Have A Heart for Companion Animals, Inc.
A 501c-3 Not for Profit Charitable Organization

 

September 2023

Hi Everybody,

This is Marilyn Marinelli President of Have A Heart for Companion Animals, Inc.  I haven’t talked with you all for several years.  Things have been difficult with Covid and other issues we have been going through.  However, we are still operating our website, https://haveaheartusa.org/ and currently have over 163,000 visitors.

I have decided to start a blog that will address certain issues related to animal concerns.  This is our first one of 2023.  It is an article I found on Titering verses vaccines. I thought it might be of interest to you.  It was written by Rodney Habib.  I hope you enjoy it.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT A TITER TEST IS?

Shockingly, many pet owners have no idea!
A titer test (pronounced tight-errr) is a laboratory or in-house veterinary test measuring the existence and level of antibodies (necessary to fight off disease) in your pet’s blood. Basically, it’s a test that will tell you whether or not you actually need to vaccinate your pet.
It’s also super useful when making a decision about vaccinating a pet with an unknown vaccination history, or for determining if pets have received immunity from vaccination.
Why is this so important?
Because of what can happen if you over-vaccinate your pet! “Vaccinosis”, the name for the chronic disease, is caused by continued use of vaccines. These symptoms mimic the original disease in parts.
According to the guide “Canine Nutrigenomics” by world-renowned veterinarian immunologist Dr. Jean Dodds and Diana R. Laverdure:
“Vaccines have achieved many important benefits for companion animals, including:

  • Saved more animals’ lives than any other medical advance.
  • Significantly reduced canine distemper, hepatitis and parvovirus.
  • Significantly reduced feline pan leukopenia.
  • Eliminated rabies in Europe.
  • However after spending many years monitoring the results of vaccinosis, those in the animal healthcare field now have a duty to re-examine and improve the current vaccine protocols for the health and safety of their patients. This is especially true for animals with compromised immune systems, since vaccines represent one more stressor that could prove to be the tipping point between health and disease.
    Side effects from dog vaccinations can occur anywhere from instantly up to several weeks or months later. Vaccines can even cause susceptibility to chronic diseases that appear much later in a dog’s life (Dodd, 2001).
    Severe and fatal adverse reactions include:

  • Susceptibility to infections.
  • Neurological disorders and encephalitis.
  • Aberrant behavior, including unprovoked aggression.
  • Vaccines are linked to seizures. Distemper, parvovirus, rabies and, presumably, other vaccines have been linked with poly neuropathy, a nerve disease that involves inflammation of several nerves. (Dodds,2001) “
  • The most basic method for a titer is where your pet’s blood is drawn and sent away for testing. It ranges anywhere from $150 to $200. The most affordable method is the new “in house” testing procedure. This test is performed at the vet clinic and it takes about 20mins to get the results. The price range is anywhere from $60 to $80!
    According to https://truth4pets.org/, “Although titer testing may cost somewhat more than vaccination in the short run, it is a bargain long term. Titers do not have to be repeated yearly or even every three years. By testing rather than vaccinating, you avoid the risk of adverse reactions from unnecessary vaccines and the accompanying cost of treatment.”
    “The most useful time to run a titer test is after your youngster has received her initial series of vaccinations. Especially if you’ve limited that series to just one or two vaccinations, the last being after 16 weeks of age. The odds are you’ve just conferred lifetime immunity to your youngster.
    If you want to know how effective your vaccinations were in conferring immunity (i.e. did vaccination = immunization?), ask your vet to run a titer test a few weeks later.” – Dr. Falconer
    And there you have it. Now you know.
    Remember: there is a huge difference between “not vaccinating” and over-vaccinating your pet. Unfortunately some are very quick to pull the “Anti-Vaxxxer trigger” these days, the second a vaccine article is released.
    With most vet clinics today vaccinating pets every six months for the rest of these pets’ lives, does this not warrant thought or research?

    By Rodney Habib

     

    Until next time,
    Marilyn Marinelli
    Founder & President
    Have A Heart for Companion Animals, Inc.

    October 2023

    From the desk of
    Marilyn Marinelli, President & Founder
    Have A Heart For Companion Animals, Inc
    https://haveaheartusa.org/

     

    Hi Everyone,

    It has been a long time coming. We have our new website up and lots of activity happening and planned.  We now are going to do blogs and more newsletters.  I hope that you will be helped and encouraged to always keep your fur-babies…be they dogs or cats.

    Today I want to share with you about something I have experienced with my dog, “Rubydoobee” of years ago. It is a disease that she came down with before she was one year old. This problem is called EPI (Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency). She wasn’t expected to live but she did live, up to 10 ½ years.  In June 2016, Ruby was a part of “EPI Microbiome Fecal Matter Research study.  She was chosen from many other EPI dogs because she was doing so extremely well in living regardless of this disease.

    This study was done by:

    EPI 4 DOGS Foundation, Inc. and
    Dr. Suchodolski Med Vet,
    Dr. Vet Med, Pd, AGAF, DACVM
    Texas A & M Gastrointestinal Laboratory
    College Station, Texas, USA

    This problem is called EPI (Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency). Here is an excerpt from the EPI4Dogs website that explains a little bit about this condition. It is written by Olesia, the Founder and President:

    “EPI in Dogs are dogs with Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI) that have a malabsorption and maldigestion condition where the pancreas is no longer producing enough pancreatic enzymes to digest fats, carbohydrates and proteins.  Because of this, dogs (and also cats) will often experience unexplained weight loss and diarrhea/cow-patty like yellow/pale stools.

    Although EPI was more thought to be just a German Shepherd condition, it is now found in all breeds.  That is why EPI4Dogs was created, because of Izzy, a little Spanish Water Dog born on July 11, 2005 diagnosed with EPI on December 15, 2006, who wasn’t supposed to have ‘that German Shepherd condition’.  Izzy passed away on February 13, 2020 at almost 15 years old.  May her legacy of helping others with EPI live on…”

    EPI is a devastating, frustrating disease that is all too often misdiagnosed. Symptoms usually do not appear until anywhere between 80% and 95% of the exocrine pancreas acinar cells are destroyed. What makes this disease even harder to diagnose is that not all dogs display any or all of the symptoms all of the time. Any breed can have EPI, not just GSDs…The EPI diagnostic test is a simple TLI blood test. Once proper treatment is implemented, it is amazing how well most EPI dogs respond and go on to live a good long quality life.

    Common Symptoms

    The most common symptoms are:

  • Gradual wasting away despite a voracious appetite
  • Eliminating much more frequently, sometimes every hour or two Some experience intermittent watery diarrhea or vomiting
  • Some dogs even display personality changes such as fearfulness or sudden aggression
  • Stools are greasy voluminous yellowish cow-plops, but sometimes grayish
  • Eating their own stools, or other inappropriate substances
  • Increased rumbling sounds from the abdomen
  • Increased passing amounts of flatulence
  • Some dogs do not show any typical signs
  • Detecting EPI

  • EPI can manifest anytime in a dog’s life – – from a young pup to an elderly dog, with the severity and symptoms of the disease varying somewhat with each dog.  Sometimes the dog has the disease but symptoms do not appear at all, until exacerbated or triggered through a stressful physical or emotional situation.
  • Always confirm EPI with a trypsin-like immunoreactivity (cTLI) blood test (8-12 hour “food” fast).
  • The Treatment

    Successfully managing EPI, (Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency) is all about finding the right balance of:

  • Enzymes
  • Diet
  • Prebiotics, Prebiotics & Probiotics, or Antibiotics (if needed for SID/SIBO)
  • B12 (if needed for low or low-normal B12)
  • For more detailed information go to http://www.epi4dogs.org/byb.htm

    Until next time
    Marilyn Marinelli, President & Founder
    Have A Heart For Companion Animals, Inc.

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