I vaccinate my dogs as puppies (8 weeks, 12 weeks and 16 weeks) with the core vaccines. I’ll then get another booster for the core vaccines one year after the final series of puppy boosters. I do not vaccine again after this (aside from rabies every three years which is required by law). I never vaccinate for non-core vaccines such as lyme, bordetella, etc. It’s known that these core vaccines provide immunity much longer than a year and even much longer than the three year intervals that some vets are starting to recommend. Through challenge it has been proven that most of these core vaccines provide immunity for at least 5 to 7 years and it is believed that they may even provide lifetime immunity. Rather than re-vaccinating yearly (or even every three years) it’s much smarter to have a titer – a blood test which measures the dog’s immunity. If the titer shows that your dog is immune there’s no reason to re-vaccinate – re-vaccinating provides no benefit (or increased immunity) it only puts your dog at risk for the negative side affects that may be caused by vaccines. I would highly recommend checking out this series of videos in which Dr. Becker interviews Dr. Ronald Schultz. Dr. Schultz is an immunology specialist in the Department of Pathobiological Sciences at the School of Veterinary Science at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/05/31/what-your-vet-didnt-tell-you-about-all-those-puppy-and-kitty-vaccines.aspx
I do not use any chemical flea or tick preventatives. In my opinion, when it comes to fleas and ticks the best defense is a strong immune system. I have a SNAP 4DX test done on my dogs every 6 months to test for tick transmitted diseases. I comb my dogs with a flea comb daily during flea/tick season and have never found any fleas or ticks (and they’re hounds that spend quite a bit of time outdoors). Since switching to a species-appropriate raw diet I haven’t had any parasite issues (internal or external). I do use some natural-oil based topicals and shampoos and give them an herbal flea and tick tincture from Earth Animal (formulated by Dr. Goldstein).
Concerning Frontline and which contains the active ingredient “fipronil”:
• Dr. Dobozy of the EPA’s Pesticide Division has found that the active ingredient (fipronil) in Frontline remains in a pet’s system with the potential for nervous system and thyroid toxicity. Tests on laboratory animals resulted in thyroid cancer and altered thyroid hormones, liver and kidney toxicity, reduced fertility and convulsions. Frontline’s web site creates the impression that the product stays in the oil glands of the skin. But Dr. Dobozy’s study showed that, in fact, it does enter the body and the organ systems.
• This investigation determined fipronil residues on gloves worn while petting dogs after Frontline application. Frontline contains 9.8% fipronil, which controls fleas and ticks on dogs for at least 30 days. Frontline (1.34 ml) was applied topically on adult household dogs and gloves worn for 5 min during pettingwere collected 24 hr and 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 w post-Frontline application for fipronil residue determinations using GC/MS. The highest concentration of fipronil (589.3 +/- 205.7ppm) was detected 24 h after Frontline application and was undetectable in the gloves collected at 5w. Repeated exposure to such contamination can pose human health risks. [“Human Exposure to Fipronil from Dogs Treated with Frontline” can be found on Pubmed]
• Journal of Pesticide Reform Factsheet: Fipronil:
1. In tests with laboratory animals, fipronil causes aggressive behavior, damaged kidneys, and “drastic alterations in thyroid function.” The fipronil containing product ‘Frontline’ caused changes in the levels of sex hormones.
2. The offspring of laboratory animals exposed to fipronil during pregnancy were smaller than those of unexposed mothers. They also took longer to mature sexually.
3. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classifies fipronil as a carcinogen because exposure to fipronil caused benign and malignant thyroid tumors in lab animals.
Imidacloprid (active ingredient in Advantage) and Pyrethrins (active ingredient in Biospot) have been found to have similar negative effects.
Concerning heartworm prevention. I do use heartworm prevention, however I’m very conservative with it. My dogs get an ivermectin-based preventative every 45 days during hearworm season. The FDA approvals cite that Heartguard, Interceptor and Revolution provide protection beyond 30 days. I use preventatives that contain heartworm prevention only – I avoid the preventatives that also contain wormers, flea preventatives, etc. I’m in northern NY so I usually end up administering the first dose in early May and the last dose sometime in November. Starting the day after my dogs receive their preventative I give milk thistle daily for one week to help protect their liver from the damaging effects of the ivermectin. The SNAP 4DX test I have done every 6 months also tests for heartworms. Dr. Becker has an article about heartworm prevention here: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2010/08/03/why-havent-pet-owners-been-told-these-facts-about-heartworm.aspx . This website also has a wealth of information concerning heartworm prevention: http://dogaware.com/articles/wdjheartwormprevention.html .
