Comments on Are You a Victim of Veterinary Abuse?

Anyone reading this blog is surely beginning to understand we have a choice, and a responsibility, to make intelligent decisions for our pets' (and out own!!) health and wellness care. Fire those vets who "put" your dog on a med you don't want! And who insist their way is the ONLY way. I have worked hard to educate my local vets about what is acceptable to me. They now respect me and my choices. When I took Freida in recently for blood work (Freida being a mini-dachshund with a mammary tumor the size of a golf ball, which we are managing homeopathically), the vet said ---"Wow, she looks good!" And no mention of vaccines. It is all about what they expect and know that you will tolerate. They know Freida's primary vet is a holistic homeopath and they are willing to accept me on my terms. (And on the more sensitive side, this vet literally began crying when I reminded her it had been a year since she had to come to my house to euthanize Lionheart. I wonder how a caring vet can make it!) We have a job to do. Educate your vet or fire her/him if education is not an option!

Just say NO to drugs, vaccines and NO to the conventional vets.
They killed my last dog with vaccines. It was work to find another puppy with no vaccines and NO microchip. All the rescues required overvaccination and microchips and disagreed with my holistic care practices that we have slowly been learning in the last few years. Adopting a dog seemed to be impossible, which is so sad, as we did not qualify even though I did give my last dog a great life but I did not know all the vets were slowly killing my dog with vaccines.
We tried to find a healthy adult dog that was not vaccinated on craigslist but to no avail. Everyone proudly stated their dog was vaccinated, on commercial dog food, microchipped, etc
This puppy was not vaccinated, but we did research and bought Nosodes for parvo nosode, distemper nosode, rabies nosode, lyme tick nosode, ehrlicia tick nosode, etc.
The nosodes are the safe alternative to dangerous disease causing vaccines.
We do mostly raw whole organic eggs ground up in the blender to grind the egg shells, veggies, bananas, carrots and apples slices for treats and dehydrated raw and raw when we can find non radiated raw food. Looking for raw green tripe, etc.
The vet will only be for emergencies and for an annual bloodtest then we will find alternatives for any ailments.
I don't trust most vets. I wish so much that there were a holistic vet in every city and town to guide us but no so lucky but we keep looking. We may have found a real holistic vet 2 hours from here.

My 4 yr old GSD is a raw fed (organic) healthy, happy, high energy, confident dog who loves people & other dogs. One day she awoke with a non weight bearing limp and I rushed her to the vet. The vet did a cursory exam and sent in a tech with a proposal for treatment amounting to over $1,000+. In the list was vax's (her rabies was 3 mos. exp. but I told the vet I intended to do titers, not boosters). They refused to treat my dog unless I agree to update all vax. I took my limping dog & left, found a vet who agreed to titers and found the real cause of my dog's limp...soft tissue injury caused by her no-pull harness, and not a joint problem as 1st vet mis-diagnosed.
P.S. Cost was a mere fraction of first vet estimate. Best is a still happy, healthy, non-limping dog whose original vax still provided FULL immunity.

Why not find a new vet? I had a very arrogant vet that didn't listen to a word I said and made me feel stupid. His colleague also told me that dogs don't produce histamines and that's why they need steroids for allergies.
So I found a new vet. I won't let anyone treat me, or more importantly, my dogs that way.

My vet put my dog on Apoquel. I didn't want to give it to her because I don't want to damage her liver. Besides anything that compromises the immune system is like giving your dog HIV. She is 15 and VERY itchy. No one knows what is wrong with her. I don't know what to do. I quit the Apoquel, then, started again because she was in distress from the itching. It is not working very well any more. Please help.

Wow..I'm wondering if Mrs Z has the same vet I have?
Going back July 2015 my vet…a different vet then…kept hammering away with all the vaccines that were at this point over a year late and I gave in. This is before I started reading your blog.
Almost exactly 3 weeks later my cherished family member turned into Old Yeller. He became extremely vicious to other dogs, the same dogs he plays with for years, and now he wants to kill them. Over the next year this Old Yeller syndrome gradually faded away but not completely.
Fast forward…My new vet hammered me about being past due on the current rabies and started quoting Maryland State law. I now wondered if my vet was going to turn me in if I skipped this year’s rabies vaccination. I asked the vet why vets only want to give an annual vaccination and not a three year vaccination. I had already done my homework and knew that Maryland allows either annual or three year rabies vaccinations but vets have forgotten about the three year rabies vaccinations.
Of course I know why this is….the nice vet then states we can give him a three year vaccine. I agreed wondering if someone would knock on my door and take our Shih Tzu away if I walked out without the shot.
Got the vaccine and exactly three weeks later my little Shih Tzu turned into Old Yeller again. I grabbed him and kept him away from his dear friend afraid he would attack the other dog.
By the way…I talked to my vet about Rabies Maism and she assured me that it’s impossible and there is no proof that a rabies vaccine could cause a dog to turn vicious. She said it was probably his way of protecting me.
Some symptoms I have seen on my dog are; eyes wide open staring off into space drooling like a blood hound, as if he is in another world, teeth clicking together so hard I thought he may break a tooth, and convulsions of various kinds.
Even though Miken the dog had his rabies vaccine the vets still send out cards reminding me of the other vaccinations he still needs. These reminders appear in my mailbox monthly.
Thanks for all you do Will.
By the way...I don't live in Iceland, just wanted secure email.

Utterly appalling...but sadly not too surprising. I am glad Mrs. Z found your website as she is sure not to find herself and her pet in that situation anymore!
Regarding why people just do what vets say....it's the same reason they follow the direction of human doctor's- it's a person in authority! Not everyone is able in the moment to oppose what a person, who by society, has always been deemed to know all, know more than you and know best! Not to mention if you are told your pet has a serious ailment, most people freeze and panic- they are scared because of what they are being told and how they "must act now".
Having said that, it most certainly is not me... anymore. Many years ago (before there was so much info available on the internet!) I watched my beloved pet die of liver cancer. What I learned during and after (completely on my own without the help of my vet) is that everything I had been told was in his best interest throughout his life; was only in the best interest of creating an unhealthy, immune depressed, chronically ill dog. My current dog has not been vaccinated in over 8 years; and he won't. He got a rabies shot because of where I live; case closed for life! Now, if I ever did have to take him to the vet for anything other than perhaps a wellness blood test (I am lucky to be able to treat my pets with herbs, homeopathy, essential oils and orthomolecular medicine myself; with access to a human homeopath who works on animals and does fur testing) my rule is that unless it is truly a life saving necessity in that moment, my response is "thank you, if I choose to follow your medical recommendation(s) I will let you know" at which point I leave. In the hours or days after, when my head is clear, I assess my options, research, learn, if necessary seek a second opinion and only then do I make a decision of what's best for my pet. But, that is something you will face great opposition too (whether it's veterinary or human medicine), so you must be confident and strong in your beliefs- or they will get to you and make you question what you know to be right.
Thank you Dr. Falconer for all you do to educate pet guardians about what TRUE health in wellness in our pets is about.....it's about vitality; that most people don't truly understand until they actually see it happen in their pet by giving them a species appropriate, clean lifestyle and eliminating as much as possible pharmaceuticals from life.

I try to stay away from vets in general. I do go to the same vet for 40 years now but,only if I have a serious problem.
16 years ago my dog Thunder,a basenji ,was prescribed Prozac for Seizure related aggression. After almost 2 years on the drug he died of liver failure. Correct me if I'm wrong but, I think it was the Prozac.
This was my heartdog,I still grieve for him after all these years.
I search the internet for natural remedies for all my dogs now.
Two months ago my basenji Rocky was diag. with fibrosarcoma,it is in his mouth and I was told he had only about 3 months to live.
I have him on supplements from your website and others. I hope he can beat this as I can't lose him.
My vet said he could remove his bottom jaw but couldn't give me hope that it would help.
I know it was the rabies vaccine that did this to him. I will never vaccine any of my dogs again.
Why is it that the vet community doesn't learn from it's mistakes.
They cause so much heartache.

This is all so very scary!!!! My three Chihuahuas are up for their rabies vaccinations after 3 years and my vet insists that my 7 year old who has had severe reactions including anaphylactic shock twice (and that is not the worst reaction he has had!) can NOT receive an exemption. Actually she said " The Rabies vaccine is mandatory". This has led me to finding a holistic vet to with ALL of my dogs to, AND I will no longer vaccinate any of them. I have long stopped ALL other vaccinations OTHER than the MANDATORY rabies and now refuse that one as well!!!!

Even more important than why is this DVM doing what she's doing -- WHY IS THIS WOMAN LISTENING TO HER, COMPLYING WITH HER, AND THEN GOING BACK ???? She can see the harm that is being done, and she obviously knows how to get on the internet. So, Leave! She is as complicit in the abuse of her animal as is the DVM.

Having recently adopted a pure bred puppy, we took him to the vet for the breeder-mandated well puppy visit. This is a relatively new vet that helped us put down our 20 year old Pomeranian at the beginning of the year so we felt positive about him. But I was on alert to see how the vet would react to my strong opinions about vaccinations and the vacs schedule. Sure enough, he wasn't interested in anything I had to say because, after all, I am not a trained professional like he is (BA, MA, and post-grad work don't count). He gave my pup a lick and a promise instead of the comprehensive work-over I requested and then sent in his tech to try to sell me the drugs. I put them off, went home and located a holistic vet in the next town. Yes, I have to drive 50 miles, but she listens, gave the pup a thorough work-up and agrees with me. It is worth it.