Hi Jill, These are hard questions, aren't they? When Mercedes was a new little puppy we almost lost her after her 1st multi-vaccination booster. She puffed up like a pin cushion, couldn't breathe, and was in great distress. Consensus (breeders, vet, etc.) at the time was that it was the Lepto portion of the vaccine that she reacted to. She later had 3 bouts with ruptured cruciate ligaments and even later was diagnosed with hypothyroidism for which she is on medication.
Lo and behold I dig around for information and find that links have been made between vaccinosis and not only autoimmune problems, but also cruciate ligament ruptures and hypothyroidism. How can that be proved? I have absolutely no idea. Is it a valid hypothesis? No idea there either. I'm just not savvy enough on the research yet. However, the memory of that little puppy in my lap gasping for her every breath while the vet was out on a ranch call somewhere still haunts me. We still vaccinate for rabies every three years because it is our state law, because our dogs are around lots of kids, and because rabies is such a horrible disease. If either of my Berners begin to exhibit chronic autoimmune symptoms we will stop vaccinating for rabies, switch to titers, and adjust their contact with humans accordingly. We have titers drawn annually for parvo and distemper and that's it. We live on WA State's Olympic Peninsula which is a fairly isolated biosystem and I've checked our state's health department website as well as that of the Centers for Disease Control for statistics on epidemiology of various diseases around here. That was a big part of how we made our plan. I hope you'll get information that will help you with your individual circumstances. Lots of vagueness in this post, I'm afraid, but that's where we're at. Susan Kowitz, Mercedes, and Bentley Sequim, WA >>>I would appreciate input from Berner owners concerning their call on vaccinating Berners against lepto.<<<
