Ok, I know that vaccines are a big scam as far as humans go, & from what I've read on the net, same goes for animal "drugs". Quandary; I know in my heart that they are useless, but we have always heard for years & years about them, the rabies vaccine in particular.

We have two indoor/outdoor cats. Up until the last year, we have had them vaccinated. Rabies is very prevalent in my area; Raccoons, groundhogs, foxes especially carry the disease.

Having one of our cats bitten and then being around the family seems like a very high risk to me. From what I have been told, rabies can be passed to humans through bodily fluid contact or saliva through a wound, open skin, bite...

What to do...What do all of you do who have indoor/outdoor animals?

I go to a holistic vet. I get my animals their rabies vaccine. If they don't have the vaccine and if they were to bite someone, I think they would destroy the animal because they need the brain (I think its the brain) to determine whether or not they have rabies. Although I can't imagine any of my pets biting anyone, I don't want to take that chance. My vet doesn't recommend giving a few of the more popular vaccinations (she told me that most vets wouldn't give those vaccinations to their own animals, but many give them to their client's animals to make $$). Also, you can choose to have your animal tested when the vaccination is "expiring" and the test can tell if they still have a good immunity or if they need to renew the vaccine. That is what I do.

Well, my cats will "play" bite! I was going under the impression that since vaccines are basically poison for humans, they are the same for animals - just a money making racket. Vaccines offer no protection for humans, how can they for the 'il critters?

tetanus vaccine is highly effective in preventing death due to infection in humans. they are not all bunk, just mostly. I would not let an outdoor animal go without rabies or distemper. We had to put down a kitty infected with the latter, it was truly a horrible way for him to die.

I don't vaccinate my animals after they are 2 years old for anything but rabies. This is after their first round of puppy shots and one set of boosters. I only vaccinate for rabies because they wont take a titer to cross the Canadian border. I show my dogs so I get titers pulled on them which my sports governing body will take in place of vaccines. This is the same for my cat, she is indoor only and gets a rabies shots. My pets all eat 90-95% raw food diet. I have yet to have a dog catch something at a sporting event.
I have seen horses pay the price of over vaccination it takes a heavy toll on them. When I used to show at the international level the FEI used to require a flu/rhino booster every 6 months in order to be allowed on the show grounds.
Peace

Vaccines are poison.

[www.truthaboutvaccines.org]

When my dog has her blood work checked for Valley Fever, we also have the rabies titer checked and, if ok, she gets no vaccine. She has not needed a vaccine since the first as a puppy.

flash

just struggled w/ this question, as when i first got my dog i didn't know about vaccines. but after two years of her testing 'positive' for lyme, getting full round of treatments, and then more vaccines and having the vet mention that if she tests positive 3 years running, she's probably just showing a high immunity to it... WHAT?

so after 3 years of not taking her to the vet, b/c she wasn't sick, but realizing her rabies shot had expired, we did take her to the local rabies day clinic and get that one shot. she was great about it, and it seems like one of the ones that makes sense to get. we live in the woods, by a river, with skunks and raccoons in our garage at night. with the lyme disease though, i'm hesitant as the vaccine has a terrible track record for bad side effects. all rabies vaccines are 3 years long- but they encourage you to get them yearly- I think that is a dangerous crock. but just a heads up, the only vaccine they make lasts for 3 years.

i figure one shot every three years a very healthy adult dog can handle.

peace-

I worked for a holistic veterinarian for years. From a medical point of view as long as their Rabies Titer (this is a blood test to determine whether the vaccine is still effective) is high enough, your animals are protected and do not need a booster shot. Running titers before vaccinating is a great way to minimize the amount of vaccine that your animal is exposed to. Very often when an animal was up for a booster, a titer would come back protected and so we would not vaccinate. For cats I believe the titers we ran were rabies and feline leukemia. I cant confirm that though as i am no longer working for that vet. In my humble experience vaccines last a lot longer than they are supposed to.

So you can ask any vet to run a Vaccine Titer before vaccinating. The only caveat to this is some states do not accept titers as proof of inoculation. So if you live in a state that does not accept titers, you really should vaccinate for the vaccinations which are required by law: if you dont then you run the risk of your animal being destroyed if something were to happen (eg. gets lost, bites a person etc.). Regardless of how unlikely it is your animal may get lost or bite a person, you should still protect yourself legally.

okay sorry for the long response lol. One last thing, the vet i worked for did not recommend all vaccines that typical vets recommended. He wrote a book, I believe he covers which feline vaccines were necessary. I will paste a link. Good Luck!

[www.amazon.com]

I only do rabies.

why do pets require yearly vaccines when the theory behind vaccines is to deliver life-long immunity? (or a facsimile- such as a 3-5 year immunity) why doesn't any bring this up?