IMMUNE SYSTEM DISORDER (ISD)

Bloat Seizures Stained teeth... Do North Americans inflict them upon their dogs? By JEAN M. LYLE - Wycliffe Kennels, reg'd

Acknowledgement is given to the author of the following article and to POODLE VARIETY. Anyone wishing to reproduce this article or any part of, is advised to apply in writing to:

POODLE VARIETY
P.O.Box 30430
Santa Barbara
CA 93130 USA

OR

to the original author,
Jean M. Lyle, 
Wycliffe Kennels, reg'd

I am neither a veterinarian nor an immunologist. But to compensate for this lack, I have a rare combination of experience, which has made me hold firmly to many unpopular theories through many years.

Beginning in 1952, my start in Standard Poodles was almost fairy tale in its success. Every litter had in it several champions. The personality was excellent. The dogs were very healthy. They were very fertile. Slowly they grew larger and matured physically and sexually later than they had when they were smaller. The high quality continued when I bred youngsters to their sire and dam, when I in-bred half brother to sister, cousin to cousin. When hereditary faults surfaced - as they did a very few times - I dealt firmly with the problem, neutering every pup in the litter when even one pup had shown a problem, and also culling both parents of the litter which had in it even one pup affected with a hereditary defect. Even though the parents might be very successful champions.

Painful as this severe culling was, I can now readily see how wise it was, for as the years passed by, our litters had in them fewer and fewer hereditary faults, and breeding litters of even high quality pups became even easier.

But unalloyed success was not to continue. Probably starting in about 1962 and continuing until 1983, several persistent problems bothered us, arriving one at a time, but closer together. These proved not as simple to eliminate, as were the previous hereditary problems. Consulted veterinarians and geneticists frequently blamed bad family genes, but this explanation never satisfied me, because these new problems did not obey the same laws as did hereditary defects. So, like other breeders (many had come by the same problems about the same time), I wondered, worked unsuccessfully at theories and possible causes and cures. But until very recently, never did a believable cause of the three new problems become clear to me.

The most serious of the problems, which began about 1963, was bloat. I had not heard even once of bloat in Standard Poodles in my 10 or 11 years in the breed. Even more importantly, I had never heard of this malady in any other breed either. But suddenly this horror was killing off increasing number of dogs, mostly in the large breeds of dog. Hereditary? I could not accept that this was so. My own inbreeding had not brought to the fore earlier, as it certainly ought have done were it hereditary - and besides how in the world could the same hitherto unknown hereditary defect surface in numerous large breeds at the same time? Utterly impossible...

Everyone worked in their own way to deal with the menace of bloat, and many theories evolved. Foods came to receive most of the blame, sometimes the new complete dry foods, sometimes the new ingredient soy meal. These theories were disposed when even dogs on home cooked diets, without soy, continued to bloat. Better management was suggested as a preventative, such things as preventing hard exercise or copious water drinking, either just before or just after meals, and while those helped to some degree, they did not eliminate bloat.

I personally felt (and still feel) that physical and metal stress triggered attacks of bloat... being sent to boarding kennels, the death of an owner, divorce in the family, a travelling owner leaving the dog at home, long trips to dogs shows, excessive grooming times etc. Over time I myself came to call bloat in a few of my own house dogs

I found out through trial and error and home treatment with human style stomach tubes, that not only could one tube out large quantities of gas from a dog merely uncomfortable but still without any visible stomach distension, but at this early time there would be no stomach noises and no peristalsis, so I came to privately call it PARALYSIS OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT. I found out that if I laid the dog on a hot water bottle and messaged its belly, that always in an hour or two or three, the stomach noises and peristalsis would return the dog would belch and expel gas then and that episode of threatened bloat and torsion would be over. But WHY did the peristalsis stop? What would cause the temporary stomach paralysis? It was most worrying as one could not be constantly at the side of one's dog, and what if the paralysis developed when one was out and the dog distended horribly and went on to torsion? The total elimination of bloat was a long way off.

The second previously unknown problem, which slowly began to appear in the early '60s, was convulsions or seizures. So far as I am concerned the veterinary profession as a whole is far too quick to declare such conditions hereditary, whereas in truth they are just as apt to be due to illness and fever. My own experience with convulsions was largely limited to many individual pups having a 'spell' or two 10 or 12 days after their first shots. But the problem increased until in 1982 we had all pups in one litter having seizures 10-12 days after their first shot. One dog I sold had seizures after each of his shots. Others with my stock raised pups which would have their first seizure at perhaps 6-8 months, and continuing erratically throughout life.

In 1982 my own experience came to a horrendous end when an especially valued litter was given, for the first time ever, the new combined shot including parvovirus. They all had severe seizures, and one beautiful pup had continuous fits for 72 hours, which damaged her brain and central nervous system. All had very severe tooth staining in their second teeth. Three of the pups died of bloat, and a forth died of perforated stomach ulcers. Only one survives! They were superb until their shots. I was heart broken and have never since given a combined shot, which includes parvovirus.

The third problem which first emerged in the 1960s and has continued until recently was ugly brown stained second teeth. I know many other breeders who also have this. I consulted several vets. Wise older ones would opine that those ugly brown teeth looked just like the

One veterinarian finally became interested enough to write the pharmaceutical company from which he bought his vaccines, to find out if any other breeders had encountered this problem which he felt was due to the vaccines. The answer came back that the vaccines were tested and completely safe! And that Mrs Lyle some how must have distemper on her premises. Not so! It was a bitter blow to have my pups, otherwise becoming better and better but invariably, cursed by having varying degrees of staining on their second teeth. We grew to blame the mineral content in different local water, the chemicals in foods, the tetracycline present in eggs, etc. But the stain continued.

One intriguing bit of information came to me in 1982 or 1983 from the public relations veterinarian and sent out by the same pharmaceutical company, which had claimed I must have distemper on my premises. He held a seminar, and when I again asked if vaccines could be responsible for my worrisome problem, this man said this was quite possible! He visually explained just how increasingly stressful the immunizations given from 1950 until the present, were to immature pups, to gradually more dangerous modified live virus vaccine for a total of six diseases in 1982. He said this greatly stressed immature pups. He also said there were a variety of companies making vaccines, that the testing procedures for safety were some times lax, since there was a very thin line for there to be enough virus to be effective. But not so much that it could give the viral disease to the dog being immunized. It made one wonder what dangers we subjected our puppies to? This veterinarian certainly hinted that some of our pups were being immunized when they were too immature to withstand the considerable stress. He suggested that some dogs might do better if they were immunized for fewer diseases at one time.

In spite of this clever veterinarians statement, the directions sent to veterinarians as to how their vaccines should be given to pups have not been changed to reflect his advice, and most veterinarians still advise immunizing pups in the same way that severely damaged my pups for years. Worst still, many veterinarians refuse to conform to the request of the breeder of a certain breed, that a different regime (and safer) be used. There appears to be some grounds for believing that parvo, given at the same time as other disease shots, suppresses the IMMUNE SYSTEM of pups or adults, thus allowing the dog to contract sub-acute cases of distemper which resulted in encephalitis.

But finally came the breakthrough! Dr W. Jean Dodds of the Wadsworth Centre For Laboratories and Research Albany, New York, had been consulted about various matters, including the tooth staining and she suggested that a different regime of immunization be tried, as follows;

I have been using this immunization schedule for approximately four years. The teeth on all pups, when the schedule was followed exactly, are thankfully as white as they were in the 1950s. Additionally my pups now never convulse after their first shots, and I have not heard of any related Poodle convulsing (seizures) at any age when immunized as above. But also, miracle of miracles! As I was studying my breeding records recently, I suddenly realized that not one Poodle immunized this

What did all this mean? Why, for me, have these three problems vanished? They were obviously not hereditary, or I would still have them. I am old fashioned, a great admirer of nature, very leery of new diseases and new treatments, about which doctors and veterinarians get very enthusiastic. I like to think that common sense and long experience are extremely valuable, too.

I clearly remember how we vaccinated pups in the 50s when we did not have the three problems. For distemper only. We used only killed vaccines. We gave a series of three shots, starting not until 9 weeks, with two others, at 11 and 13 weeks. Annual boosters. My dogs were always healthy and never contracted distemper. When pharmaceutical companies developed modified live vaccines in the early 1960s, and marketed them by advertising that they gave better immunity, my wise veterinarian advised that the new vaccines were also more dangerous. So we continued using killed vaccines until the pharmaceutical companies discontinued making them.

Very quickly in the 1960s and 1970s pharmaceutical companies began making additional vaccines for a variety of other canine diseases; Leptospirosis, Hepatitis, two kinds of Kennel Cough and very soon they were combining vaccines for several diseases into one combined

My own country of Canada recently set up a government sponsored fund out of which they can reimburse the parents of human babies who become brain damaged by bad reactions from their infant immunizations. So immunizations can damage and occasionally do. It can happen just as easily to a puppy as to a human infant. In retrospect, my pups began to be damaged by their shots in the early 1960s and the damage grew worse as the vaccines grew more complicated.

What damage? To begin with, the modified live vaccines do contain live virus, and I am now thoroughly convinced that either because these vaccines were not always thoroughly tested or because they were too

Where does bloat come in? Exactly the same way. The vaccine caused encephalitis in some dogs damages the symaphetic nervous system, which controls peristalsis in the digestive system. When there is a failure in the automatic control system, the digestive system does not get its usual automatic control signals, paralysis occurs which lasts until the signal starts up again, so one gets gas, distension because neither burping or peristalsis is possible. And this causes bloat and/or torsion unless treatment is instigated. The episode is over when the CNS again sends appropriate signals. But it is because the cause is in damaged CNS that dogs which bloat once, often bloat again if the electric impulses, which go along the nerves, are again disrupted. Once again there will be paralysis of the whole digestive system lasting until the damaged electrical system decides to work again and send proper messages controlling peristalsis.

I can think of no other explanation as to how Dr Dodds' immunization schedule has stopped;

At least in my dogs, which effectively dispose of the widely held belief that these three conditions are hereditary faults. It would seem that the Dodds Regime effectively represents distemper, whereas I do not think combined shots do so in all cases, though they indubitable are effective with some dogs.

Why then do the combined shots work perfectly well for many dogs as the pharmaceutical companies insist they do for all dogs? Remember that bloat is largely a curse of large and giant breeds, I suspect nay! The large breeds mature more slowly than do the tiny breeds. This slow growth includes physical growth, mental development, sexual maturity and I suspect the IMMUNE SYSTEM as well. So when we give combined shots to small breeds at a very young age, their immune systems are well developed and they cope. But at the same age the immune systems of large and giant breeds are very immature. They can not always cope with the stress of being immunized for 6 or 7 diseases at once (remember the fund for damaged babies), they get distemper from the modified live virus vaccine and the teeth may be stained, they get encephalitis, which causes convulsions, and many cause residual brain damage and CNS damage which can later cause seizures and bloat.

I now plainly see the reason bloat started in many breeds at the same time is that methods of immunizations changed at the time from killed virus to modified live virus (MLV) vaccines. These new MLV vaccines damaged the brain and the CNS when some unnoticed cases of sub-acute distemper occurred. It affected large breeds more because their IMMUNE SYSTEM was less developed when their immunizations were given. Previously when killed vaccines were used, infection was impossible and these after- effects of distemper were never seen.

For years I resisted the notion that any of these three conditions could possibly be hereditary, for the facts simply did not

The only clue I had was Dr Dodds' immunization regime some how prevented bloat. So I resolved to thoroughly investigate European methods of immunization for their dogs when I went there. I was able to speak with veterinarians and breeders from England, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden and Finland. They happily assured me their dogs had white teeth (one exception), no seizures and no bloat. I had hoped that one sure system would emerge from my enquiries, but this was not to be. How ever, several important differences between North American immunizations and theirs did appear.

Firstly aside from the occasional use of early Distemper/Measles shots, Europeans generally delayed immunizations until they were sure all immunity inherited from the dam had worn off, at about 10 weeks occasionally, but more often 12 weeks. None of the countries bothered including vaccines for kennel cough. There was much more use of killed vaccines then MLV. Killed Parvo vaccines were much used because of their fear that the use of live Parvo along with distemper did cause encephalitis. They used far fewer combined shots then do Americans. It boiled down to the fact that their better results came from starting immunizations much later, mixing fewer vaccines in one dose, and relying far more on killed virus vaccines than do we. On the continent where Rabies raged, they gave Rabies shots at either 3 or 5 months but were very careful to separate them from any other vaccines. 

So now we do know that there is a safe way to vaccinate our valuable puppies. We also know from different experiences in different breeds that many commonly advised immunizations procedures are devastating to some members of some breeds.

In practice, when I have insisted, upon the sale of a pup, that the above regime be followed, I have found many veterinarians strongly resist saying such things as

I have even had some veterinarians murmur that they were following the regime, when in fact they did not and only when the distraught owner complained when the second teeth were stained, did the vet admit he had changed the regime without permission or without informing the client. So effective is the regime and so dangerous are some other regimes substitutes that I have slowly become positive that the veterinarians did not follow the regime in the cases where the teeth stained and in one lone case where the dog bloated after apparently being immunised this way. I have come to advise the customers to inspect the vials before permitting the vet to inject the puppy. This should not be necessary. 

I would be interested in hearing from anyone and I know there are many who have Poodles with stained teeth, epileptic-like seizures or bloat, in particular on how those dogs were immunised.

Disclaimer: The articles contained on the Britfeld Weimaraners web site are for information purposes only and can never replace the advice and/or opinion of a professional.  If you have any doubts about the health and well being of you dog, please seek the advice of such individuals

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