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Any vet that “insists” to improperly vaccinate my pets would no longer be my vet. In the past few decades the study of vaccinology and immunology has produced important information in regards to the duration, administration, adverse reactions and the potential for long term chronic diseases concerning vaccines and our pets. Ask your vet if he/she has heard of the research regarding this info. If he has heard of this research, he cannot dismiss your questions. Unless veterinarians make an effort to get this information by reading the literature from the researchers then he/she may be lacking in the knowledge to advise you in this area of treatment.

The practice of giving multiple vaccines at one visit is problematic and unsafe for multiple reasons:

Rabies vaccinations should be delayed until at least six months of age, if possible.

Giving combo vaccines (multi-valiant, polyvalent) and/or several shots at once increases the risk of adverse reactions as well as the risk that the vaccines will interfere with each other, resulting in neutralization or negation. (American Animal Hospital Association)

Virologists recognize that a gap of at least 3-4 weeks is desirable between giving one vaccine and then a different one, because if not so spaced the immune response to the second vaccine may be inadequate and not produce sufficient specific antibodies to give immunity. This means that the multiple components in the vaccines will interfere with each other and can elicit a poor response in producing the desired antibodies for adequate protection, in other words, a good immune response

According to the Center for Veterinary Biologics stated: Between 4/2004 through 3/2007 there were 10,000 reports concerning adverse reactions to the rabies vaccine, of those, 65% where for dogs. Taking into account that there is a serious underreporting of adverse reactions, amounting to only about 1%. If 65% of the 10,000 reported cases amounted to only 1% reported then the real figure for adverse reactions would be closer to 650,000 cases!
Adverse reactions: vomiting, facial swelling, injection site swelling or lump, lethargy, urticaria, injection site pain, pruritis, injection site hair loss, diarrhea, lameness, hypersensitivity, anaphylaxis, death.


The reaction rate increased significantly as body weight decreased. That is, small dogs were at greatest risk for a reaction. Risk for dogs weighing 11 pounds or less was 4 times greater than the risk for dogs weighing 99+ pounds. Medium-sized dogs also had increased risk over larger dogs. I have always been shocked that a Chihuahua puppy and an adult Great Dane are given the same dose shot: 1 mL. They get the same volume of virus or bacteria plus the same volume of adjuvants (boosting agents like aluminum), preservatives (like mercury), antibiotics, stabilizers and foreign tissue cultures (like fetal calf serum). All these ingredients are known to cause vaccine reactions.

Number of vaccines per office visit increases the risk for reactions. The risk significantly increased as the number of vaccines given at each visit increased. In little dogs (under 10 lbs.) each dose increased risks by 27%; in dogs weighing more, each dose increased risk by 12%.


“Rabies is the vaccine most associated with adverse reactions because it’s so potent,” says renowned veterinarian Dr. Jean Dodds. “We have a lot of bad reactions, including fatal ones. They usually occur within two to three weeks after vaccination, although they can appear up to 45 days later. Because the rabies vaccine is a neurogenic protein, meaning it affects the nervous system, what you will often see is seizures or seizure-like disorders like stumbling, ataxia, dementia, and some demyelination, where the animals become wobbly and don’t have proper motor skills. You can also have an autoimmune-like destruction of tissues, skin, blood, joints, the liver or kidneys.” Dr. Dodds adds that animals already ill with immune-related diseases such as cancer can be even more negatively affected. “Often, this is the last thing that causes the animal’s demise.”


Until Dr. Dodds completes her rabies challenge studies we won’t have any “official” documentation concerning the duration of immunity from the rabies vaccine, but “unofficially” Dr. Schultz feels it’s good for at least 7 years……Untimely it is you that must decide what is best for you and your loved one.