Comments on Immunization Without Vaccination

Can this same method be used to gain exposure to rabies? Will slow exposure create rabies antibodies? I don't want to give the rabies vaccine, but would like some sign of immunity in the titer.

I breed Labrador retrievers naturally, have only fed a good raw diet supplemented with herbs and never vaccinated any of my dogs for the last 11 years. We live in the Phoenix Valley in the winter and the Mountains in the Blue Ridge Area during the summer where my dogs are exposed to coyotes, raccoons, bats, and all kinds of wildlife. I have successfully dealt with parvovirus several times but not something we like putting our pups through. As I write, one of my relatives who is breeding from my line and following my natural rearing protocol is loosing her pack from distemper in Colorado. Her GR CH brought it back from a dog show under the guise of canine flu. All five of her dogs have contracted distemper, a six month old died 4 days ago and his sister is declining. The momma dog has neurological damage and cannot keep her balance, another 2 yr old is slowly improving however, his sister, the GR CH, is over it with no visible side effects. Nothing she's treated them with has helped. These dogs have strong immune systems and have had gradual exposure to the viruses out there for some time. I fear this is a mutated strain of distemper that has something to do with the flu.
I'm moving to Texas in a couple of months and I'm very anxious for the welfare of my pack. We have labs from 6 months to 11 years. I'm looking at Titers, tautodes and vaccines. Need some reassurance and guidance here please.

Hi there. I'm writing to ask you how to cleanse a yard (grass and plants) of distemper. I recently had a dog pass due to having distemper after fighting doing all we could for 3 weeks to save her. The time will come soon and another rescue dog will find us... I want to make sure the disease is completely out of the yard. Can't find much online about it and I'm wondering if you can point me in the right direction.
Thank you.

If a 7 yr old dog shows no antibodies for distemper or parvo after a titer but all other blood results are normal, can it be assumed that his immune system is strong enough to handle a potential exposure to either disease? We don't normally visit dog parks but do walk in public parks but I know of no outbreaks of either one of these diseases in our area. We do have some coyotes in a park in our neighborhood that are occasionally seen but they appear to be perfectly healthy so I may have a problem getting him to self vaccinate by exposure. Any suggestions.

Hi Dr. Falconer,
Thankfully, I heard about you and your website one week before we brought home our 9-week-old Saluki puppy. Your approach resonates with me deeply, and I am relieved to know alternative methods exist to conventional Western medicine. So, I devoured every article you wrote on raising a puppy naturally, and we have followed your recommendations. Our pup received one round of DHLPP while with the breeder, but we have not given any more vaccines since bringing her home. We transitioned her to a raw balanced diet, feed her the transfer factor daily, and we followed Dr. Manziano's procedure for exposure. When we titered her last week, she was protected from Distemper (yay!) but not Parvo. Do you have any thoughts on how we can achieve the Parvo immunity moving forward? REALLY wanting to avoid vaccine!
Thank you for being a valuable resource, and especially making it easy for beginners like me!

Hi Will,
I would like to learn what the best natural treatment is for distemper.

Hello Dr Will Falconer, DVM,
I love this approach! I have researched vaccines for years! I am scared of immunity the natural way but I am going to try it! I am more scared of vaccines!
My puppy will be 14 weeks old in 3 days. She has NEVER been vaccinated for anything. The protocol from Dr. Manziano says to start at 12 weeks, will it still be successful with my pup being 14 weeks? We have a busy dog park 15 min away, and I can go tomorrow. I have also been taking her to puppy classes since 10 weeks so she had been around other pups who were vaccinated in case that means anything. Thank you so much!!
Oh PS my pup has always been raw feed, her mom was raw feed. I got my pup from the UK and I live in the US mostly because this was one of the only raw feeding non vaccinating breeders for my breed! Thanks again!!

I am in the process of trying this protocol with my new puppy and meeting resistance every step of the way between the veterinarians who drew blood for me and the laboratory who is doing the testing! It is so frustrating! Currently my puppy is 16 weeks old and we are waiting for the results to find out if we have immunity. I pray we do because I won't know what to do if it comes up negative.

Hi, I am in the UK. I am going to get a puppy soon who will be 11 weeks old. He had his first injection at 8 weeks so probably too young to do any good. I am not sure I want to vaccinate him again. Lots of parks around here but most dogs probably vaccinated so would he be able to build immunity? I thought about doing injection at 16 weeks and then not again but want to take him out before 16 weeks old for socialisation and toilet training. Advice please?

My dobe had vaccinations at 6 and 9 weeks old while at the breeders. He has not had a thing since. He is now 4 yrs old and I just had the new VacciCheck titre test, done at my home by a mobile vet cheaper than I could have done at a clinic, and he has antibodies for parvo, distemper, and adenovirus still. Not that I am worried about those diseases particularly, as they mostly affect young dogs, puppies or those with adults with poor health, I was simply curious about getting the results. This vet says the levels are at the lowest protection level and he will need shots next year. Of course I won't do that! I only wish the rabies titre test wasn't $300.
He has been on a raw diet from the day he came home, with no heartworm/flea/tick meds. I took him to puppy class weekly beginning at 10 wks old, and a variety of places. He was to be a show dog, so he did go in the ring for practice at a dog show at 3 months old, but I cleaned his feet with a thyme spray ('Benefect', kills viruses & even HIV) and with colloidal silver. I'm not sure if his antibodies are from exposure or the early vaccines, though his maternal antibodies would interfere with shots at 6 & 9 weeks I believe?
I have often read that truly healthy dogs will not be affected by fleas/ticks/diseases but wondered if that was true or just wishful thinking. I recently had a visiting dog for a month who had picked up fleas (in the winter in Canada, though a mild winter this year) from a cat at another house. I just bathed the dog once with regular soap and water to drown the fleas, and kept the humidity in the house very low with the help of the wood stove as fleas can't survive in low humidity. My dog and 3 cats (14 & 17 yrs old), all raw fed, did not get any fleas and the original host dog was fine after one bath. When we first moved to this new house 5 yrs ago, I experienced fleas for the first time with bad reactions on one of my cats. I was at a new vet for my other cats urinary tract infection, and he had quickly put flea meds on my her before I could even say anything! I now have a great vet, 45 minutes away but worth the drive. Interestingly, though my dogs have been raw fed for 16 yrs, the cats were not raw fed at that time - I had tried to switch them before unsuccessfully, and just needed to try a different raw food. I came home from that new vet, who recommended prescription kibble for the cats bladder issues and switched the cats to raw that day!

Dear Dr. Falconer,
Thank you so much for this informative article! With my next puppy I want to use this method! But there are a couple of things that are not clear, please answer my questions briefly, if you can find the time:
1) We start exposure at 12 wks, for 5 minutes at a time. Where should we walk our pup until then? Is it OK for him to get in contact with other dogs?
2) When at the dog park, should the other dogs be present (and play with our puppy), or do we need access only to the ground, and avoid other dogs?
3) If all the dogs visiting the park have been vaccinated (which, I think, is likely), is the pup still going to get immunization?
Thank you for all the helpful information on your website!

In our area, they have been vaccinating puppies and at least 4 of these random pups have Parvo, and are in the hospital. Have you heard of this before?? and it seems that the "white coats" are mystified by this. Any suggestions on treating this homeopathically? There are no holistic bets in the area..

I have a unique situation.. We are getting a fur baby April 1st..
We asked the breeder to not give our puppy any of the routine shots she gives before they go to their new homes. She agreed but now we have to sign a release waiver. My question is, being that that puppy will be around/eating/playing/ pooping with the other puppies (and I know vaccines shed ????)... Will our puppy arrive sick or is he in harms way being with these other puppies who will be given vaccines from 5-8 weeks?
I want to know what I should expect. To be honest I'm really worried. I don't want him vaccinated at all... I just don't want him catching illness from the others who are

It's cool that they are able to make animals immune now without vaccinations. I know that would be been amazing for my puppy, he doesn't do very well with shot. They are starting to make lots of advancements in the veterinary world, I wonder what they will be able to come up with next.

Hi,
I recently adopted a 12-18 month old pug from the Pug Rescue Austin. His records from Westlake Animal say that he is due for his Da2pp booster. Does this mean that he has already had the first shot and this would be his second go 'round? I don't want to give him this vaccine. Do I need to further expose him, in the way that you have described, with the 5 minute park visits? Also, his records state that he may benefit from airway surgery due to stenotic nares. I am excited for you to get back into town so that we can set up an appointment with you to get this little guy on the right track!

I truly enjoy your website and all the wonderful information it offers. Regarding natural vaccination, would the protocol be the same in an area with a heavy load of distemper and parvo? Where I live there are thousands of street dogs and high incidences of both diseases. Would it still be safe to allow a five minute exposure or would that be too risky? I have known of whole litters of pups to die from people bringing parvo home on their shoes!!

Sir - can you recommend the top holistic vet in Fairfield County Ct? I now feed my Sheltie 95 percent feed with 5 percent chicken. But need a great holistic vet. Thanks.

Will, I love this. My Shih Tzu Missy had 5 puppies 4 weeks ago and my vet is quite certain that I'm going to get these puppies vaccinated. I'm in Western Australia. Missy has been vaccinated in the past and as I am just understanding the cons I'm now considering stopping them and also our Golden Retriever.
I discovered your site some months ago and only just realised I could sign up. Obviously I had too many tabs open at once!
I've been a holistic of raw diet for 6 years, since we bought our Golden Retriever home, now and with everything I've learned (and still learning), I decided to start a Facebook group "As Nature Intended" and it's so booming now. It was a bit slow at taking off, but now all my promoting is paying off, and yes, I would love you to join. I go out of my way in asking holistic vets, researchers, breeders, carers, vets etc. Having people from all walks of life makes the group worth while and it's what people are looking for.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/324599134386758/
Anyway, back to Missy. Every year she has had C5 Distemper, Hepatitis, Parvo and Canine Cough. Her last one was earlier this year.
Now that she has had her puppies, I'm seriously thinking of discontinuing with vaccinations.
Her puppies - What am I going to do with them as I need to find homes which are going to feed raw? When people advertise puppies, the buyers expect them to be vaccinated, otherwise they won't touch them. Here they vaccinate at 6-8 weeks but I'm seriously thinking of waiting until they are 10 weeks as I reckon mums milk does it naturally up until then.
I mean, here, this is what is typically expected of you when you get a puppy...
Checklist for new puppy (copied from a Perth vet site)
Vaccination
First at 6-8 weeks
Second at 12 weeks
Third at 16 weeks
De-worming & Flea Control
De-worm Every 2 weeks until 12 weeks of age with Canex Puppy suspension.
Then de-worm at 16 weeks of age with Drontal Allwormer.
Heartworm prevention starting from 12 weeks of age.
Flea control program.
I mean really!!??

Thank you - this IS the same Dr. Dym - compare website photos:
http://www.doctordym.com/links.html
http://www.1800petmeds.com/bio_michael_dym.jsp
I had a 1 hour phone consultation with him and he is working up a treatment plan for Toby.

Dr. Dym has a pet health blog at 1-800PetMeds, a helpful place to go.....maybe it's a different Dr. Dym? He seems to support both traditional and homeopathic veterinary medicine.