Tuesday, 11 December 2012

Vexed Vaccinations

" In cats we now recognise that vaccinating with too many vaccines in the same place all the time can cause fibrosarcoma, a nasty cancer." ~ Nancy Scanlon, DVM, Chino Hills, USA

The annual boosters for our animals used to confound me. I imagined pets had a most bizarre immune system - forgetful regarding life threatening viruses but functioning perfectly with regard to all other viral and bacterial assaults. They didn't seem to be in anyway prone to the petty common illnesses that snotty humans suffer. No vomiting illnesses, no boxes of kitty kleenex were needed each winter and the dogs were happily rolling in anything dead, bounding about in the wind and rain, and taking any opportunity to eat cat poo - yummy.
http://www.lifewithcats.tv/2011/05/29/kitty-vs-kleenex/

Holistic vet Dr Yasson says science confirms annual vaccinations are unecessary

http://www.holvet.net/pet_vaccinations.html
"Current Veterinary Therapy, 11th Edition, which is one of the most significant textbooks in veterinary medicine to date, says that vaccines tend to last a lifetime in dogs and cats.   Dogs and cats in old age do tend to have more chronic disease when they have those vaccines repeated on a yearly basis.  Annual revaccinations are unnecessary"

Lisa A. Pierson, DVM gives her rationale and reccomendations for a sensible feline vaccination schedule. http://www.catinfo.org/?link=vaccines

"There is nothing in the scientific literature to support annual vaccination with the FVRCP and Feline Leukemia (FeLV) vaccines. It is well-known that:

  • the vaccines commonly used for cats confer immunity for much longer than 1 year - and actually provide lifelong immunity in most instances for panleukopenia
  • adjuvants contained in killed vaccines put cats at risk for fatal tumors (sarcomas)
  • even the non-adjuvanted FVRCP vaccines have caused sarcomas, as have the PureVax vaccines
  • natural immunity to feline leukemia is very strong by the time the cat reaches ~1 year of age
  • the FVRCP vaccine is strongly linked to kidney inflammation"

To those I would add two comments:

1."Saving a small fortune"  if the pets live to be as old as First Cat 19yrs, and NewDog 11yrs. Neither and Senior dog who died at 19, have been vaccinated for many years since we gave up sending them to boarding if we go on holidays - it makes much more sense to employ a house sitter.
2. Vaccination is a huge antioxidant stress.
"One research worker in the laboratory had been immunizing animals against diseases like tetanus and Diptheria.  His experience showed that after being immunized, some of the animals died suddenly within 24 hours.  These deaths had been attributed to anaphylaxis.  Authorities the world over had decided that this was so (it is a severe allergic reaction).  I suggested that vitamin C deficiency was the cause.  The animals involved did not make their own.  Like primates they required it in their diet.   To discover the truth only required a simple experiment.....
     The result was definite, unquestionable and final.  Half of a group of animals were supplemented with vitamin C before being immunised.  None died.  The un-supplemented half continued to die at rates equal to those found in previous experiments.
    The importance of this discovery can hardly be stressed.  In Australia and all over the world, infants were being immunised.  Those whose vitamin C status was low were at risk.  here, at last, was experimental evidence that supported my claims that stepping up immunisation campaigns among Aboriginal infants increased the death rate."  Every Second Child  by
Dr Archie Kalokerinos, M.D. (p.139-140)

A cat makes vitamin C but as far as I can tell they are low on the list of responders able to make around 40mg/kg daily. They will in the wild naturally derive vitamin c from prey. The antioxidant vit C and E are not easy to preserve in processed foods - they have to be topped up before packaging and survive sitting on shelves for months. I wonder how they actually compare to raw foods of similar caloric value? I expect Dr Belfield DVM will know - he gives all his pets and patients supplemental vit C.

We roll the dice when we choose to intervene. My husband's cousin is severely mentally disabled due to the MMR vaccine.

In humans vit c status can make all the difference between a 'routine' vaccination and disability or death. "In Archie’s opinion, the death rate in the Aborigine babies and children stemmed from widespread subclinical scurvy, which resulted in every second child dying, after the medical profession’s vaccination teams swept through the districts." HIs latest book is about Shaken Baby syndrome and is free to download http://www.vaccinationcouncil.org/2012/08/14/dr-kalokerinos-last-book/ Dr Kalokerinos also predicted that there would be widespread problems from the Ford administration 1976 swine flu vaccine program - and indeed there was, prompting it's early termination, and including a fantastic Mafia Boss death link ( really Hollywood could not have come up with a better plot!)

and in humans fatal mistakes in manufacturing as well as straightforward vaccination related deaths still occur in children particularly with their fragile immature immune sytstems. Ashley Jade Epapara  died in her cot 24 hrs after receiving the infamous 2010 fluvax http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/deaths-linked-to-anti-flu-vaccines/story-e6frg8y6-1226441791947

John Robbie

"My beautiful John Robie. Still doing well 8 months after his FIP diagnosis. He is a miracle thanks to PI. ( Polyprenyl Immunostimulant ) " ~ CatMom: Lisa Cone

7th Dec 2012

John Robie on the stove - a favorite place. 33 weeks on PI and still going strong!

Happy Catmas John Robie and Lisa!

The charming Jon Robbie is named after the antihero of "To Catch a Thief" since he stole Lisa's heart!

  • John Robie (approximate BD of June 25, 2010). 
    "John Robie is an active 2 year old, curious, kittenish loving brat. His Dry FIP is concentrated in his intestines and it can be uncomfortable for him to poop (he meows in the cat box), but he's otherwise a normal cat and has even gained some weight. He actually looks (and acts) like a normal (but not fat) teenage cat. It is difficult to remember that he has a fatal disease. But, he's a feisty one and strong. He bounced back from exploratory surgery like it didn't even phase him. I think I knew then that he was going to be my fighter and he sure has.
    He was dumped in a parking lot at 5 weeks old and found by me. He's probably some exotic mix as he is VERY different from all of other street cats. He had terrible fleas and ear mites when I found him and a slight URI but was otherwise healthy. He was just going to be a foster, but he was too amazing and I fell in love, so he became a part of a household with 8 other cats. When he was a year old, I fostered 3, 4 week old kittens for a few months. He was always and indoor cat. He started losing weight in late March and we took him in to our vet almost immediately. My normal vet diagnosed FIP immediately and told me he had a few weeks tops. I have too much experience with vets not being proactive so I went exploring. A client of mine (I'm a pet sitter) had a recent great experience with a vet that works with pug rescue (I also have pugs) so I took him there for a second opinion. They were much more proactive, did exploratory surgery, took a biopsy and was willing to work with getting him PI. 
    That vet was Airport Irvine Animal Hospital Irvine, CA. They also started him on Prednisone, Trental (pentoxifylline) and an appetite stimulant right away. He responded pretty well right away to the meds. We got approved for PI and he started on that on April 7. I weaned him slowly off of Pred, but when we got to the point where he had stopped the pred completely, he started doing badly again. I upped the pred to normal dosage again until he stabilized again, then weaned him down to .25 mg every other day. He has remained on .25 pred every other day, 1/8 Trental every other day and PI every other day since then and it has been the perfect combination thus far. 
    Oh, one other thing...None of the 8 other cats in my household (who are older than JR) have shown any signs of FIP (yet), nor have the foster kittens that were "raised" by JR shown any signs of FIP. I hope it stays that way. " ~ Lisa

    Amen to that.

    April 2013 update:


    still doing amazing!
    John Robie is still on Prednisone at one year. A dose of .25 ever other day seems to be the ticket for him. He does NOT do well when he is off completely.

    May 2013 update:

    His update is currently in flux. He was stable on the same dosage of all 3 meds. We decreased his Pred and he took a turn for the worst.
    We upped it back up to the original dosage then slowly decreased it weekly. As of 2 days ago, he is started showing symptoms again with the Pred at .25 every other day.
    So now we have increased it again to .25 every day.
    Hopefully that will stabilize him.
    The trental and PI dosage remains the same.
     
    Fortunately John Robbie is back to his playful self on the daily prednisone. Please be cautious when the cat is doing well; they really do look normal and start perhaps fussing about medications so that people try to scale the medications back. I have collected several case histories of cats who have had problems when their doses were scaled back like Abbey. Oliver Mackinnon takes his 5mls of PI DAILY for 3 years and only now is starting to think about scaling back, Blade has been chugging along on his meds for 2 years - if it ain't broke dont fix!

Sunday, 2 December 2012

Death and taxes


"In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." ~ Benjamin Franklin


FIP is not an illness the general cat owning public are aware of though breeders and vets are well acquainted with the general hopeless picture, if not the finer points since they tend to treat those affected as disposable, as do the bean counters - the insurance companies.

There were breed premiums mentioned in the brochure I picked up while waiting at the vet last november with little Mishka - all runny nose and feverish mystery. I was moved to pick up a brochure as it felt really odd to have a sick cat who was so young. Birmans weren't considered one of the dodgy breeds by the insurers. In fact prior to accepting Mishka a little investigation had falsely assured me the breed was considered a very hardy, healthy one. A much better tool found too late: This web page contains a list of genetic or inherited conditions which have been reported and lists the cat breeds affected. It's long and Birmans are frequently mentioned.

It didn't seem worth the premium based on the past record of First Cat - two vet visits in 19 yrs. With 20/20 hindsight it was a minor saving as in the teeny print you can only get off the interwebs FIP is specifically excluded including euthanasia for FIP. Neither PI nor interferon nor Moducare would be acceptable even if it was covered, being experimental or non-prescription treatments.

The current purchasing system for medications and nutriceuticals resembles a MLM Ponzi scheme, and I expect asking the government to release the most expensive of these treatments for FIP, the feline interferon, from GST is talking to stone. Mishka also takes a fair few nutritional supplements since she won't eat raw meat - colostrum and whey powder - full of growth factors, vitamin C, rutin and fulvic minerals and we have tried a heap more curcumin, pentoxifylline, prednisolone to name a few.

but restoring my faith in human nature are a bunch of people who give of their time and resources freely; I'll just mention someone here: Jevgenia sent Mishka her left over polyprenyl which amounts to nearly a full months course to try. It made it through customs without the stupid $325 AQIS clearance form we truly didnt need - we could have imported via Tanja who already had one for her cat (deceased) but the information given to her incorrectly said each cat had to have a separate permit. This butt covering delay has seen more than one cat die already waiting for their chance. If you want other cats in australia to have this chance too then donate to Mishka's fighting fund (right) so I can bring in enough boxes of PI on the one form to have spares ready to send out.

Mishka was knocked back months ago by the PI people because she has wet fip and their initial study showed it was ineffectual but possibly because most cats only survive a few days with the disease and PI needs about 2 -4 weeks to effect a change. It's still an off label use for FIP, dr Legendre himself is calling it a delaying treatment not a cure but what else is there except hope? Now it's approved for rhinotracheitis and not a freeby experimental drug you just need deep pockets, a vet's prescription (and for non US cats someone with the import clearance) in order to have a go.

Mishka has fought on for nearly 4 months now - i think largely due to having her own physician ( my husband) careful nursing, FOI and Moducare. The vets have been a mixed bag - choose with care!