THE VACCINATION DILEMMA and YOUR HEALTHY COMPANIONS by Dr Charles E Loops DVM  Excerpt   Homeopathic veterinarians and other holistic practitioners have maintained for some time that vaccinations do more harm than they provide benefits. Vaccinations represent a major assault on the body's immune system. Attentuated organisms or chemicalled killed viruses or bacteria are injected directly into the blood stream, an unnatural route of infection. This profound insult, avoiding the body's first line of defenses, and flooding the system with millions of organisms or viral particles, stresses the immune system in a way not of natures design. This insult causes irregularities and abnormalities in the immune system which then manifests as chronic diseases in animals.   These chronic diseases range from life-threatening conditions such as auto-immune crises to conditions destroying the quality of life of an animal as in chronic skin allergies. What we are now seeing are generations of over-vaccinated animals and these current offspring are suffering the penalty of this medical abuse. In an attempt to control a naturally occurring process of population control and survival of the fittest, the medical establishment has convinced people that mass innoculations are for the good of all, overlooking the health of the individual. Where vaccinations have helped in eradicating or reducing the incidence of severe, acute disease processes, the result has been to plague humanity with more insiduous, chronic diseases that are much more difficult to treat and that lower the quality of life for many individual animals and people. In all of this, there needs to be BALANCE, and the following are my recommendations for vaccinating or not vaccinating and some comments about diet. 1. Puppies under three months of age should not be vaccinated. Vaccinations are much more stressful on the underdeveloped immune system.   Also, these vaccinations are much less effective at providing immunity before three months of age. If you feel you must vaccinate, do so with one vaccination of Distemper at three months, followed by a vaccination for Parvovirus at four months of age, and stop with that. If you can't find a single Distemper vaccine use the Distemper-measles combination. Use killed vaccines only.   2. Kittens should only be vaccinated for Panleukopenia and not before three months of age. All other vaccinations should be avoided. One vaccine is sufficient.   3. Puppies and kittens can be given homeopathic nosodes beginning at three weeks of age, if there is a potential for exposure to Distemper, Parvovirus, or Panleukopenia. These nosodes can be used until vaccinations are given or continued periodically for the first year of life, if vaccinations are not given. Common sense should be used in avoiding exposure of very young animals to other, possible unhealthy, animals of the same species.    4. Booster vaccinations are completely unnecessary. Studies are now showing that these vaccinations are effective for many years and most probably for life. Vaccinated animals do not need any boosters. Homeopathic nosodes can be given periodically if you are concerned or if you think your animals live a high risk, life style.   5. Rabies Vaccinations should be given as dictated by state laws. Lyssin, the homeopathic nosode, should be given within a few hours after the vaccination. Clearly, the rabies vaccination is effective for many years more than state laws require booster vaccination.   6. Booster vaccinations can cause SEVERE set-backs when an animal is being treated homeopathically for chronic problems. They can completely erase any progress that has been made towards improving an animal's health.   7. My personal recommendation is NOT to vaccinate at all. The best road to good health is feeding a diet rich in fresh foods, raw meats for the carnivores, and avoiding vaccinations and allopathic medications. Antbiotics and other allopathic drugs should only be used in situations where their use is clearly indicated, and this should be only in potentially, life-threatening situations. Every time you suppress a symptom the body produces, you are potentially lowering the health status of the body system. Treating with the correctly prescribed, homeopathic remedy, herbs, or other non-invasive therapies, not of a chemical nature, will enhance your health and your companions health.