Page 47 – Second Chance AIHA Dogs

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Keymaster

Mary,
This is such an interesting story. And though some of the details are feline related, it is still a worthy read for canine owners too. And the take away is, it’s not straightforward! Thank you for the detailed report and I am glad that Mabel is now protected from those things that could harm her.

I am a firm believer in this approach. The last Giant rescue I made was for a very young (maybe a year old) Giant roaming loose in Livingston County. The first thing they made me do before I could take him with me was give him a rabies vaccination. It was after hours but my vet met us and the county agent at the clinic and gave him his shot. You would think they would do that when they pick up a stray, they do not.

I immediately took him in for a complete health check, and yes I did a complete titer count on him. Dr. M called me when the results came back and told me he was “a blank.” No immunity to any of the normal canine diseases they are normally vaccinated for. Not low, NOTHING. I was mildly surprised and a little upset at myself that I had let this dog into my household. Chance was better at this point, but it had only been by a few months.

So I had him vaccinated similarly to how a puppy is treated. A few weeks later I also had his hips xrayed, had him chipped, a full CBC, chem screen and had his blood typed. That fine fellow, so much like Willie is now, ended up in a wonderful home in New Jersey living with another Giant. I would never do less when placing a rescue like a Giant in a home. That is why rescues should not be free to new owners. It is a responsibility and they should be willing to care for the health of the dog immediately. However, in this case, since they drove from so far away, I didn’t ask for anything.

So there is what happens when an animal is not vaccinated as a young animal. They develop no immunity to any of the common diseases. Thus why it can be dreadfully risking to take a stray home if you have other animals.

You said you did not understand what the vet meant by cellular mediated immunity rather than immune mediated. I happen to have written two entries in the glossary quite a while back that may help you understand this better!

Humoral Immunity

Cell-mediated Immunity

If you have any questions about this, please ask me to explain it better. This is a complicated topic, but this one is probably the most important one that we need to understand when helping owners with autoimmune diseases. It took a lot of studying to finally grasp the depth of this topic. Dr. Dodds’ information was of great help to me.

my best

patrice

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Patrice

Keymaster

Lynda,
I feel your angst. I worried a great deal with Chance as the following spring after he recovered he was due for a rabies booster. I did spend about 2 months researching what I would do.

The most important issue with rabies vaccinations are the legal implications. After two months I began to understand first that most dogs probably are protected (by vaccination) against contracting rabies longer than the three year period allowed by most laws.

In fact, I did have Dr. Dodds titer him. The test results I received were certainly quite odd. Come to find out there is no canine titer standards of acceptable titer values. That is yet to be determined. The titer values that they use are human and that was established mostly because veterinary professionals etc must be current on their rabies vaccination. So his test results showed that he had an acceptable titer value for rabies according to the human titer values.

But to NYS law, this means nothing. The laws regarding rabies are very complex and that is why it took me a long time to gather the information and then sift through it to understand all aspects.

Rabies is essentially a human health issue. The law and the health departments only care about protecting humans from contracting rabies because is is a deadly disease. It would be wildly expensive and dangerous to give all humans rabies vaccinations so instead the law requires that the vector of rabies, dogs, be vaccinated. It puts the expense on the owners and puts the risk of the side effects to the dogs.

Each country, each division such as state and county etc, each locality such as village or town, each version of health department and each veterinary clinic have laws or regulations that govern a dog’s rabies status. To know what applies to YOU, you must research where you live.

Honestly your best protection against having your dog taken from you because of a violation of a rabies law is to know every law and regulation where YOU live. Avoiding knowledge in this area is very dangerous for your pet. Thinking that “my dog” won’t be exposed and can’t possibly get rabies can land any owner in trouble.

Why? Because most laws and regulations revolve around 2 things. Contact with wild animals and biting a human. Unless your dog is completely house bound, there is always a risk, even if it is slight, of one of those things happening.

Once Chance recovered I wanted him to go back to a normal life. And that included going on long walks in the woods, being on sidewalks in town and being petted by people.

And people can be funny sometimes. They will get all excited about petting one of my dogs and then suddenly encounter a wet Schnauzer beard. Oh! Your dog bit me! Well, no, they didn’t get bitten, they just experienced “dog.” But if they report that, then my dog must be held accountable (and so do I). What is the first thing they do? They may take my dog away from me to be held in quarantine up to at least 10 days but can be as long as 6 months depending on the dog’s vaccination status. They need to know immediately if my dog transmitted rabies to the human so they can protect that person from contracting the disease by beginning the rabies inoculation. That would be the 10 days. They routinely give a booster shot.

Where I live, it is routine to see wild animals in back yards, all around Western NYS. People have been attacked by rabid foxes in their own driveway in a suburb! So it is likely that a rabid animal could be in my back yard. My dogs could go attack it. This is another area where the law is very clear, my dogs must be immediately examined and given a booster. If I foolishly run out and grab my dog immediately, then I have exposed myself unknowingly to rabies in the saliva on my dog.

So, no I don’t want to see Dora exposed to the rabies vaccination, but I also would like to see you protect her from legal action that would involve removing her from you. Crossing state or country lines is often a no-no with a dog that is not currently vaccinated. Some countries will not allow a dog, even vaccinated, to just pop off the plane and start trotting around the country!

In the end I had Chance vaccinated. By this time the rabies booster was no longer modified live, but killed and he had no issues at all. I felt comfortable that he was protected and safe to be “at large” in the community. This is the language that is used when discussing a dog’s rabies status. Currently vaccinated dogs can be “at large” in the community. However, I still took precautions about exposure to wild animals and I never took him back to the nursing home for visits. He did private home visits.

So find out what your laws and regulations are in your area and then research carefully all aspects of traveling to France. That would also include airlines if you plan on flying. If you must go through borders, you can bet they are going to want to see all of Dora’s vaccination records. When we travel to Canada, the border folks actually spend more time examining the dog’s records than they do our own passports.

And, by the way, I have done some research on canines and ebola. It’s a well known fact that there are many dogs wandering around in the areas where ebola is rampant and it is not beyond belief that some of these dogs ate carnage in those areas. About 10 years ago a study was done on some of these dogs and found that some dogs did carry the disease, though symptom free, and the conclusion was that they could be carriers and pass it to humans. That is something to keep in mind when traveling considering the current hysteria. Mainland France is not experiencing outbreak, only certain French territories.
my best
patrice
patrice

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