Suppressive drugs like steroids or by any other name come at a long term cost. Best not to go there…
Research Beagle Facility Closing
News of a research Beagle supplier shut down for animal abuse and negligence hit the AVMA news recently.
If you’ve ever met a Beagle, your heart probably just dropped.
They are one of the sweetest of breeds and for some reason, they long ago became the dog of choice for research purposes.
Ridglan Farms in my home state of Wisconsin has been ordered to close it’s operations by July 1st of this year. They were the second largest supplier of these dogs in the nation. And this wasn’t their first infraction…
Their vet also lost his license under emergency suspension, so this has been an unfortunate mess.
They must sell or surrender their remaining dogs by the time they close operations.
In Defense of Dogs
I don’t know what takes place in research facilities with Beagles, but I will speak to our experience in vet school in the late 70’s.
After two grueling years of book work and hands-on anatomy study with formalin filled cadavers, we got to spend our final two years in more clinical settings.
That spanned driving out to see beef herds, to hanging out in the pathology department playing “what killed this animal?” detective work, to donning white coats for small animal medicine, to lab work, peering through microscopes at stained tissues, to large and small animal surgery.
In the latter, part of the training involved live dogs, who’d come from the pound and were, we were told, destined for euthanasia.
They were unassuming, well behaved mutts, and they taught us how to deal with real world surgery in practice.
I found this block of study one of the most fascinating.
Learning Surgery For Reals
After studying the surgery we were to perform, we were broken into groups of 2-3, and got to anesthetize and perform surgical procedures on these dogs.
They were things we’d see in practice, like spays, castrations, and even broken limbs later on during the rotation of two months.
The dogs having “elective surgery” (neutering, in this case) were tracked for some time post surgery, so we learned what coming off anesthesia looked like, what drugs were called for, and how surgical incisions looked as they healed.
To the Critics
There’s been a movement to replace that real life experience in vet schools with artificial animals. Cornell is reported to be using life like models successfully.
While that shows promise, I am grateful I was trained on “the real thing,” and never felt the animals we were gifted to learn from were mistreated or suffered unnecessarily.
Could they have been adopted?
It’s possible, but ask any shelter how many unwanted animals end up euthanized.
The group Shelter Animals Count was able to adopt out 4.1 million pets in 2024, but some 600,000 ended their lives via euthanasia.
We were able to treat these animals lovingly, look them in the eyes, comfort them as they underwent anesthesia, and learn genuine surgical technique before they were finally euthanized.
I wouldn’t have traded this experience for anything else, and even though my surgeries in practice ended up being mostly on 1200 lb Holstein cows, what these dogs taught me was invaluable.
And I’m glad to hear this crooked Beagle raising outfit is finally being shut down. Clearly, their dogs were victims of abuse and endured horrible conditions for years. No living being should have to suffer what these dogs went through.
It’s a shame they are giving Ridglan till July to shutter their operations. I can only imagine that means Beagles will continue to suffer for several more months.
Lighten Up: Happy Dogs!
While I value Substack for both publishing my work, making sharing dead simple, and serving me some seriously good reads, I’m also ever so grateful for the humor and happy videos that I come across.
Let’s face it: the world is getting heavier and we need levity and laughter to balance the dark side.
Here, then, please enjoy this lovely collection of carefree canines who aren’t shy about expressing their joy:
[Hint: go full screen and look for the unmute option!]
With gratitude to I.L. Williams
Tasty Tips: Bones Ain’t Fearsome
We had a recent discussion in our Vital Animal Alpha discussion group on bone concerns.
Sharp edged bones. Bone chunks gulped instead of thoroughly chewed up before swallowing.
I’ve long felt bones are important for dogs and cats, providing perfect calcium in balance with phosphorus as well as being the best toothbrush available.
And, as another Alpha member added, their family, like mine, fed their dogs cooked bones, included steak bones, with obviously sharp edges. We didn’t know not to.
There were no incidents of trouble, though I recommend only raw bones since I’ve been a holistic vet.
Hit that link above if you want more about how to get started, and how to think about even those chicken bones that so many fear.
Your pet will be ever so grateful and you’ll see grungy teeth whiten up coincidentally with breath returning to sweetness, all with zero anesthetic risk.
Along the Natural Path
We’ve caught a brief respite from a recent slog of sunless days. The above was on this morning’s bike ride, where the fog was both manageable and mysterious.
My bull buddy didn’t pay no never mind to the crows using his back as a warm perch, but I did see him working on a black plastic bag, half swallowed.
Oh oh. That’s not gonna digest, my friend.
And while this handsome dude had more natural forage for his breakfast, it was only barely more nutritious:
The cows in village farms are getting a bit more shelter from the cold breezes these chilly days…
The gleaner egret crew found this semi-flooded winter wheat field just right:
I’m grateful for clear nights and sunny days, my golden triad possible once more: biking, while fasted, with early morning sun exposure to get my circadian rhythm synced for the day.
A plus: clothes can dry in one sunny afternoon vs a couple days in the gloomy foggy days.
And that sunless stuff goes right through me, at 94% humidity and 45ºF.
I hope “the weather suits your cloo oo othes” where ever you are. (I’ve been enjoying some YouTube music of late…)
Here’s to making wise informed choices on behalf of those innocents in your care.
And don’t forget the comments if you feel so moved to weigh in.
Till next time,
Will Falconer, DVM
RE: the out-of-date rabies shots and vet trips with a sick dog----doesn't the package insert on rabies shots recommend administering the vaccine only to "healthy" animals? Does anybody read these things?!?
I love this: the world is getting heavier and we need levity and laughter to balance the dark side.
So true. As always thank you for your words, Dr. Falconer. You help balance the dark side of veterinary care!