I would like to make dog owners aware of something that I just learned about. I have a 6 year old Rat Terrier that I adopted three years ago. When I adopted her I was told about her testing positive for anaplasmosis, an airborne tick disease, which she doesn't show any symptoms.
Shortly after adopting her, she started showing skin allergy symptoms, and was under veterinarian care. The vets weren't sure what to make of her condition due to her not being itchy, so they, of course, prescribed antibiotics and ointments.
The time to renew her license came due and I was forced to overlap her rabies vaccination because the law requires the vaccination to be parallel with the license. So 7 months after her first vaccine, I was forced to have her vaccinated again so that the vaccine would last the full license year. A short time after this 2nd vaccine, she developed fur loss on her ears and hind quarters and I was informed, by the vet, that she had ear margin dermatosis and allergies. I was instructed to wash her ears several times a week with a seborrhea shampoo and buy a specific moisturizer product online. After researching the moisturizer online and finding that it had been discontinued, I opted for virgin coconut oil.
After 6 months, the condition with her ears cleared up. Her hind quarters took me more research and I set out on an elimination diet and concluded that chicken was the culprit. No more chicken and fur grew back. About a year later, the ears started up again, but this time it was worse. This time the ears crusted, cracked and bled. Her tail started to lose fur as well. The vets told me that she must be chewing her tail. This dog was with me 24/7 and I had never seen her chew on herself. Was prescribed "band-aids" and no real answers.
After 18 more months of "expertise" I took matters into my own hands and researched again and changed seborrhea shampoos, changed to coconut oil with mct, included powder supplements with omegas and other important vitamins and minerals.
3 weeks ago, I decided to find a different vet, maybe someone with a holistic approach. I knew that the law was going to make me vaccinate the dog again and I have always had a suspicion about the over-vaccination. I researched vets in the area, and interviewed some over the phone. I was able to find one that I thought might be "the one". Made the appointment, emailed her my dog's medical history, and went to the appointment yesterday.
Finally, we have the answer - Vasculitis and not ear margin dermatosis. There are treatments for this, however the new vet told me that it appears that my dog is in remission due to my efforts. But she also said that my dog would experience another flare up and when that happens bring her back and we can start treatment.
I was shocked to learn that it is possible that the rabies vaccination could have caused this. It is also not recommended to vaccinate a dog with any immune disease. So we now have an exemption signed by my new vet.
I just wanted every dog owner to know the risks involved with this vaccine and to not wait to get a second opinion.
