Conscious Choice: Suspicious Shots

March 2005

Suspicious Shots

A spate of tumors in cats has lead to questions about whether some pet vaccines are doing more harm than good

by Deborah Straw

Our cat, Puck, was one of the gentlest and shiest cats to share our home. An indoor cat, she loved to ride around on my husband Bruce’s shoulders, and was always healthy and playful. When Puck was 8, we took her to our old, country-style veterinarian for her annual check-up and shots. She checked out well. She was not overweight, had no fleas, her teeth and eyes were fine. She only made a tiny cry when she got the injection in her shoulder blade that contained a killed-virus leukemia and rabies vaccines. Three weeks later, Puck was dead.

Over the last five years, the U.S. veterinary community has been seriously reviewing most vaccine protocols and has come to realize that perhaps they have been vaccinating too often. Many veterinarians have become increasingly convinced that a number of vaccines are doing more harm than good for our animal companions. Yes, some remain necessary — even mandated by law, such as rabies. In the United States rabies vaccinations for cats are currently required in about half the states and the District of Columbia; for dogs, they are required in all states and the District of Columbia.

But not all the traditionally administered annual boosters appear to be necessary, according to some vets who say they may be causing several diseases, skin allergies, bladder infections, and even cancer.

The American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) Canine Vaccine Task Force, has concluded that “The burgeoning knowledge in the fields of vaccinology and immunology...have placed the traditional approach to vaccine use in doubt and engaged our profession in a long overdue debate.... One size simply does not fit all. Not all vaccines are indicated in all animals and no vaccine should be given without a thorough knowledge of the risks of acquiring the disease, the potential for adverse reactions to vaccination, and the health of the animal in question.”

Titer Vaccines

W. Jean Dodds, D.V.M., a world-renowned expert on canine vaccine reactions and owner of Hemopet in Santa Monica, Calif., agreed, saying, “We overvaccinate. The frequency of adverse reactions is unacceptable.”

Dodds provides titering services for both dogs and cats. Several holistic-minded veterinarians are now taking advantage of this process in which blood samples are drawn and then laboratory-tested to determine the animal’s immunity levels. Only if the animal really needs a certain vaccine is it administered.

Dodds said she adopted this method because “recent vaccinations with single or combination modified live virus (MLV) vaccines are increasingly recognized contributors to immune-mediated blood diseases, bone marrow failure, and organ dysfunction.”

She listed thyroid disease, Addison’s disease, diabetes, leukemia, and lymphoma as among the diseases that can be triggered by vaccines.

“In veterinary medicine, evidence implicating vaccines in triggering immune-mediated and other chronic disorders (vaccinosis) is compelling,” she wrote for Veterinary Medicine journal in 2002.

Hemopet, Dodds’ laboratory in California, titers dogs for distemper, parvovirus, occasionally rabies (“for proven severe reactors to earlier vaccinations”), hepatitis, parainfluenza, leptospirosis, coronavirus, and Lyme disease.

For cats, it performs titering services for panleukopenia, calicivirus, herpes virus and leukemia virus.

Dodds’ lab accepts blood samples from across the country and even overseas. Although her lab was one of the first to offer this service, many other laboratories, including some veterinary teaching hospitals, now offer it as well.

“The well-informed dog and cat pet caregiver definitely should request this type of titer testing in lieu of booster vaccination — except for rabies vaccine, as required by law,” said Dodds.

Three Year Vaccines

In recent years triennially-approved rabies vaccines have become available and Dodds called his new three-year vaccination protocol a “step in the right direction,” but stressed considering each animal on a “case-by-case” basis.

One common protocol she recommended: “Giving appropriately spaced puppy or kitten vaccines (2 or 3 doses only, starting at 8-10 weeks), another booster at one year, and then titers thereafter, except for rabies, as required by law.”

Support Grows for Challenging Status Quo

Challenging the traditional way of giving vaccinations has been difficult in the past, but recently has been more accepted, according to West Coat veterinarian Richard Pitcairn, who co-authored with his wife, Susan Hubble Pitcairn, Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats.

“I believe that the attitudes and feelings people now have about vaccinations are the same ones people used to have about bleedings.... Anyone who dared to question that assumption was ridiculed,” Pitcairn said. Now we look back on that practice with amazement.... I trust we will be doing the same thing someday when we look back at the practice of vaccination.”

Pitcairn warned, “Giving a vaccine to an animal with cancer is like pouring gasoline on a fire.” He advised not vaccinating pets that have any growths or tumors.

His overall recommendations for vaccines: Try to get your veterinarian to give single or simple vaccines rather than complex vaccines. Young animals can tolerate a reduced vaccination schedule, but vaccinating is not advised before 16 weeks of age.

And annual boosters — which he said don’t have “much justification” — should be avoided, even though they have long been popular. Pitcairn goes so far as to advise against “any further vaccinations after the initial series, as they are not necessary.”

However, every case should be considered on an individual basis and you should obtain information and guidance from a trusted (and up-to-date) animal care practitioner before making any final decisions.

Vaccine-Associated Feline Sarcoma Task Force

There is one type of vaccination that has, over the past 15 years, attracted attention as possibly producing malignant tumors, or sarcomas, in cats, particularly in older cats over the age of 8: the killeo-virus leukemia shot.

About 22 million cats received vaccinations in 1991. Concern over the issue led to the 1996 forming of the Vaccine-Associated Feline Sarcoma Task Force, a coalition of concerned national veterinary organizations that wished to resolve this dilemma.

The task force consists of representatives from the American Veterinary Medical Association (avma), the American Animal Hospital Association, the American Association of Feline Practitioners, and the Veterinary Cancer Society, along with other veterinary researchers and government and animal care representatives.

According to Dr. Tom Elston, dvm, a member of the Feline Sarcoma Task Force, and owner of T.H.E. Cat Hospital in Irvine, Calif., hard, cold statistics are difficult to come by. However, he did discuss the latest study, published in 2002 by The Journal of the American Veterinary Association:

“No one knows the exact number for sure. But one epidemiological study looked at 30,000 vaccines given to 15,000 cats — one fibrosarcoma developed. However, previous studies had shown that one in 10,000 and even one in 1,000 cats developed this fibrosarcoma.”

The Task Force is in the process of dissolving after 10 years.

“We have done some good research, we started answering some questions, and the avma thought we had done enough and wasn’t backing us any longer,” Elston said.

One change that vets are considering is changing the location of some shots.

“If we do it on the leg, we can amputate if necessary,” Elston said. And he said the future timelines for vaccines may be spread out longer than the current guidelines call for: some vaccines may last a lifetime, others as long as six years.

Here is a general list of task force recommendations: Always look at a number of issues when deciding to vaccinate your cat, including, “risk of exposure to the disease-causing organism...the consequence of infection; the risk an infected cat poses to human health; the protective ability of the vaccine; the frequency or severity of reactions the vaccine produces; the age and health status of your cat; and vaccine reactions your cat may have experienced in the past.”

Several vaccines are now available including feline panleukopenia virus vaccine (feline distemper), highly recommended for all cats by the task force; feline calicivirus/herpesvirus vaccine (highly recommended by the task force); rabies virus vaccine (apparently rabies poses a serious threat to cats — and feline shots are now required in many states); feline leukemia virus — this vaccine is recommended for “all cats at risk of exposure to the virus.” Indoor cats are at the least risk, as are those felines not exposed to FeLV-infected cats. As with dogs, vaccination with a “triennially-approved rabies vaccine” is now considered sufficient. Research points to evidence that the panleukopenia/rhinotracheitis/calcivirus vaccines generally last for several years, but many veterinarians now recommend these be given every three years as well.

The task force does not state that vaccines are inherently “dangerous,” but warns, “There is a small chance that reactions may develop as a result of vaccination.” They recommend always consulting your veterinarian if your cat experiences any kind of adverse reaction to a vaccine.

Dog Vaccine Protocols

The protocol for dog vaccines has also changed in favor of giving fewer vaccines. According to the AAHA Canine Vaccine Task Force, as part of their 2003 Canine Vaccine Guidelines, “Current knowledge supports the statement that no vaccine is always safe, no vaccine is always protective, and no vaccine is always indicated.” The vaccines recommended as “core” vaccines should be administered to all puppies and to dogs “with an unknown vaccination history.”

These include canine distemper virus, cpv (Canine parvovirus — they recommend that all puppies have these vaccines and that, “revaccination every three years is considered protective”; canine adenovirus-2, and rabies virus. The canine task force also recommends looking at the animal’s environment, age, breed, health status and lifestyle. Dogs that stay in kennels, or visit grooming salons, dog parks, doggy daycare and tick-infested areas are at higher risk from certain infections.

Deborah Straw, a long-time writer about animals and health issues, is the author of Why is Cancer Killing Our Pets? How You Can Protect and Treat Your Animal Companion (Healing Arts Press, 2000). The book will come out in a second edition this summer.

Get More Info

Hemopet, 11330 Markon Dr., Garden Grove CA, 92841; phone 714-891-2022; www.hemopet.com; [click to e-mail].

Visit www.drpitcairn.com; Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats can be found where books are sold.

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