Hi Molly, -----Original Message----- From: Molly Bass [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: June 18, 2003 3:42 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: vaccines ??
"I recently attended a seminar with Wendy Volhard where there is new evidence that the pups can be protected up to 10 weeks depending on the mother's own immunity. They have found that vaccinating before the mother's immunity has faded can actually negate the first vaccine and make the pup more vulnerable than less vulnerable. She recommended that dams should be titred within either 2 weeks prior to whelping or two weeks after whelping to determine how long the pups are protected by her immunity. It also has some relation to how long the pups nurse. I intend to learn more about this prior to my next litter." Nothing new about this, its why there are three sets of puppy vaccines. Because it is generally accepted that the mother's protection while weakening at about seven weeks onwards can be longer that is why most breeder's try and go as late as possible before puppies leave home. Vaccinating does not destroy what remains but will not sufficiently challenge the immune system to strengthen the titer thus lulling the owner into thinking the puppy is better protected than it actually is. Anti-bodies are ingested by the puppies within the first twenty-four hours from the colustrum, by forty-eight hours the lining of the puppy's bowel has developed thicker and no longer allows the body to take up protection from the milk. It is because of the possible inhibiting effect of the mother's titer that the one year booster is perhaps the most important one of all. My own vet told me recently that the approved scheduling of vaccinations is now three courses of puppy core shots boosted at one year and then three yearly for rabies and core vaccines with annual remaining for bordetella and lepto. Personally I would not recommend waiting until six months for rabies vaccination unless one is keeping the puppy in a protected environment. Most puppies by that age are highly inquisitive and may want to investigate Rocky Raccoon or some other wild creature or ingest some partly digested material that a rabid animal may have contaminated. Rose T.
