I just thought I'd pass along a little experience we had with Hugo and vaccines. He's just over 2 years. We brought him in for his annual vaccines (we have to get Rabies done every year in Toronto) and, even though we requested our vet just to do the rabies, he gave him some sort of 'super vaccine' which had about 10 different antibodies in it.

Hugo's system went into complete shock. He started having panic attacks, drooling, nose running, his ears swelled, he got sores all over his body and in his ears/canals, swelling in his ears, enlarged pancreas and spleen, he didn't sleep for 4 days because he was running (YES, running...) around the house like someone was chasing him. After about $2000 and numerous vet visits, we went to a holistic vet and discovered that it was, as we suspected, a terrible reaction to vaccinations. Problem is, because he was vaccinated with a whole bunch of viruses at the same time, we don't know which one it is he reacted to.

Berners are such a sensitive breed...we did end up getting him fixed up for the most part with the help of our holistic vet. I never knew that there was an option called "titers" which tests for antibodies from year to year without having to do the annual vaccines. They will issue a certificate of clearance stating that your pup is still protected from these infectious diseases. I wish I would have known about this sooner. It would have saved poor Hugo and us a lot of distress. We were scared he was going to die. This was how bad his reaction was.

I don't think a lot of people know that many of these antibodies last in their systems from 5-7 years. So titers really make a lot of sense. I feel terrible putting my boy through this because I didn't have the insight to ask good questions.

This is why I just wanted to pass along the information to everyone to let them know. I love my dog and knowing the BMDs are so sensitive and an immune compromised breed anyway, I would hate to have to hear or see of anyone else ever go through what we did for three weeks.

Some food for thought and info to my fellow Berner lovers out there!!

Thanks for posting your experience, as tough as I can imagine it was for you both to go through. I have seen this more times than I can count and anyone who wants to know more about vaccines, chemical and this breed, please look at my other previous posts.

If you are in Toronto, I recommend you connect with Jenn Lennon: healthy-paws.ca, a fellow Berner owner and my co-hort on Natural Berners. She can help anyone in the area navigate the vaccine requirements, as most Berner owners in the club there do not vaccinate, and she can help with vets and other dog resources.

And if it helps, these vaccines last the lifetime of the animal, not just 5-7 years. 7 years is the longest study (France) that has been done to prove duration of immunity, but there is significant evidence via titers that most dogs have circulating antibodies for their lifetime. We do not need to "booster" vaccines because one either has immunity or he doesn't.

Good luck!