Because we care so much for our dogs, we’re forever trying to do the best we can for them. Of course, this includes preventing infectious diseases. So we’re encouraged to (sometimes forced) vaccinate—a lot.
We accept our trusted vet’s recommendation that vaccinations are in our dogs’ best interest, but little do we know the harm they can do. Over-vaccination & vaccine-related reactions are called vaccinosis. It’s a word that is never used in a good way.
I know. I watched vaccinosis destroy my childhood pet
Every year, my mom faithfully took Peabody, our family dog, in for rabies and booster shots. Everything always seemed fine, and Mom marked the calendar for next year’s visit. Peabody was the healthiest, well-cared-for 6-year-old beauty.
In what turned out to be his last summer, his skin grew angry a few weeks after his shots. I was a kid, but it seemed like he became engulfed in misery almost overnight.
Back to the vet. After one look, Dr. Whitecoat said he had something called allergic dermatitis. We went back for steroids and antibiotics so often that I think her car could have driven itself to the clinic. Finally, another vet did a skin scraping. Peabody was loaded with Demodectic mites and put on Ivermectin.
Just when he was showing improvement, a lump began to grow on his right hip. Nineteen weeks later, Peabody was gone. The tumor was an aggressive cancer called soft tissue sarcoma. Only years later did I realize that both diseases were caused by vaccinosis. Peabody’s mange was due to over-vaccination that slowly eroded his immune system. The injection-site sarcoma that killed him most likely resulted from the buildup of vaccine toxins in his soft tissue
What is vaccinosis?
Vaccinosis is a set of adverse reactions that occur after vaccination. Adverse reactions can occur within minutes, days, months, or years. A dog can develop vaccinosis after just one shot, but it is more common in over-vaccinated or repeatedly vaccinated dogs.
Tracing chronic health issues back to vaccinations can be dodgy because of time delays. Like with Peabody, symptoms and health problems have no timeline. They can begin minutes, weeks, months and even years later. However, understanding what happens in the body when a vaccine is administered helps us connect the dots. Many holistic vets believe that most modern diseases in pets can be traced back to vaccines. Vaccinosis is now a common problem in our pets, but it is far from being normal.
Causes that linger
Vaccinosis is not solely caused by unnatural foreign viruses introduced into the body. The uproar that vaccinosis creates within a dog’s body is mainly due to ‘dirty’ vaccine contaminants.
Instead of merely injecting the proper dose of modified live and/or killed viruses, that syringe is serving up a load of toxic stuff that doesn’t belong in a living body — let alone a relatively small one.
Here’s just some of the known crap found in pet vaccines: formaldehyde, aluminum (a neurotoxin), thimerosal (mercury), Phenoxyethanol (antifreeze), phenol, monosodium glutamate (MSG), ammonium sulfate, gentamicin sulfate, tri-n-butyl phosphate, polysorbate, sorbitol, polyribosylribitol, beta-propiolactone, hydrolyzed gelatin, animal tissues, blood, and other animal viruses. And some of this stuff can remain in the body forever.
“Routine vaccination has adverse side-effects, either short or long term. With vaccines that are repeated year after year, the frequency and severity of these side-effects in our pets has increased dramatically. Most of the problems involve the immune system. After all, the immune system is what vaccines are designed to stimulate. But they do so in a very unnatural way that can overwhelm and confuse the immune system.”
~ Donna Starita Mehan, DVM
Vaccinosis and mange
Does your pet suffer from an immune system problem? If your dog’s gotten even one vaccination in its life, the answer is a screaming yes! Vaccinations are incredibly immunosuppressive, and we have hundreds of customers whose dogs developed Demodectic mange or relapsed as a direct result of vaccination. And that’s a fraction of those we serve who’ve been able to make a direct connection. I personally believe that over-vaccination and vaccinosis have played a part in every single Demodex dog we’ve helped. Here is an excellent piece from the archives that explains vaccinosis and Demodicosis in depth.
Devastating health problems
Mange has strong ties to vaccinosis, but is far from the only health concern that vaccinations leave in their wake. Vaccines leave a dog with a significant risk of developing immediate and delayed reactions as well as chronic long-term health problems, some of which are life-threatening. We’ve added a partial list of symptoms linked to vaccinosis at the end of this article.
As their pet’s only advocate, caring pet parents need to know that vaccines can hurt, cause long-term disease, illness, paralysis, and kill their furry family member. Reactions can be immediate or take weeks, months, and sometimes even years when the root cause is difficult to identify.
What can you do for your about-to-be vaccinated, already vaccinated, or over-vaccinated pet?
There’s only one answer—homeopathic detox.
This simple solution continues to gain popularity as more dog owners adopt a holistic approach to treating and preventing vaccine reactions.
While it’s scary to diagnose your pet’s condition, it happens more than it should. However, treatment needn’t be scary. Most non-life-threatening problems can be treated naturally and safely, including adverse vaccine reactions. Holistic professionals already know this and frequently recommend homeopathic vaccinosis detox. And despite the AVMA not recognizing vaccinosis as a valid medical condition, many conventional veterinarians have come to embrace its effectiveness. Why? Nothing else works.
Every dog that’s ever had a vaccination needs its owner to keep two vaccinosis nosodes (remedies) in their first aid cabinet. Thuja and Lyssin.
- Thuja Occidentalis. Thuja is essential to have on hand because it is effective for every vaccine except rabies. Thuja is also helpful for symptoms of skin disorders, including warts, rashes, eruptions, cysts, and tumors. Other major body systems that may benefit from Thuja include the gastrointestinal system (it is excellent for “sputtery” diarrhea) and the urinary tract (some cases of chronic cystitis may benefit from this remedy).
- Lyssin (also known as Lyssinum or Hydrophobinum). Lyssin is the remedy you need for those mandatory rabies shots.
Both nosodes can help resolve symptoms of vaccinosis after vaccination, as well as the long-term effects that may appear weeks or months later. Dosing depends on the strength of the remedy and the form in which it is delive
How one vaccine can change your dog’s life forever
These lists cover some of the problems that have been linked to vaccinosis. But keep in mind that every dog will react differently, as their immune systems are unique to them, and any of these side effects may not manifest for days, weeks, or even years.
General vaccinosis symptoms for all types of vaccines
- Thyroid disease
- Behavioral changes such as fearfulness, aggression and separation anxiety
- Obsessive/destructive behavior, self-mutilation, tail chewing, shredding bedding
- Pica – eating wood, stones, earth, stool
- Injection-site abscesses, growths, or sarcomas (cancer)
- Hives
- Vitiligo
- Facial swelling
- Weight loss
- Allergic dermatitis
- Autoimmune diseases such as those affecting bone marrow and blood cells, joints, eyes, skin, kidney, liver, bowel and central nervous system
- Eye diseases
- Encephalitis
- Seizures & epilepsy
- Bone disease
- Infertility
- Blood disorders
- Anaphylaxis
- Inflammation of the heart
- Allergic hypersensitivity
- Respiratory disease
- Muscular weakness
- Atrophy & lameness
- Tumors
- Anemia
- Arthritis/swelling of joints
- Chronic digestive problems
- Thyroid & adrenal gland diseases
- Rear-end paralysis
- Kidney and liver disease
- Skin disease
Reactions specific to the rabies vaccine
- Hypersensitivity of all senses, overreaction to noise
- Rage, agitation, violence, ferocity, sudden attacks, unprovoked attacks
- Irrational fears, timidity, suspicions
- Inappropriate responses to water – either extreme fear or great desire
- Obsessive/compulsive behaviors – tail chasing, fly biting, chasing balls
- Excessive focal licking
- Excessive sexual drives
- Sensitivity to close places or tight clothing/collars
- Frequent or spasmodic sneezing
- Spasms in the jaws
- Choking, gagging, or coughing when swallowing liquids
- Reverse sneezing
- Laryngeal spasms
- Involuntary urination
- Constant or unwarranted erections, even in neutered males
- Excessive licking of genitalia
- The sensation of flea bites, violent itching with no obvious causation
- Convulsions especially from the sight of running water or of shiny objects
- Aimless wandering and vocalization
OMG…I lost my beautiful Mei Li – a red lionhead Tibetan Mastiff to exactly this. The answer I was given was heavy antibiotics three times a day and steriods. I feel sick. Thank you for getting information out there, I’m going to share with every pet owner I know.