When I told a few friends about this link I said that words failed me in regard to the utter stupidity of these people. They still do so all I’ve done here is repeat the news article below:
Anxious parents might be breathing easier as research dismissing the purported link between childhood autism and vaccines continues to pile up.
But we’re not done hearing about the vaccine-autism connection just yet: Some U.K. pet owners are convinced that vaccines do more than just trigger autism in people — they’re adamant that shots do the same thing to canine companions.
Canine Health Concern (CHC), a U.K.-based nonprofit, is calling on the country’s government to investigate potential risks of vaccinations recommended by veterinarians. Among the alleged dangers? Doggie autism.
According to CHC founder Catherine O’Driscoll, vets who vaccinate their canine patients once a year are guilty of overdoing it, with potentially devastating consequences.
Dogs are vaccinated against a handful of illnesses, including Lyme disease, distemper and influenza. Most also receive routine booster shots into adulthood.
“There is a massive group delusion within the veterinary profession, with members’ eyes glazing over as they numb out to the known science and perform veterinary procedures that are unnecessary,” O’Driscoll told the U.K.’s Veterinary Times. “[Some] veterinary bodies around the world have called a halt to the practice of annual vaccination. Why is the U.K. lagging so far behind?”
But the British Small Animal Veterinary Association is adamant that all science points to the effectiveness of annual vaccines. Spokesperson Mark Johnston told Veterinary Times that he’s seen hundreds of animals die because they weren’t vaccinated, but only witnessed two deaths from side effects of an injection.
Despite dismissal from veterinary experts, O’Driscoll and company are garnering more attention from U.K. pet owners. O’Driscoll has published two books on the subject: “What Vets Don’t Tell You About Vaccines” and “Shock to the System.”
The Daily Mail covered the group’s autism-vaccine position in early March.
O’Driscoll founded the CHC in 1994, after her two golden retrievers — Oliver and Prudence — died unexpectedly. She blames commercial pet food and a vaccine overload for their demise.
CHC advocates a raw-meat diet for dogs and cats, along with “natural remedies” like garlic for parasite control and flaxseed oil combined with cottage cheese as a cancer cure for ailing canines.
In the United States, vaccination decisions are largely left up to pet owners and their vets. The American Veterinary Medical Association acknowledges that once-a-year vaccines can “increase the potential risk of post-vaccination adverse events.”
Among the potential risks listed by the association are transient infections, autoimmune disorders and even localized tumors. Autism didn’t make the cut.
It’s also not on the radar of the United Kingdom’s Veterinary Medicines Directorate. An agency spokesperson reported that more than 80 million doses of different vaccines have been administered to dogs since 1985, but it has received fewer than 7,000 reports of side effects, according to the Daily Mail.
The CHC’s chief complaint is that dogs who’ve been vaccinated often suffer from “dramatic changes in behavior.” The group claims that those personality changes are a symptom of autism.
Most veterinarians, however, have several other explanations. A dog’s sudden personality changes have been attributed to hypothyroidism, diabetes, brain tumors and, perhaps most likely, to hormonal fluctuations, as Fido copes with surging, preneutered teenage hormones.
Left Brain Right Brain 
Kev, are you sure this is not a Poe?
That article is from America Online? Consider the source.
“Most veterinarians, however, have several other explanations. A dog’s sudden personality changes have been attributed to hypothyroidism, diabetes, brain tumors and, perhaps most likely, to hormonal fluctuations, as Fido copes with surging, preneutered teenage hormones.”
Any or all of these should be treated.
And I thought “All dogs have ADHD”, at least according to Kathy Hoopmann’s Jessica Kingsley picture book.
All right, I’ll be serious now:
“CHC advocates a raw-meat diet for dogs and cats, along with “natural remedies” like garlic for parasite control and flaxseed oil combined with cottage cheese as a cancer cure for ailing canines.”
Is commercial pet food all that bad? Yes, dogs should be fed right. But raw-meat, garlic, flaxseed oil and cottage cheese – the last 3 are not what dogs eat in the wild.
They are wrong about U.S. animal control law and vaccination.
Failing to vaccinate one’s dog can have serious legal ramifications in the U.S., where the law requires rabies vaccination.
In some jurisdictions, a dog can and will be impounded if it is picked up by animal control and the owner cannot show proof of current rabies vaccination. The dog may not be released to the owner until proof is provided or the dog is vaccinated in custody.
Moreover, there is legal liability in the case of a bite (see Davis v. Gaschler (1992) 11 Cal.App.4th 1392, 1399-1400), and even dog owners who are insured may find themselves not covered for failure to comply with the law. In some jurisdictions, an unvaccinated dog (or cat) who bites someone may be quarantined, or even euthanized (sometimes at the discretion of the victim) in order to observe or test it for rabies.
As a former licensed veterinary nurse i can tell you that the stress of going to the veterinarian itself can cause temporary personality changes in some psychologically sensitive dogs and cats after vaccinations. Actually, i think that the stress response that pets can have to veterinary visits is probably similar to what latently autistic kids have that then they suddenly “come down w” more dramatic autistic symptoms after vaccinations. In addition, the pets will pick up on the owner’s apparent distress at the animal’s behavior changes, this becomes a re-enforcing vicious circle.
Regarding the natural raw diet w garlic; garlic has poisons in it that can cause anemia [although it is much a smaller amount than onions]. So, just because garlic repels humans and humans have eaten it for thousands of years, does not mean that it will repel parasites and it could even cause harm to the pets.
With the homemade raw diet, i think most owners do not know enough to be able to balance the minerals in the diet and many dogs can end up with “rubber jaw” and other skeletal diseases with these homemade diets. Cats often get taurine deficiency with owners who think they know better etc.
Golden retrievers are famous for angiosarcomas that “bleed out”, this can cause sudden death that O’Driscoll experienced.
Julia:
I really appreciated your response, particularly about the stress that dogs and cats may feel.
And that garlic doesn’t repel parasites.
What would be a balanced mineral diet for a dog?
Squillo:
Thanks for the consequences in regard to (lack of) vaccination.
I didn’t know that a victim was allowed to choose euthanasia for the cat or dog who bit them. Puts a new meaning/spin on “mercy killing”.
Everyone:
The whole issue of giving dogs vaccinations once a year is indeed a vexed one.
And also that they may not be for targeted conditions.
I also was not aware that dogs could get Lyme disease. Perhaps from a tick.
So dogs may get autoimmune diseases from yearly vaccinations? Which ones, and how common are the side effects?
This woman runs a business promoting her unusual approach to animal health. Call me old-fashioned but I’m always uncomfortable when businesses set up charities whose objectives coincide with their own. It always smacks of PR with a charitable status.
As to her notions, from whom should we take advice on animal health – a qualified vet, or a dowser, reiki master, EFT practitioner & colloidal silver promoter who thinks she can converse with dogs? Actual conversation; she talks to dogs & they talk back. Telepathically. I’m unclear as to whether she can converse with dead dogs but she knows a number of people who can.
Ms O’D might make a book burner of me yet…
Adelaide:
The ability for the victim to choose euthanasia depends on the jurisdiction, just to be clear. (I only know about it because many years ago, I was bitten by an unvaccinated pet cat, and was given the choice to have it quarantined or euthanized.)
I was a vet assistant in another life, and took some veterinary nutrition courses and heard exactly what you point out about diets.
I also witnessed puppies dying of Parvovirus and one kitten with distemper–never want to see it (or smell it) again.
“And that garlic doesn’t repel parasites.
What would be a balanced mineral diet for a dog?”
For diet keep the general idea in mind what a wild member of the dog/cat family would eat, [they do NOT just strip the muscle meat of their prey] and the idea that human diet standards and preferences should never apply to pets so there is nothing wrong with “chicken by-products” etc for dogs n cats –As far as minerals, the way to keep it in balance would be to make sure bones are in the diet for the sake of a correct phosphorus/calcium ratio [if you are going to feed raw or fresh food for your pet, otherwise a High Quality commercial pet food [[dry or canned]] has proper mineral vitamin amounts ]–For cats this is also true but for raw or fresh diets make sure you feed them enough meats that contain the protein called taurine, otherwise the cat will have heart muscle damage –Another problem for cats is feeding them tuna made for humans with out supplementing with vitamin E. The non-supplemented tuna can cause “yellow fat” disease that could be fatal. There are good websites on pet nutrition out there so i do not want to divert this thread about vaccines and “pet autism” too far away. Just use your imagination on how to feed your pet by looking at their wild relatives and the REALITY of how they eat nearly the whole prey animal: bones, stomach contents and organ meats and some small amount of plants. [ btw DO NOT feed them vegetarian or soy-based diets; that makes NO SENSE at all;D ].
I fully agree about the need for vaccines for pets. i used to be stuck in the “parvo ward” all day and the smell of it and the bleach is unforgettable [ the majority of my pets are from work, i adopted the dogs that got parvo when the owners could not afford to treat the disease so i kept them from being put to sleep or dying of this terrible disease]. Then the cats suffering from feline AIDS and respiratory diseases that caused them to starve to death because they could not smell their food is burned in my mind– Therefore, I will never give into anti-vaccinationists because i have seen so much death and suffering because of preventable diseases. Only if a multi-sensory film of animals and humans suffering from the preventable diseases could be a sentence for anti-vaccinationists who get caught w their lies. For example, when kids go to drivers ed. they see many films about the realities of carelessness on the road; i think this would be a wise requirement for people careless about vaccines etc.
As far as auto-immune diseases in pets it is as common as it is in humans [very rare] and vaccines as a cause has not been proved. [i bet auto-immune diseases caused by non-genetic means is much rarer than you find in human populations because of the animal’s less over-clean lifestyles.]