Rabies Shots ... a hidden risk?

An unexpected surprise awaited Dr. Richard Pitcairn as he researched the cause of chronic disease in dogs.

Some dog owners have complained for years about rabies vaccinations, saying the vaccine itself scares them more than the threat of rabies.

According to information presented recently, they may be right. Veterinarian Richard H. Pitcairn told a Seattle audience during a fall homeopathy conference that a whole range of chronic disease in dogs can be traced to the harmful effects of the rabies vaccine.

"I was especially skeptical myself at first," said Pitcairn, who received a Ph.d in immunology in 1972. "If anyone was pro-vaccination, I was. I can assure you that I didn't come to this conclusion on any basis other than clinical experience. I'm finding that the chronic disease we're seeing in dogs seems to be related to the effects of excessive vaccinations."

Rabies vaccinations are required by law in such states as California. But there hasn't been a single case of rabies reported in the last 40 years (except for bats) in the Seattle area.

Rabies, in fact, suffers more from media hype than anything else. It's fatal once the symptoms show, but according to Ray Watkins, a public health veterinarian who has handled the Seattle-area rabies situation for the past 30 years, deaths are very rare. In the entire U.S., 0 to 3 people die each year from it. The rabies vaccine for dogs contains the rabies virus.

It's this virus that's the culprit, and that ultimately led Pitcairn to realize that the rabies vaccine may be more harmful than originally thought. That's his conclusion after research led him in late 1983, to what Pitcairn describes as his 'Eureka!' situation: "From clinical experience I had used lachesis and other homeopathic remedies which were particularly effective for treating chronic disease in dogs.

"Then, while reading homeopathic literature—and there's very little in there on animals--I found lachesis listed in Clark's Clinical Repertory as the main remedy for treating rabies in people." In other words, the remedy that was effective in treating dogs with various chronic diseases was the same remedy listed in homeopathic literature as effective for the disease of rabies in people.

Once Pitcairn singled out lachesis as being clinically successful, and matched it with the homeopathic literature that described lachesis as a cure for rabies in people, he knew he was at a turning point, the beginning of what he would later call his "breakthrough."

To support his new findings, Pitcairn had clients watch their dogs after vaccination. When the clients reported problems with itching and skin eruptions at the injection site, Pitcairn knew he was on the right track.

‘I've seen so many cases of chronic diseases in dogs of various sorts that respond to lachesis that I've no doubt whatever that this is what we're dealing with: a chronic disease created by vaccinaiion or at least aggravated by it.’

Understanding the link between individual chronic diseases and the rabies vaccine involves what homeopathic physician Samuel Hahnemann called a 'miasm'. The miasm is an underlying disease, like the part of the iceberg lurking beneath the water's surface. You can see and deal with the tip of the iceberg—in this case, individual disease symptoms—but the iceberg's essence (the miasm) is submerged, unreachable, deadly.

"Clinically," said Pitcairn, "you see certain symptoms.  A miasm is a chronic disturbance unrecognized except as it's manifested by acute flareups of what seem to be individual diseases.’

Pitcairn had been particularly frustrated by chronic disease cases, since, as an ‘alternative veterinarian' he was often the last resort for distraught animal owners. "I was getting the bottom-of-the-barrel cases, the ones that couldn’t be cured by conventional medicine,” said Pitcairn. "But I couldn't help them, in spite of my best prescribing."

Now, however, lachesis allows Pitcairn to pierce the miasm and get right to the heart of what's causing or aggravating the individual chronic disease symptoms: the rabies vaccine. With lachesis, dogs are treated for chronic ailments ranging from severe flea allergies to arthritis, hip dysplasia, ear inflammation, mammary tumors, colitis, epilepsy, warts, kennel cough—even fear of strangers.

A dog from Texas recovered from her problems of irritability, abnormal stiffness, panting, and a ravenous appetite for such strange things as leaves after being treated with lachesis.

Another patient of Pitcairn's had greatly enlarged lymph glands (lymphosarcoma, or cancer of the lymph system), plus extreme hair loss, skin eruptions, and bad smell.

Chemotherapy and steroids had been recommended and the dog had already received a cortisone injection. But after treating with lachesis, Pitcairn said all the dog’s hair grew back in and its eruptions subsided. Now, the dog's smell is gone, its energy level is increased and although the glands are not yet back to normal, they're smaller. It's Pitcairn s belief that these types of chronic diseases call for lachesis.

“Nine out of 10 chronic cases use this remedy -- all breeds, small and large.”

If you decide to use lachesis on your dog, be careful with potency, advises Pitcairn. Older dogs in particular may harbor malignant tumors which are undetectable through physical examination. Once given lachesis, the body will try to heal itself by getting rid of the tumor, but the dog's system is already so weakened that the dog may die from the excess toxins produced by the breakdown of the tumor.

Old and weak dogs that have been suppressed for years with steroids have very little energy left. "It's not an exaggeration to say that lachesis 30 produces a long aggravation of five to six weeks," said Pitcairn.

What are the alternatives to vaccination? There arc none yet, said Pitcairn. More research in homeopathy needs to be done. Until it is, however, there s every reason to thoroughly analyze the risks and benefits of rabies vaccination — before subjecting your dog.