Side Effects of Pet Vaccines: A Closer Look

Lymes Booster Side Effects

Our 3 y/o Chihuaua had a Lymes booster shot when she was about 2 y/o. They apparently give the same dose no matter what size they are. She weighed appr. 6 lbs at the time. She was really sick for two days with flu like S/S. She recovered, but now she has been getting front and back leg tremors. It started with just one side, but I noticed it has gone to the other side as well. We didn't realize until after the shot that this condition has been reported. We are sick to death about it and and know her quality of life is now affected and quite possibly her length of life also. We have not found any remedy :-(

I rescued an abandoned lab about a month ago, took him to the vet who decided to give him Rimadyl and Simplicef for a sore on the pad of his foot. He seemed to react fine so a few weeks later I took him in for his rabies shot, 1st round of Bordetella and DHPPC shots. I went back 2 weeks after the for the second round of Bordetella and DHPPC and scheduled him to be nuetred in 4 weeks.

Within those 4 weeks my dog became sick and began to vomit a yellow bile. When I took him in to be neutered his platelet count came back really low and the vet put him on Doxycycline and Prednisone. We tested for tick titers that came back negative and they still don't know what is wrong with him.

I'm so angry that the vet didn't wait longer between vaccines and antibiotics before scheduling him for surgery. If she hadn't done a blood test before surgery, my dog would have bleed out on the operating room table.

And now I can't afford to keep taking him to the vet and don't know what to do.

I have a 2.5 year old Chihuahua, I took her to the vet (20 October 08) for her annual rabies vaccination and booster. I was in the morning at around 10:00. Everything was fine and I left the house at 14:00 that same day, she was still perfect. When I returned home an hour later, she came to greet me at the door as she always does, to my horror I noticed that her whole head was severely swollen, her eyes almost shut closed. I immediately took her to the vet. He gave her an adrenaline injection to help the swelling go down and kept her there for observation. At 5:30 that afternoon I went to pick her up, lots of the swelling had gone down but not all of it. At home she was very uncomfortable and in pain, she was limping as the legs that got the adrenaline injection was very sore, she was moaning and couldn't lie down for 2 mins. I phoned the vet and he said it was very unusual and i could bring her in to get something for the pain, so I did. Only at around 22:00 that night did she fall asleep. Today (21 October 08) she's doing much better, she doesn't seem to be in any pain and is walking fine. She still has swelling especially under her chin which worries me. The vet said that it's a debate if this swelling is from the rabies vaccination as something could have bitten/stung her. I told him that we live in an apartment and have not insects/spiders in our home. The possibility of something like that are very slim. I don't believe that it was anything else but from the rabies vaccine. What are your thoughts on this matter?

My Old English Bull Dog had puppies on 10-9-08, given amoxocillin 2x a day for mastitus, doing great... she went for stitches to be removed 10 days later. On this 10th day the Doctor noticed she was due this week for her parvo yearly shot. He said it was safe for the mom feeding pups to have this shot. Now 24 hours later she has a low fever and the 'runs'... I am taking her in tomorrow because there has been no change in diet and where we live, there is no contact with any dogs, 'pets or strays'... I am afraid of what this could be, because with the antibiotics and her mastitus being gone, and still finishing her meds, there is no reason at all for the runs and low fever.

Bodhi, our 4mth old long-haired dachshund went in for his last parvo-multi shot, and his first ever rabies shot (in hip) on 10/15/08. He was tired and slept for a day, but bounded back to normal on the second day. Early in the morning on 10/18/08, Bodhi had no muscle control or tension from his midsection back; total hind quarter paralysis. Within an hour he began vomiting yellow foam (7 times in two hours). He slowly began to regain some strength by hour three. The emergency vet was certain it was the rabies vaccine, and suggested the shot was given too early (Washington law requires the first shot by six months). Bodhi still has periodic quivering spells, especially when he is sitting still, but mostly he has his control and temperament back.
Pfizer, "Rabdomun", killed virus, 1ml. (single dosage), no batch number. SN#S724897A, Exp. 7/17/09.

Pet Death from Vaccinations

Homey was a mix breed of approximately 102 pounds that was 10 years old. He went for a checkup the beginning of February 2008 and was given a clean bill of health. They also gave him the 3 yr Rabies, Corona and DLPP shots.

In March he was becoming lethargic, didn't want to play ball, didn't want to go for walks and it was quite unusual since he always did. The middle of April he started drooling a lot, wouldn't eat, had sever diarrhea and vomiting and his entire hind end didn't even support him for going to the bathroom.

Took him back to the vet and they ran bloodwork and said he was fine and put him on a different diet including two different antibiotics (why he needed them if nothing was wrong...I don't know). That didn't help so we took him to a holistic doctor to see if he could help find out what was wrong. At the time we had no clue it may have been related to the vaccinations. One week after seeing the holistic doctor, he passed away. I am devastated, as this wonderful family member was always in the best of health, taken care of as you would a child and stayed in the backyard as our guardian.

Not much more to say other than after reading information on your website, thanks so much for the insight. I wish I would have known this before they vaccinated and killed him.

vaccination of puppy

my poodle and bichapoo were both vaccinated for distemper and rabies, per state requirements in Texas. The bichapoo lost all her fur, developed ulcers in her mouth, and her eyes became dull. I tried to talk the vet out of it, since I'd recently learned that all dogs get the same dose of these vaccines, from tiny to large. The dose is the same. I needed the rabies to get her accepted on a plane and at the groomer.

I am now giving her raw meat diet, a homeopathic remedy for vaccinations, liver support (milk thistle) and a mushroom for immune boosting. I found an honest vet in Falcon Colorado who admits the problem and has the remedies.

I will never again have my dogs vaccinated. Now I have learned that heavy metals are in the vaccine as well.

This is criminal in my opinion. The vets make a lot of money on vaccinations, and some have admitted that we over vaccinate. One time will last a dog's lifetime.

It's all about money.

I feel terrible for having my precious healthy puppy's life almost destroyed for listening to the FDA requirements.

We must keep talking about this and change it. It is animal cruelty at it's worst.

For some reason my Red/ Blue Queensldand Heeler's face was swollen this morning after I took him out to go to the bathroom. My boyfriend and I gave him his 3rd distemper/ parvo shot yesterday around 5:30pm. This is the 2nd time that his face has swelled up like this. The 1st time we assumed that he had gotten stung or bit by something when I took him outside and it did not happen until exactly 1 week after he was given his 2nd distemper/ parvo shot. We gave him some Benedryl and that made the swelling go down. I did the same thing this morning. He is still extremely playful and is eating and drinking fine.

Could he be having a reaction to the shot that we gave him yesterday? If so then why did it take a week for the last reaction. Please help we are confused.

Thank You

I have a 5 year old shar-pei. A year ago he received his booster shots for DHLP and within a few days had severe pain in his back and hind legs. This transferred into a couple episodes of shar-pei fever which in total lasted over a month until he was back to normal.

The vet initially prescribed Tramadol for pain relief and then I migrated him to some homeopathic remedies.

My 6 yr old female lab received booster vaccines on 10/2/08 also. She has been digging and scratching at herself ever since. The original reason we took her in was because she was scratching herself a bit. They said she had fleas, which she did, but she wasn't scratching herself until she bled and she wasn't losing hair and weight. I took her back in and they gave her a steroid shot. Now her eyes are dialated and she is lethargic. How long before this shot wears off. Should I contact the vet again? Maybe there is a really bad batch of vaccine going around, like bad cat food from China?

I've got a 9 wk old male Australian Cattle Dog who received his 2nd set of puppy shots this morning. He'd been playful all day, then come dinner time he barely ate anything and seemed very out of it. He's since had diahrea for the past couple of hours and has thrown up twice. He's now sleeping but we're keeping a close eye on him.

Parvo: I got 2 boxer puppies on Wed took them in for their first shots on Thursday, one immediately got very sick, bloody stools and not eating. The puppy was not any better on Sat morning, so ran it to the emergency vet, all I heard was it has Parvo, even after the test came back negative on both puppies the vet still said it had Parvo. I ask several time could it be a reaction to the shot, they just looked at me dumbfounded like how dare i ask a stupid question. The vet wanted $400 up front to treat my puppy for Parvo, I did not have a good feeling about this, so I took the puppies home, started them on TechMix k9 Restart and Live Bac, on Sunday we saw a marked improvement and today the puppy looks and act like nothing happened.

2.5 yr. old Miniature Schnauzer rec'd annual shots for the first time since puppy shots as I know they are bad for them from being told that by several country veternarians. Within 1 week, he was lethargic, vomiting yellow foam uncontrollably, continuous panting, brick hard abdomen, low grade fever, bloody diarhea, his whole body seemed sore to the touch as he acted like an abused dog would when you would reach for him. He had pus pimples all over his neck and back that would pop easily and smell horrible with clear green liquid. I took him to emergency clinic and they left him on IV overnight. His blood counts told them nothing was wrong. Xrays showed only slightly inflammed intestines. They gave bland diet, antibiotics, steroids and panalog ointment for skin. He did require 2 rounds of antibiotics to completely cure the skin bumps. His skin color went from pink to almost black on his back. Doctors would not admit it was from shots. I talked to a holistic vet that sold me colostrum capsules and told me to also get probotics. My dog is now 5 yrs. old. He had to have shots again recently to get neutered and he has had no reactions. My dog since recovery has been functioning at 80-90% of his pre vaccine activity level and ability.

Trembling, Lethargic dog: Last week I took my 10 year Pom in for shots before we left the vets he fell down and had rapid heart beat. The vet immediately gave him a shot of benadryl, which seemed to help. However, he has been laying around, not eating, shivering. We have taken him back to the vet, who says he can't find anything. Does anyone have any advice??

My dog Bruiser is a pit bull Terrier mix (chow chow) He is the most gentle dog I had ever come in contact with. Bruiser had his three year vaccinations on September 18th. VX-Canine DP 3 year, Leptospirosis, and Lyme vaccaine. Two weeks later he is lethargic, very depressed, mopes around, is drooling from the right side of his mouth, seems spooked, yelps for reason unknown and when I push on parts of his back, his muscles begin to tremble. I don't want to take him back to the vet because they lied to me about Lyme's he supposedly had and said that the tests they charged me for showed he is negative. They charged me over $200 that day when they quoted me much much less. Has anyone else gone through similar symptoms with their dog after annual shots? Thanks, Lori