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The
Canine Immune System
Barbara J. Andrews,
Publisher,
TheDogPlace
A Vet student launched a vehement attack on my
column about the vaccination debate, thereby proving how little they are taught
about canine health and the
immune system.
 The
soon-to-be veterinarian raised some interesting points although I doubt they are
what she intended. Apart from being “appalled and very disturbed”, she felt
“the entire article is utter nonsense, with no facts to back up any of BJ’s
'old fashioned common sense.'”
She objected even less politely to my statement that God
would never make a host allergic to its natural parasite. Since I I fear
that she speaks for a growing number of practicing vets, I decided to elaborate
on some things she pompously derides. Should she go into private practice,
she might note what time year her waiting room fills with itching,
scratching, sparsely coated pets that
self-mutilate. "Old fashioned common sense" suggests the seasonal increase in dermatitis coincides
with spring cleaning, fertilizing and yard spraying, and starting
dogs back on heart worm prevention.
 Just this week a veterinarian described
unethical changes in many veterinary practices since the introduction of pet insurance.
He said it enables medically unnecessary
treatments that owners used to not find affordable.
Anesthesia is hard on the patient. He gave as an example; subjecting a dog to
anesthesia risk in order to clean teeth instead of recommending a safe
knuckle bone or advising the owner to regularly brush a toy dog's teeth.
Why do drug companies say that the older a dog is, the more it is at risk because
its immune system is wearing out and therefore, it should be vaccinated more frequently
than younger dogs??!!!? To
the veterinary college student I say that is exactly the kind of downright
deadly policy that “appalls and disturbs” knowledgeable dog owners!
Back to my comment about host and parasite. What is broadly termed “flea allergy” is in fact a warning that the
pet’s immune system is under attack. When people inhale irritants, they
sneeze. Dogs sneeze too but are
more likely to itch when chronically exposed to inhaled allergens.
Dermatitis can signify a wide range of environmental antagonists,
anything from food additives to chemicals absorbed through the pads or foot-licking due to
contact dermatitis. Incredibly, the most common treatment is to further depress
the dog’s immune system with cortisone injections, chemical flea baths, and
heartworm prevention. Steroid shots may bring temporary relief from the dipping
and flea collar assault on an already chemically
besieged animal but treating symptoms deliberately disregards the less
profitable but stupendously more humane approach
which is to identify and prevent further exposure to the causative agent.
Use topical treatments instead of bombarding the entire dog with a
prescription for front office profitability.
Boost the dog’s immune system with those dratted “alternative”
methods and supplements. Y’know,
the ones that work but can’t be patented and are therefore of “no value”
to drug companies and most vets. Vitamins E, C and zinc, plus fish oil
supplements will help restore a healthy epidermis and bring itch relief. Yes, dogs do respond to
therapeutic use of vitamin C and while its true that dogs synthesize their own
"C" that is only when fed a diet that allows them to do so. More on that
later.
The soon-to-be-released from brain-washing school letter writer
states “heartworm
is 100% preventable with the use of safe, effective monthly tablets” and goes
on to blame owners for trying to “de-worm their dogs at home using large
animal products.” Such parroted statements are a frightening example
of why robotic medication dispensers can be so harmful to dogs. In the
hands of unscrupulous or determinedly ignorant vets, prescribed whole-body
(systemic) poison is a lot more
dangerous than home or herbal wormers. See link below (1) for in-depth,
novice-friendly, 2-part information on intestinal parasites and wormers.
Promotion
of a treatment which can be worse than the disease is as unforgivable as is
ignorance in those who claim to be educated.
The professionals in whose hands we trustingly place our best friends
have a moral obligation to expand their education with a big dash of hands-on
care and common sense. Apparently
old textbooks omit the reams of published information regarding potential side
effects of some medications. For
example, there are published reports that antibiotics such as tribrissen and heart worm preventatives
can adversely affect (link 2) thyroid function (whoops, that can mean
dermatitis)
and can cause reproductive problems. Vets
need to know all the factors before prescribing a product based on the
manufacturer’s sales and promotional materials.
For example.
I wanted to know about mosquitoes since they are the delivery boys for
heartworm disease. So I bit the
bullet and did that research-stuff. Then
I weighed the odds of an infected mosquito
flying it’s maximum three hundred
yard range in order to feast on my double coated dogs when a.) There are no
loose dogs in my hunt-country neighborhood, or b.) my dogs are sold to people in
upper class neighborhoods where there is no medically deprived dog population.
(Our dogs don’t itch -
it is our neighbor’s dogs that live at the vet’s and suffer so
pitifully.) The fact that we
lovingly maintain a purple martin habitat has nothing to do with our decision to
neither use nor recommend Heartworm prevention.
Veterinarians protect the average
pet owned by the average person who has no motivation, time, or desire to employ
safer but often, more complex ways of caring for it.
Most have been surgically sterilized so there’s no concern about
reproductive ability.
Perhaps the best thing about heartworm meds and
yearly vaccinations is that they motivate owners to bring their dogs in to
the vet regularly. It provides the
conscientious vet an opportunity to catch any developing problems that the owner
may have overlooked. And for what
it’s worth, a positive diagnosis is not uncommon in dogs that were maintained
on monthly heartworm medications. Do not trust your own or your handler’s memory
about dosing or the
effectiveness of heartworm prevention. Blood test your dogs regularly.
Vets will love me for saying that but a blood draw is cheaper than monthly
prescriptions and a lot easier on your pet.
I’m sure many readers react to my columns just as the vet
student did.
But make no mistake, a journalist has a
responsibility to be factual, verify the source, and of course, to weigh that
information against personal knowledge of the subject.
I do all that pretty well but admittedly, I can fail on presenting
information objectively.
So, having a foot in my mouth is
an awkward position but it doesn’t stop me from reaching the keyboard.
ShowSight forgives me for being politically incorrect.
They know I know that some of their best advertisers are also physicians,
vets, and dog food companies. We
just happen to believe that those advertisers are deeply committed to their dogs,
willing to weigh info, reject without recrimination that which doesn’t suit
their purpose, and use wisely that which does.
I think of ShowSight readers as
post-graduates in the school of canine management so I don’t footnote or
reference every statement. Furthermore,
egotistical though it may be, I am MY OWN REFERENCE. And the fact is, many of you are my source!
Good dog people agree that several decades of clinical trial and error
counts for as much as a neophyte research scientist working in a lab where the
only animals he touches are in stainless steel cages.
He/she works for or receives sizable grants from companies whose primary
motivation is to develop profitable new products.
I work for the dogs. I
thought everyone knew that!
So, here’s the deal. I
don’ recommend herbs to stop a bleeding artery.
My dogs go to the vet. I go
to the doctor. I have many friends in the medical arts. I make no apologies
for the significant fact that my sources differ from those of the angry vet student.
Some of my sources have college degrees, others have lifetime
degrees and as a professional researcher and publisher, I only accept and share credible sources.
I might even throw in a footnote or two to make sure
everyone knows I am a professional writer that has been known to have an unoriginal thought!
If you missed
what initiated the vet student's outrage, go to Vaccine
Debate, part one
(1) in-depth, novice-friendly, 2-part
information on intestinal parasites and wormers
(2)
Cause and cure for thyroid problems, i.e. hypothyroidism
http://www.thedogplace.org/HEALTH/canine-immune-system.asp
#9909.1112
Reprinted from ShowSight Magazine,
Doll-McGinnis Publications, Sept.
1999 edition
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