>>>> I got several private e-mails from people telling me of others who aren't vaccinating their Icelandic's for ANYTHING. I was aghast that people with so much money and supposedly so much education could be so naïve. Apparently this woman isn't the only one.
>>>> No, she's not. I'm another. Perhaps we get our education from different sources, and my sources don't make money from vaccinations. Unfortunately, I got my education on the value of vaccinations from the school of reality. When I was a child, there weren't many vets in the area - not like now. I can't count the number of kittens and puppies I knew of (a couple were mine, others belonged to friends) who died from distemper. My parents grew up in fear of "mad dogs" - my daddy had to destroy one of his dogs after a rabid stray attacked his when he was a teenager. (My father was as big an animal lover as I am, so that about killed him.) Our blind cat, Ray Charles, apparently had distemper when we found him as a 8-10 week-old kitten, but we were able to nurse him through it - but he lost his vision. About 20 years ago, I got a lovely little lab-mix puppy from the pound - not knowing there was a parvo outbreak there. I took her to the vet the next day, but he smelled the parvo smell, even though she wasn't showing signs yet. She got sick that night, struggled valiantly, but finally lost the battle, despite a big vet bill. I've had literally dozens and dozens of dogs and cats in my life, and almost three-dozen horses. I can only cite one reaction to a vaccine, and it was quite mild, but I can remember dozens of animals who died from the diseases...thankfully not so many now that vaccines are more readily available. BTW, the horse who had the reaction to the vaccine...? He's had his vaccinations since, and he's doing very well. He'll be 28 next spring. Karen Karen Thomas Wingate, NC No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.488 / Virus Database: 269.13.35/1040 - Release Date: 9/30/2007 9:01 PM
