Side Effects of Pet Vaccines: A Closer Look

Our 15 month old short hair, Winnie, received a 3 year rabies and 3 year distemper vaccine yesterday at noon. At 3:30 pm she vomited 5 times in 30 min. After that, no vomiting, seemed to return to normal and just rested throughout the night. This AM at 5, gave a little food and she drank water. She vomited a little but seems fine now.

Spoke with vet yesterday who recommended I try to give her only water last night. She did not want it. Had an urgent care appt last night at 9 PM but canceled because she was resting and had not vomited since 3:30 pM. Today I gave her the food and water and she vomited a little but is acting normally.
What is the danger to her? Vomiting is only dangerous after 24-48 hours right? What do you advise?

Many Thanks!

I begrudgingly get my fur babies vaccinated. I see how sensitive they are afterwards and the lumps they develop in their necks and think the worst. My family vet had always used the Virbac Canigen brand. It was 3 vaccinations at 8,12 and 16 weeks. I did some research and discovered vets using the Ingleheim Boehringer Protech brand only administered 2 needles. All this paranoia because some idiot says you can't take your dog out until they've had all their shots. I chose to swap to the Protech vaccine for my newest pup. It's been an unmitigated disaster. She's riddled with allergy. And I know it's all my fault ☹️

Spread vaccines out as much as as possible. I had always been on the late side of getting my other pooches vaccinated and never had such long term issues.

I cant express my regret enough.

Hi, our cavoodle puppy was given a kennel cough vaccine intra nasal at the age of 10 weeks. She developed Kennel cough from this vaccine, we notified the Vet and took her back to see her. The Vet decided against giving her anti biotics as she sad the pup needed to build up her own immunity. Now we have a very sick puppy, besides the breathing problems she also has inflammed tonsils and throat. And after many xray's and tests confirming the diagnosis the Vet still has not contacted us. We will do this, this coming week.

My wife became very ill, out of breath, after the pup licked her on the face and up the nose. She has had tests and they all confirm that she has contracted bordetela. This has come from our sick puppy. What do we do now?????

Has anyone else had the same problem?????

I am in rescue. Cats. I am very wary of vaccines, but we have to do them. Vaccines are a vet's bread and butter. Keeps people coming in every year. Many first vaccines are important. The distemper vaccine in a shelter kitten is critical. After that, not so much. We have to do vaccines to show cats for adoption, in a store environment. I noticed that my vet was giving full 1 ml vaccines to baby kittens. That's the same amount you would give an adult. Later on the kitten would die of FIP.

This year I have insisted upon a third to quarter dose FVRCP for kittens, 1/2 dose rabies for a 6 month old kitten, and I won't do rabies at 4 months. So far no issue. My vet thinks I'm nuts. I know I'm not.

Last year was horrible. We take in over 100 animals/year. I've seen kittens change right after vaccines and never be the same again.....on a heavy slide to death, but healthy prior. Unimaginable heartache. I've spent thousands of dollars on blood tests etc. I've shed way too many tears. No way should a baby kitten or small dog get the same amount of vaccine as a big dog, or adult cat. Vets are not catching on to this. Also, I am in the unique position to interview people whose pets have recently died.

The pet owners whose cats live to be 20, don't do yearly vaccines. This is what I have noticed. Too many animals also die of sarcomas. The killed virus vaccines(rabies) are given in the flank, and site of injection is usually notated in the records, in case a sarcoma develops at the site of the injection. The leg could then be amputated. I hope this post saves someone's pet. I have shed too many tears. I rescue to save lives, not to watch baby kittens and cats die needlessly. Endless heartache.

My 9 year old yorkie had a seizure last night and another one today .. the same shaking with the scared look in the eye ... she is very allergic to the tick meds so I do not give her any ... I am worried that these shots caused this shaking today as she had the shot around noon time yesterday ...

My daughter dog is a chihuahua mix that weighs 13 lbs recently had the DHLP-P-C vaccine. The day after her shot, she started coughing and hacking up phlegm very often. We just put two and two together because two years ago she had the same symptoms which we thought was Kennel Cough because we had just got her from a rescue place but they had administered her annual vaccine right before we picked her up. Last time we took her the Vet and they put her on antibiotics three times she had it for months after that. Has any other pet owner had this happen to their furry friend??

Bella is a four year old Havenese mix breed, about 9 lbs. Three days ago I took her to get her rabies vac and they also gave her the combo vac called DHLPP-C. This is for distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis, parainfluenza and parvovirus. She whimpered excessively immediately after shots were given, and was very shaky for hours following. Over the last three days she is not herself, has vomited twice, had diarrhea, yelps out in pain, shakes, lost her appetite, very lethargic. Last night she cried for over an hour. I am waiting to hear back from vet, who is out of town, to see what I can do to help her. I am feeling so guilty that I didn't ask any questions about what vaccines she was getting and why, as I now know the DHLPP is not required. Any suggestions for readers would be appreciated.

Hi Michele, so sorry you had vaccine problems. As an owner of toy dog breeds, I NEVER give them the Lepto vaccine. In many toy breeds such as Shih Tzu it can cause bad problems and even death. I know that many toy puppy health guarantees are void if the lepto vaccine is given.

Another thing concerning vaccines...it is really bad to get a rabies vaccine at the same time as the distemper combo. I wait at least 3 wks. between vaccines. This is not something all vets will tell you and to my knowledge the amount of lepto in a vaccine cannot be reduced. For more info about vaccination you can google Dr. Dodds vaccine recommendations.

Our 14 lb tabby cat got his vaccines yesterday and while he's normally very active, hungry, always purring & loving, today he won't eat, is tender in his hind end, lethargic and distant. They want him back for his booster next month but I'm thinking of skipping it. He let us know he wasn't happy about the shots by peeing in hubby's work bag :(

Please help!! I just took our baby (a shitzu mix) yesterday to get his da2ppv booster, lepto, and rabies booster. I hate the lepto and skipped it last year but asked for a lower dose this year. Now I have a lethargic, unwilling to move on his own, dog. He yelps when you touch his body and can't walk on his back leg. Food is of no interest to him and we have to bring his water to him. I called my vet this am and the nurse said it's just like when a little infant gets shots...they get sore. Wth??? My dog doesn't MOVE, EAT, OR DRINK. And all he does is yawn and sleep! Sorry, but I tear up every time he looks at me :(

I was trying to find an answer to a question when I came across this site and read how dogs don't need to be vaccinated every year after having them done as puppies. We were upset when our usual vet retired and another vet injected our little Jack Russell on his back above his hind leg. All the other vets we've used did it in the scruff, but she crept up behind our dog whilst my son was holding him and did it quick without us being able to stop her. My son asked what she was doing and she said they did it there sometimes when they didn't want to cause stress. Two weeks later, he seemed to act strangely, as if he were dreamy and then he began to lose control of his bladder. He was eight years old, but he was healthy before the vaccination. We took him to be checked out after the bank holiday and he was scanned around his bladder and had blood taken. Then we were given some tablets for infection, even though the vet said there wasn't any sign of infection. We were so afraid he would die suffering as two other dogs we'd had, we believed suffered with cancer, so we took him to be euthanized, which ended up being quite horrific as he cried and was fighting it. Now I'm wondering if it was the vaccination or the way that it was administered that actually caused our last little dog's death. We cannot bear to go through such heartbreak again, so we can't have another. I'm afraid the vets have broken our trust now.

I just took my 17 week old King Charles Cavalier to the vet and he had the DA2PP vaccination and Leptospirosis vaccination. He came home and within an hour showed great distress, and wouldn't let us touch him. He was yelping and obviously had back pain when we touched him. He was lethargic and tried to sleep most of the day and 10 hours that night. He has a fever that has lasted into day 2 and is still limping and is very lethargic. I am really concerned. I tried calling the vet but they are not answering the phone. I will try again later today.

My dog received all shots and dewormer and heart worm test and heart worm and flea preventitive medicines yesterday and I found him panting heavily and eyes dilated ? What should I do? can I wait till morning to contact his vet?

19 month old mini Schnauzer almost died from 3 yr rabies and 3 yr distemper/hep/parvo vaccines approx. 36 hrs after administered. Airway was being restricted, constant vomiting and diarreha. Dog had to be rushed to an ER clinic and then again 6 days later is still barely eating.

My 8 year old golden retriever went from a seemingly vibrant & healthy to gravely ill in the 2 weeks following an annual visit to the vet where she was administered a lyme booster and a distemper booster. The day before the appointment she seemed under the weather, not wanting to eat or go for a walk, which was very unusual & out of character. But that evening & on the morning of her vet appt. she seemed fine and back to normal. I reported these symptoms to the vet, who could find nothing wrong with her and said she seemed perfectly healthy and that, "everyone is entitled to an off day". With that, I agreed to let them go ahead with her booster shots.

The day after the shots she was very lethargic and when things hadn't improved by the day after, we were back at the vet, who said her leg was swollen at the injection site and was probably having a reaction to the vaccine. I was told to bring her back in a few days if she didn't improve. During the days that followed we had some signs of improvement followed by signs that the condition was persisting. I made another appointment to bring her back to the vet and the morning of the appointment (6 days after her initial visit) she was unable to get up, experiencing partial paralyzation of her hind legs. She was admitted and put through a battery of tests and treatments. Following an MRI and spinal tap, 13 days after her initial vet visit, she was diagnoses with an abnormality in her lower spinal column with the presence of cancerous cells. Her rear legs remain partially paralyzed and she has lost control of her bodily functions.

The vet does not want to acknowledge any possibility of a correlation between the illness and the vaccines, and I am not convinced. Ironically, I had a friend who told me of someone he knew who had a similar experience with his dog following a lyme booster. Just wondering how many more cases may be out there, and wondering if this & other cases are being swept under the rug by vets and pharmasutical companies. What do you think?