Vaccination Side Effects for Seizures

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The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.

Lu (Billericay, England) on 11/14/2011:
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Four Chihuahua puppies were taken at age 9 weeks for vaccination no 1 and a large lump developed on their shoulders which soon subsided. Six days after the vaccine one puppy seemed slow and under the weather and the the following morning was found semi conscious in her bed. We could not bring her round, her little body arched in a seizure. We gave honey and kept her hydrated. We rang our homeopath and we tried several remedies and she showed some improvement and then one more remedy and she came round after 4 hours on and off and was walking about. The following day she had another seizure in the morning and we knew which remedy helped and she came round in 30 mins. A week later she had another and the same pill brought her round in minutes. It is now about 10 days since the last episode. We feel the vaccination combined with mum's milk drying up may have been responsible. After the first episode she had lost her appetite and needed lots of care. She is full of life and eating well again. We will not go for the next vaccination in case she is too small and too young.

Cheryl (Knoxville, Tennessee) on 08/08/2011:
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Three years ago, I took my 3-yr-old dachshund in for his vaccinations and grooming. He was actually going to be part of a TV commercial the next day. When I picked him up his eyes were watering and his face was swollen. They told me he had a reaction to his vaccines and they give him benadryl and a steroid shot. He was a little better by morning. The sad thing is after his vaccines he started to have monthly seisures! He had never had one before. And the look in his eyes changed.

Fast forward a few more years, when "Skipper" was six and he needed surgery to clean out his stomach after gettign into the trash and digesting too much junk. The vet said it was "not-uncommon" surgery and I would be find to take him home in the evening. He went on to say most dogs are back up walking around later that night. Well, that's not the case with "Skipper" - unfortunately, he had could barely move or keep his eyes opened. I let him rest and just stayed up with him. But by mid morning, he was gone. It was awful! I have had to say goodbye to pets before from old age and stayed with them when they were put to sleep, but I've not had to go through this. And I blame it all on the vaccines triggering the reaction, the seizures and thus, not having the strength he should have to go through a "routine" surgery!

I've since found out doxies are one of the breeds that has reactions to the vacccines. It's crazy we are insisting dogs get so many shots yearly - just to keep veterarians in business!

Sally (Poolesville, Md) on 05/09/2011:
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September 13, 2008 I took my airedale, Teddy, for a Bordatella at Petco in order to board him the following week. He received this vaccine about 6:00 p.m. And by 8:00 p.m. he suffered what appeared to be a seizure and died. There was no time to get him to the emergency vet (this occurred on a Saturday evening. ) It was overwhelmingly sad. I phoned the emergency vet to see if the Bordatella vaccine could have caused his death and they emphatically told me no way. I wonder to this day, if it was the cause as he was fine before that.

I have another airedale who turned 10 in October. He and Ted were best buddies.

My heart goes out to Rusty's mom and dad for their loss. After reading your article on vaccines I will certainly heed your warning about a blood test before vaccinating. Thank you for the info.

Janet (Winthrop, Ny) on 04/14/2011:
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My black lab Brandy used to have small reactions after her vaccinations. She would have facial tremors and what may have been small seizures. We never made the connection until later. She also had developed a thyroid problem when she was about 6 years old. I took her to the vet for her yearly vaccines (as I thought every good pet owner should). When she was 13, she was given her yearly booster as well as rabies vaccine. Within a few weeks she began having seizures that we could not get under control, even with seizure medication. We lost her that year.

A few years earlier we had a cat that was given yearly vaccines. She developed an over-active thyroid, and despite having lost a lot of weight and not seeming to be in good health, the vet gave her a full set of vaccinations, plus Feline Leukemia. At the time, I thought all those vaccines were in the name of good health. Within a few weeks of getting those vaccinations, she stopped eating and we lost her.

I now have 2 dogs, 4 horses, and 3 cats that have been given minimal vaccinations. My new vet doesn't fight with me or try to convince me to vaccinate. I am convinced that I lost both my beloved Brandy and cat Barney to vaccinations! I suggest every pet owner read "The Nature of Animal Healing" by Martin Goldstein, DVM. Despite 2 degrees in Animal Science, it is this book that began me on my journey towards true animal health. My animals have benefitted greatly from the limited vaccines and home prepared diets! I hold my breath after each state required rabies vaccination, but hope their overall good health will help them through its trauma to their system!

Carolsfeedupw/vets (Swansea, Ma, Massachusetts) on 01/27/2011:
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Our Rottweiler went in for his 2nd series of shots and by the time we walked out and to the desk to pay the bill my pup released urine all over my son. When my son put him down he dropped w/no movement, he went into Anaphylactic shock. He was critical for over forty minutes then hours til we could see him and bring him home.

Three days later he was licking the area where they injucted the needle and w/i hours it was flesh. We rushed him into another vet for a 2nd opinion and yes, it was due to the Lepto vaccine. Sad thing is they admit that at least one dog per yr per vet witnesses a dogs death due to this vaccine. So, why is it still out there, why aren't we warned til after the fact, and who the heck is responsible for the damage? His leg will be scarred for the rest of his life, we had to hold off on training, puppy classes, puppy daycare. I'm out of a job due to the stress of not wanting to leave him alone knowing that he could have future health issues, Seizures and now he's afraid of people and I can't even socialize him.

Karen (Manchester, Tn) on 12/30/2010:
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Our 7 week old Great Pyrenees has been having seizures every 2 to 4 hours after getting vaccinations.

Aly (Hendersonville, Tennessee Usa) on 09/30/2010:
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Thank you, I'm sure your information will help other parents. My Whippet died in my arms last week after having a seizure. In your research have you found rabies given one week, the next week parvo to cause seizures and death? It happened with 45 min, he was gone. He never had rabies since he was from the UK and they don't have it there. We brought him over with us last October, and since his passing I have not stopped crying.

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Kay (Billings, Montana) on 09/02/2010:
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I had a litter of pups get their first vaccinations. Exactly three weeks later all of them had back to back seizures for 48 hours straight. Horrible seizures where they ran across the floor and would slam into the wall. It was terrifying. I looked it up and found that lepto will cause seizures 21 days after vaccination. Just like my pups. They had seizures for several years until we found out that fish oil would stop them. Within a few weeks of giving them fish oil daily the seizures became so mild that the pups would just shake. Eventually they stopped completely. My pups lived to 14 and 15 years old. They never got another vaccination after they were one!

EC: Thank you so much Kay. Your feedback has been cross-posted to the Pets/Seizures page.

Jbasulto (North Hills, Ca) on 07/27/2010:
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My chihuahua was given her puppy vaccinations at 6 weeks and then the next one weeks later. After the second one, she went into shock and then came down with epilepsy, allergies to everything and other problems. I actually got my vet to tell me (since he wasn't the one who administered the shot) that all of this was due to the vaccination. She lived for 8 years, with a ton of problems and then we finally lost her to a massive seizure that ultimately took her ability to use her legs and then pick up her head. Vaccinosis is very real and any shots should not be done without a titer to see if they even need the shot.

Nicole (Kuna, Idaho) on 05/14/2010:
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I cannot say the dose or the name of the vaccine, but when I bought my puppy, a mutt of blue heeler, australian shepherd origin, the seller immediately gave her an 6-way shot. I was told by vet those are very bad and dangerous. I have had issues with my dog, she began having seizures, yeast infections in ears, she has runny nose but its also not clear. For life of me I cannot keep her at a healthy weight, she holds fat, but overall I have a feeling that shot caused these problems

Tricia (Covington, Louisiana) on 04/03/2010:
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I brought my Sheltie, Toby, into the vet for his first or second round of vaccinations. They administered a shot and I asked them what that was. (at this time I was very trusting of vets). They told me it was an 8 in 1 shot. I was upset that they gave him so much in one shot (rabies was included). They reassured me that it would be ok. By the time I got home with him (about 20 minutes later), he developed a "bump" on the end of his nose. I immediately took him back to the vet because I knew he was having a reaction. By the time I got him back to the vet, his whole face was swollen. About 3 months later, he developed more bumps on his nose which went away. About 3 months after that, he developed epilepsy. We did everything we could do for our Toby. We went the regular route with phenobarbital and bromide and the side effects were horrible. He was so drugged, he would just sit there with his tongue hanging out (he was around 2 by now). And, he still had seizures about every 45 days. I took him off everything and consulted with a homeopathic vet -(this vet used to be a regular vet, but switched). I found that I could treat him with homeopathic medicines and achieve the same results without the horrible side effects. We also put him on a raw diet consisting of salmon, lamb, veggies, brown rice, etc. He ate better than we did. To make a very long story short; Toby lived to be 4. He had seizures about every two weeks - very severe seizures. The homeopathic vet said he was the worst he had ever seen. I believe that Toby would not have lived as "long" as he did if we had not had him on his raw food diet. On April 24, 2009, he did not come out of a seizure. It was heart wrenching for all of us. I do not vaccinate my animals and I feed my two cats raw food diets. I blame his seizures on the vaccinations he received as a puppy (and my ignorance). Toby was a great dog and we miss him very much.
On a side note - one of my cats is 16 years old and has been on a raw food diet for 5 years. I put her on this diet after she was given 2 weeks to live (cancer). She recently had blood work done (just to check her out) and the vet said that she was very impressed with the blood work. She said she would be impressed if this blood work was from an 8 year old cat. Bottom line - no vaccinations and feed raw food. Good luck to everyone.

Katie (Houston, Texas) on 01/25/2010:
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My pekingese pup is just barely six months old and received her corona virus vaccine and her lime vaccine this past Saturday, 01/23/10. This evening at 5pm my pup went into a seizure. I think the timing is pretty weird that now that this has happened. Is there any side effects and/or reasoning that now the seizures have begun. A lot like autism in childrens vaccines,,,is there a possiblity this is now happening to my puppy?

EC: There are a few other reader posts in this section linking vaccinations to their dog's seizures, unfortunately.

Sharonabath (Bath, Pa) on 01/06/2010:
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Here is my story, I hope it helps another sweet animal.

I was given a 10 week old Rottweiler puppy for XMas.He was HEALTHY & HAPPY for the 11 days we had him. On his 12 week b-day, we took him to the vet for his check-up and the vet proceeded to give him: Rabies, Lymes and Bordatella shots (please note that the nurse questioned the doctor giving 3 shots and not 2 and his response was"he is a big boy, 3 is fine" - he was 15 pds!! Got home and puppy acting/eating fine until 10 hours AFTER the shots when he started having a seizure (foaming at mouth, VERY vocal, body out of control and thrashing, deficated and urinated). Called vet and took him in, only after 2nd seizure did we make it (same type seizure "violent". Vet did blood work and tested for parasite and gave me 0.7cc valium to bring home with me in the event he had another seizure (give him valium and go to vet ER hospital) PLEASE NOTE MY VET DID WRITE ON PAPERWORK: vx induced? (this tells me he knows it was!)

Went to ER on New Years Day at 2:20am in morning as puppy had 3rd seizure. Vet did more testing (ammonia levels etc) In the morning vet called at 8:00am to tell me puppy had 4th seizure and it was the worst he has seen (same as he had been having at home)- said "prognosis not good". Put puppy on anti-seizure meds and said to call later/ Went to visit puppy New Years Day around 4:00pm and he was great, happy to see me, walking, licking & kissing me and just looked normal (besides his cath in his arm).Came home and called hospital around 9:00pm to speak to vet who told me I should put puppy to sleep!!!!!! Devastated I headed to hospital and while in route - puppy had 5th seizure (while on seizure meds). Ended up putting puppy to sleep :0(

NOW...3 vets, the vaccinations companies and the breeder are ALL fighting to "clear" their names. Fighting over WHO should do autopsy (we did NOT requst autopsy but breeders vet said that my vet POISONED puppy with these shots). Puppy is on way to cornell university so they can autopsy and find out WHAT happend to this beautiful babay boy who never had a chance to live. My heart is broken into a million pieces as I feel I did not protect my friend from these shots. (I also have an autistic son who got MMR shot and days later was COVERED in Measles - 2 months later, all his words GONE and diagnosed Autistic shortly thereafter. I HATE vaccinations and although i now some are neccesary, I do not feel they are "one size fits all". There should be better vaccination schedules (for children and animals) and their health should be taken into consideration - not everyone can have the same shots at the same time! I am going to fight this terrible tragedy until SOMEONE takes the blame. the vaccinations company is VERY concerned, as well as the vets (only concerned they may get into trouble, of course). We are hiring a lawyer to help fight this battle (not for the money we spent - $2500.00 in 32 hours) but for this puppies life that was taken away from him, way to soon. Someone is going to be put to blame and fortunatly, the 3 vets have all mentioned "vx induced" as the cause of his downfall. The one vet is SURE he was poisend and so, having these vets AGAINST eachother, will only help me get the answer I need. WHO DID THIS to him?? The VET by giving him wasy to many shots at once? The vaccination company having a "bad bach"?? OR the Breeders vet who sold us a puppy who maybe had some underlying health issue? All I can say is that they told me "THIS PUPPY WILL NEVER AGAIN GET A VACCINATION - if he makes it, he will be EXEMPT" (what does that tell us?) I hope you all have great luck with your furry friends and again, if I could "re-do" this time of events, I would have more cautiously looked into the vaccinations and INSISTED he be put on a schedule that I thought safer for him. best of luck to you all!!

EC: Dear Sharonabath,

We are sorry to hear about your puppy. Thank you so much for taking the time to write us in depth about this.

Jason (Concord, Nh) on 12/29/2009:
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Hi,

My 18 month old Doberman Pinscher received six vaccines from the vet (who was only supposed to give two). That was on November 10th, since then he's been having grand mal seizures sometimes more than one a day. He's also become more aggressive, backs away, and has constent relestness. We've been trying to treat him according to the treatment vaccinosis by Dr. Dodds. Basically, my dog now suffers from major illnesses that we still cant control, all caused by vaccines. Its heartbreaking to watch and financially draining, but we do everything we can for our loved friends. I just want to express my concern to others to only due what your pet needs for vaccines, not what most vets tell you they need. Do your research and save your pets life.

Wolfie (Studio City, Ca) on 12/27/2009:
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Vaccination Reaction

My dogs were vaccinated for bortetella seven days ago, and have had chronic diarrhea ever since. The vet denies any connection between the vaccination and the diarrhea. The two dogs who were vaccinated (female Spitz mix age 6 and male Chihuahua mix age 7) began having diarrhea within approximately five hours of the vaccination. The one who was not vaccinated (male American Eskimo age 15) has no such issue. All three eat the same whole food made from scratch rotation diet they have been on since they were puppies.

This vet also refuses to sign a waiver exempting my 15 year old dog with a history of seizures that began after a rabies vaccination from the rabies vaccine. The seizures were eventually cured after three years of remedies including Taurine and raw proteins along with emergency measure like Valium.

Because the vet who originally vaccinated him also denies any connection between the seizures and the vaccines in the best interest of his practice, I cannot legally license my dog in the state of California without subjecting him to further risk.

Needless to say, I am not a big fan of vaccines or the government imposed "vaccinate your dog every year" policies.

Brittany (Puyallup, Wa) on 12/07/2009:
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Distemper Vaccine

Hi my name is Brittany. My dog Daisy, a German Shorthaired Pointer, was recently put to sleep because her blood wouldn't clot. She was 7 yrs. and she has received the distemper vaccine before. Let me tell you about what led to her peaceful sleep.

She recieved her shot on October 28, along with a few other shots. When she got home she had started to break out in hives. She has always been allergic to things before so my mom thought it was just her fleas. A vet had once told us that she was probably allergic to fleas. So my mom put frontline on her and called it good in hopes that she would stop itching. Later on the 29th my mom found a bag of dogfood that she had recieved for free because one of my other dogs was due to have puppies soon. So she mixed the dog food in Daisy's food. That night Daisy had Diarreah horribly and had an accident on the stairs. My dad found it at about 3 in the morning and cleaned it up. He doesn't know or remember if there was blood in it, but he believes there might have been a little bit. Then my dad decided it was the dog food that my mom had mixed in to her food so he began picking out all the mix-in, because she lost interest in eating. Then Nov. 22-25 while we were camping in Oregon. She began to bleed from the crevices of her lips. I tried to stop the bleeding, but i couldn't get it to stop. She at this time had pretty much stopped eating all together. She ate a little every once and a while, but not much. When we got home on the 25th I had woken up to take the puppy out potty and Daisy was sitting in the hall way staring at the wall and head hanging slightly. Normally when I walk by her she stands, but not this time she just sat there. I brushed it off, but was still worried. I took the puppy out and came back and she was still there so I coaxed her to get on my bed and sleep with me, but every time she layed down she groaned, like she was in pain in her abdomine. Later on the 26th while my family was getting ready for Thanksgiving Dinner, my dad went into my room to see Daisy. She was sitting on my bed the same way she had been when she was in the hallway. He just barely touched her head to pet her and she cried out and wimpered. My parents immediately took her to the vet, where they did a series of tests. They took her blood and tested it for everything. Platelets, iron, everything. They also scanned her for tumors. She had no tumors. But when they got her blood tests back they discovered that everything was normal except her platelets levels. An average amount is 400,000 low is 20,000 she had 16. (per Ml) The vet gave her a Chemo shot in hopes that her body would produce more platelets. We left her there over night and she got worse rapidly. On the 27th we called to check in on her and she had fallen far. They had taken blood from her jugular and it had not stopped bleeding. She began to bleed internally in 3 places. Her intestines, her jugular, and her brain. She had 5 seizures while she was in the vet. The suggested we put her to sleep and that is what we did.

I am so confused as to what led to her death and her sudden illness. I believe that it was the Distemper Vaccine but I cannot be sure. I just hope to warn other pet owners so they do not have to witness what I have recently witnessed my bestfriend go through. When she died I held her. The scary part was that she breathed after her heart stopped beating. Im a 17 yr old girl who just wants to know what killed her best friend. If you can help me that would be great. I have to know so I can let her go.

BB (K.L, Malaysia) on 02/01/2009:
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I own 2 e.bulldogs which they are very happy and healthy all the while till the day i send them to take their vaccination shot. The female is 14mths old and after the vaccination she has seizure and till now im still controlling the and she is more easily allergy to foods. The male which is about 3.5 yrs old only had his vaccination at his puppy hood so im thinking to give him a shot as i was told many dogs around my area has parvo but now he is more allergic to food even the same thing he takes daily. He is the best e.bulldog even if he has allergy it will take only 1 pill to clear it off but now i have to give allergy pill plus antibiotics and go on for about 1 week anly i could see the result. I will never give my dogs yearly shot

Tonya (Lynn, Ma) on 12/09/2008:
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I took my 6 month old cat in for a distemper shot and later that night she went into a violent seizure that lasted maybe 30 seconds...she finally clamed down but wasn't quite heself a few hours later We went to the emergengy room around 4 a.m. I was told she had a fever of 104 and the inital blood work showed nothing. 2000 dollars is the approx. cost for this visit including all the additional test that need to be done. I won't know the results until later today. I'll have to do a follow up for this feed back

I DO NOT RECOMMEND A DISTEMPER SHOT
My cat was fine before this shot. I was never informed of any side effects

Heather (Shippensburg, PA) on 12/06/2008:
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Well, today I went to pick up my 8 week old Toy fox terrier. The breeder had givin her her first distemper-parvo vaccination just last night around 7pm. I brought her to my home. She was playful, crying and making noises like any puppy would do. At some point her stomach had hardened and she was kinda out of it. My brother was there who is familiar with seizures. The dog was placed on the floor at which she had a seizure. Her head tilted to the side and her body did too. After that she could not stand up, her breathing became very heavy, and she was very lathergic . I called the breeder and she did gladly take her back and was going to take her to the vet.

Once I got home I did some research and realised that this could all be do to the shots she had. I am a big believer now that these shots are really dangerous and not really needed.

I haven't heard the condition of the puppy but hope all is well.

Cristina (Bucharest, Romania) on 08/16/2008:
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I have an eight year old French Bulldog. Last year I took him to the vet for his annual rabies shot and DHPP booster. Over the years I noticed he didn't feel too well the first few days after his shots, but it always passed. Last year, the day of the shot he was completely lethargic, and that night he had his first seizure. I told the vet, and since it started out with my dog crying, and it lasted for one minute at most, the vet said he must have had a nightmare. He kept having a seizure every night for the following month. I knew they were seizures when he couldn't control his bladder during these brief moments. Since he only had a minute long seizure a night, we didn't put him on any medication. After a month the seizures started coming further apart, every 2, 3 nights, and not every single night. After a year they were down to one every 2 months or so. Since his last shot his hind legs have also grown weaker. He used to be able to jump all over and run. He can't even climb stairs any more. And this doesn't seem to be getting any better. I only hope that by not giving him any more shots it won't get any worse. Vets in Romania still insist on giving shots every year. Some even advise pet owners to come in earlier, so the shot's effect does not expire and leave the dog unprotected. Since no laws are being issued to protect pets, I only hope that more dog owners start doing research on their own and start acting in the best interest of their furry friends.

Sonia (USA) on 08/20/2007:
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Hi my name is Sonia i have a Rat Terrier and Minature Pincher Mix. He is 3months old and i just took him to the vet for his distemper, parovovirus, rabies, and bordetella shots on friday. and he has already had two seizures in the past two days im scared and am taking him back to the vet today. its was the saddest think to see my puppy go thru and know that was nothing i could of done. i will NEVER give my dog another shot. if anyone could give me any advise about what i can give him for thh seizures to stop. Thank You. sdcruz82/@/yahoo.com and is it ok not to give my puppy anymore shot after this?

Michelle (New York, NY) on 05/26/2007:
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My dog, a female miniature pinscher, 12 years old, died last November from what I believe to be negative reactions from her vaccinations. I took her in on September 6th, and she received intratract II kennel cough vaccination and a 3-year rabies vaccination. Two weeks later, I came home from work and she was seizuring on the floor. She had NEVER had a seizure in her life. She was an otherwise healthy dog before these vaccinations. On November 12th, she passed away in my arms. The vets refuse to believe it was the vaccinations and say they believe it was a brain tumor, but I know better. Now that I know how harmful vaccinations are, I will never go through this again.

Diane (East Lyme, CT) on 05/23/2007:
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Vaccination And Seizure with My Yorkshire Terrier: I have a 5 1/2 year old Yorkshire Terrier who is also paralyzed in her left hind leg due to FCE. She was scheduled to have a total hip replacement on May 21st , so I decided to have her vaccinated for rabies and kennel cough. That was on May 10th. Then about 10 days later she started to develop a very deep cough and also had a seizure. She never had any problems before this , except for a mild collapsing trachea. This was her first kennel cough vaccine and I'm beginning to think that the seizure and the cough was the result of the vaccinations. Anybody that might have had similar experiences would be appreciated.

Rich (Phoenix, Arizona) on 05/22/2007:
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My dog is 17 years and is a bichon mix. He waS NEVER VACCINATED. He was picked up by the pound and vaccinated when he escaped the yard. He now suffers seizures. We need to do something to stop dog pounds from causing dogs such problems.

Veronica (Greer, SC) on 04/25/2007:
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It's me again. My male had another seizure on mon.I have done some more research and there is hope. If you look into epilepsy in dogs(this is the fallback "disease" the vets will tell you your dog has)on the web you will find one very helpful site. It gives some homeopathic options to rid the vaccines from their bodies along with some steroids. Also it seems a lot of breeds are more prone-my mix of husky & lab are both. Search the web and get all the info you can. Look into titer testing and waivers that keep your pets from ever being revaccinated because of the seizures. Educate everyone you know who has pets as to the side effects.The more people know the more we can speak up and stop the unnecessary hurting of our companions!

Veronica (Greer, SC) on 04/16/2007:
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On 4-7-07 I had my 2 husky/lab mixes' rabies and DHPP (whatever that is )boosters given. On 4-14 my male had his first seizure. It was absolutely horrifying! I am still upset. I took him to the vet that a.m.,and had a blood test(?) all seemed to be normal, so he suggested possible epilepsy. My mom-in-law does rescue and said one of hers gets seizures after her vaccine. So if this is the cause why must this be a law that we have to abide by? So we kill our kids with vaccines over the diseases and now we have to kill our pets too? I have recently declined to have my children given any further vaccinations and if there is anyway possible I want to do the same for my dogs. He is "different" whiny, hyper, doesn't seem to want to be alone, his personality is a little off. My female was at the vet on 4-13 and she was growling (not like her) at people. While there, I read in a dog magazine about a holistic vet that said that the vaccines given when puppies should last 7-15 years! So why this stupid law? From what I've read rabies is contracted more by bats than anything else. What's the chances of a dog being bitten by a bat and getting rabies? How do we get these ridiculous laws changed?

chris (Escondido, California) on 04/12/2007:
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I have a five month old puppy. Her name is Starbuck. She is now having seizures.

Funny but when we first got her she was a jewel, smart, calm and everyday we were amazed at how wonderful a dog she was. As good dog owners we took her to get her shots. Everything started happening AFTER she started her shot series. First she was vaccinated against Parvo. One week after getting the shot, she contracted Parvo, we almost lost her not to mention the 2000,00 we paid to put her in the hospital. She was house bound to decrease the chances of getting Parvo. How she contracted is debatable i suspect it was the vaccines. She survived and of course we were thrilled. We bonded, trained her to do amazing tricks and welcomed her as a part of our family. She was house bound still at this point. All was well and to continue being the responsible dog owners we are, continued with her shots.. one week after receiving her third set of vaccinations, she began having seizures.

Now our sweet dog is having seizures on a weekly basis. I will not elaborate on how stressful and heart breaking as well as expensive this is but I completely understand all the emotions other dog owners are having when their pet goes through this.

We are now on the usual drugs which are not really working. She cant go out to play or anything that causes excitement. If she has too much fun she suffers from seizures when she goes to sleep. The seizures have become clusters mainly on the weekends.

They have not told us that because they happen in her sleep, that may be "significant". Translation: Now we have to go to a specialist. We cannot afford this and if the is what the vet tells us, we will have to make the decision to either give her away or have her put to sleep. THis is heart breaking to say the least.

I believe that these problems are caused by vaccinations. I am not a veterinarian, i am just looking at cause and effect.

Another reason I believe that vaccinations are the culprit is the experience i had with my ferret Duke. Duke was a healthy, fun loving house bound ferret, and being the responsible pet owners we are we took Duke to the vet to get his first series of shots. He had an immediate reaction to the shot and suffered an allergic reaction. One to two weeks after receiving his shots he began to get sick, no one could tell us why. I tried to save him, staying up nights, forcing food and everything else I could do to help him, but he just wasted away and after losing so much weight and suffering a seizure we had him put to sleep. They never determined the cause and we spent 3,000 on tests.

Shots are a necessary evil I understand but I also believe that they kill our animals, cause family members all sorts of heartbreak and drain our bank accounts. My only hope is that if we ever decide to bring another animal into our house we pray that they will survive the vaccinations.

Lorie (Charlotte, NC) on 03/08/2007:
0 out of 5 stars

I definitely believe that the booster shots cause seizures in dogs. I had a Samoyed who received a rabies shot. She had gotten loose and was picked up by the dog warden. When I went to pick her up, they asked me if she had had her rabies vaccination. I said it had just expired about a month prior. They would not let me get her out unless she got her rabies shot, so I said ok. I had not gotten them their shots, because I had heard of the controversy of vaccinations and so I had held off so that I could do some research. But instead I had to let them administer it to her in order to get her out of the dog pound. About 2-3 weeks later she had her first seizure. I was scared to death because I had never seen anything like it. I started trying to figure out what could have caused it, and thinking over the recent events to try and come up with a reason for her to have had a seizure. The only thing I could figure is that she had just had the rabies shot. Since I am in the medical field, I went into work and looked up the rabies vaccination in the Physicians Desk Reference. Low and behold, right there in the "side effects" it states that it CAN CAUSE SEIZURES. After doing some research on the internet, I found other cases where dogs had had rabies shots and had started having seizures as well. Now, I know that in the US, dog owners are required by law to have rabies shots every year or two. So for those of you who don't know this, you can have what is called a "titer" drawn. It is a blood test to determine if your pet is still immune or not. If they are, they do not need the shot and you can use that for proof, if you ever have the authorities question you. When an animal is already immune to rabies, and they are given another shot, it overloads their nervous system, and that is what causes the seizures. I unfortunately had to learn this the hard way. My Samoyed has been dead now for 3 years. I still cry to this day over her. She was like one of my children and she should still be alive today. So I hope this helps others to prevent this from happening to their dearly loved pets.

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