Side Effects of Pet Vaccines: A Closer Look

My dog Tasha, a now 14.5 year old, 10 pound Shih Tzu, has had a reaction to her yearly shots since a puppy. After each vaccination she would be very quiet and whine like she was in pain when I picked her up all day long. I finally stopped getting her annual shots, except the rabies one required by law, with the 2005 checkup. According to a natural dog publication, dogs don't require annual shots after age ten anyway. By then, they have built up enough antibodies to fend off most ailments. Of course the vet tried to avoid this when I questioned him except to say that the vaccinations actually last 3 to 5 years. It seems we have been over vaccinating our pets for years. Perhaps that is why they have all of the ailments they do ie. kidney and liver problems, since everything is filtered through these organs and even cancer.

We just got our 5 year old min-pin (who had never before gotten) a bordetella vaccine. Since we are going to board our other dog and he needed the vaccine, we figured we should get both dogs the vaccine so that the min-pin did not catch kennel cough. They both got the vaccine over a week ago and i just noticed last night that our min-pin been swallowing hard over and over again. At first i thought that he had a dry throat because we have electric baseboard heat but today he started to cough a little. I'm thinking that he may have developed a slight case of kennel cough from the vaccine. That's the only thing that we can associate it with at this point. I'm contacting our vet tomorrow. Has anyone else seen the side effect of their dog swallowing hard frequently?

We have a dachshund/chihuahua mix who broke out in hives and welts on her head,face and neck about 20 hours after her first series of shots at 10 weeks.

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.

Booster side effects

My 11 yr old himalayan cat had no known health problems until she was given a booster for rabbies & FVRCP. 1 wk later she was limping & after many test she was diagnosed with cancer which had matastisied Lesions found in lungs, shld blade & both paws. She passed away 2 months later. I am against boosters & some vaccinations that are not necessary.

15 years ago and before I thought I was being the good pet owner and getting my dog, a mix Golden X, vaccinations whenever they were needed. Long story short, my dog acquired mast cell cancer from vaccinosis and it developed at the injection site. I did enlist a holistic vet after his vet said he only had 3 months to live. Going totally holistic with treatments, my dog lived a good quality life for 2.5 years thereafter.

I now have 2 Old English Sheepdogs who are naturally reared. They are 9 & 10 currently and have had no chemicals in or on them, are fed a raw diet and have only been to a vet once. They had their puppy shots and that was it until my one dog was diagnosed with a hernia. He had to have an operation and they wouldn't do it until he had a rabies shot. This would be his second in his lifetime. I was reluctant but knew he needed a repair of his hernia. 2 months after that shot, he developed cysts all around his neck area. Sheepdogs are extremely sensitive to shots of any kind and he did puff up at the injection site. I was told by an herbalist to take a slice of lemon and rub it on the site and the puffiness went away. I then began using Colloidal Silver in drops 2x a day on the cysts and in a matter of a week, they burst and were gone and have never returned. They will never get a rabies shot for the life of them. My dogs have never had medications either of any kind. I treat them homeopathically and herbally and they are thriving.

We brought our two one year old cats into the vet for one year vaccinations, rabies and the flu/virus bundle almost two days ago. The cats are littermates and both female although one is about 9.5 lbs and the other is 7 lbs. The larger cat has responded fine with no side effects and is completely back to normal and in fine health. The smaller cat is not herself and has been quite lethargic over the past two days. She has gone from a playful cat that runs around and jumps and climbs to laying around, not running or jumping or "talking" and has taken some interest in a few toys, but has not run or jumped since these injections. I have read that cats can exhibit signs of sluggishness and lethargy for a day or two after injections, so I am hoping this is a matter of soreness of hind legs/trauma of going to vet (both are indoor cats) and maybe a bit of (a non life threatening) reaction to shots. I'll be honest, I have read the possible side effects of what these shots can do to animals and I'm worried. She has, it should be noted been eating and drinking and using the litter box.

Before we got these two kittens, our 3 year old cat came down with FIP which we believe was transmitted from exposure from the same vet clinic that we took our new cats to as the previous cat was also a perfectly healthy indoor cat. We don't want to go through this anguish of seeing an animal suffer again. She died what must have been an extremely painful death through this FIP, and anytime something happens to our other cat that stems from this vet, these feelings come back that something wrong is happening. Thanks for reading. I guess my question is is a 2 day reaction to these vaccinations commonplace?

15 years ago and before I thought I was being the good pet owner and getting my dog, a mix Golden X,vaccinations whenever they were needed. Long story short, my dog acquired mast cell cancer from vaccinosis and it developed at the injection site. I did enlist a holistic vet after his vet said he only had 3 months to live. Going totally holistic with treatments, my dog lived a good quality life for 2.5 years thereafter.

I now have 2 Old English Sheepdogs who are naturally reared. They are 9 & 10 currently and have had no chemicals in or on them, are fed a raw diet and have only been to a vet once. They had their puppy shots and that was it until my one dog was diagnosed with a hernia. He had to have an operation and they wouldn't do it until he had a rabies shot. This would be his second in his lifetime. I was reluctant but knew he needed a repair of his hernia. 2 months after that shot, he developed cysts all around his neck area. Sheepdogs are extremely sensitive to shots of any kind and he did puff up at the injection site. I was told by an herbalist to take a slice of lemon and rub it on the site and the puffiness went away. I then began using Colloidal Silver in drops 2x a day on the cysts and in a matter of a week, they burst and were gone and have never returned. They will never get a rabies shot for the life of them. My dogs have never had medications either of any kind. I treat them homeopathically and herbally and they are thriving.

My pup Oliver received a Bortadella shot in May of this year. On July 2nd, I had to rush him to the emergency clinic as he was having a hard time standing up and walking. His PCV was 17. Long story short, he had developed Auto Immune Hemolytic Anemia. After two awful months of massive medications, blood transfusions, and weekly vet visits, extensive expense and awful heartache, we had to put him to sleep on September 8th as he had a serious relapse. I have read that vaccinations can cause a pet to get AIHA. This was the worst experience of my life. I miss my pup terribly and did everything I could for him. Did the vaccinations cause him to go into AIHA? I don't know, but it is a very good possibility after researching and communicating with others who are going through the same thing with their pet.

Vaccination death

Our baby, Tinker Bell was a six year old, almost 7 pound Chichawa. We took her in for her yearly vaccinations last week. Less than fifteen minutes later, she was dead. She had never experienced any problems with her shots before. Our vet said she had never seen a death as a result of the vaccinations, but she knew it was a risk. We didn't realize the risk involved. Thank you for your web site.

I had my Shiba Inu, 12 years old, vaccinated with about his 10th lyme vaccination in June. About 48 hours later he began being lame on his right rear leg. The vet would not hear us out on it being due to the vaccination, but could not find any other reasons for the lameness. He has now progressed to not being able to walk on either hind leg. He "shuffles." Today at the vet the vet again could find nothing wrong and sent us on our way. They were quite offended that I think it could or might have something to do with the vaccine. They actually told me I could just get a copy of my dog's file and go elsewhere. I have gotten the copy. How rude of them, this dog has been there for 12 years and I had other pets there for over 25 years. I was given an antiinflammatory and sent on my way.

We have had a maltese dog for many years. She is about 12 and recently had her yearly vaccinations (the first 5 types they normally give). About an hour after having them she threw up and was very lethargic for the rest of the day. Normally she is a very attentive dog but she became listless. Thankfully the side effects only lasted a day or two.

Her sister had also been vaccinated but had been given the new three yearly vaccination and a nasal delivered vaccination and did not display any side effects.

Please commemt on this request because I feel so terrible today after losing my new puppy, Suzie. She was a long haired chiwa and six weeks old. She was in great health when I brought her home last Sunday, running and playing and so cute. I was advised by my Vet to bring her in for her first shot for distemper/parvo because I have a a sweet chow at home that is ten years old and I have had her since birth. My puppy, suzie, had her vac on friday and Sunday night she was sick, bloody stool and heaving. I called my vet and he had an attitude. I called my friend and she called her vet and he saw her immediately. She was tested for parvo but negative. He called it some type of intestinal bacteria of the lining of the stomach. She received shots of penn, liquid i.v., nausea, b-12 and he said we could only hope for the best. She was better on tuesday and we started her on pedilite. Wednesday morning she was dead. I believe that it was the vac she had on friday afternoon, maybe it was to strong for her tiny frame or possibly some kind of reaction. Of course the old vet refused to comment and the new one would not comment about the other. I just cannot get a grip on this. Can someone please give me some type of opinion on what you think it could have been?

On 8/15/09 my male neutered cat was vaccinated with FVRCP and FeLV. Within a few days he developed a hard lump at the injection site.

On 10/12/09 he was injected with the 2nd dose of these two vaccines, he was listless for the remainder of that day, but resumed normal activities on 10/13 and 10/14. But on 10/15 he was in very bad shape, completely inactive and refused to eat or drink. On 10/16 he continued to lay in one place and would not eat or drink. I took him to the vet on 10/17 at which time he was placed in intensive care for 2 1/2 days. The vet is not certain that he reacted to the vaccine or some other source of infectio, and suggested that we may not vaccinate him next year.

Previously I had a Scottish Terrier that developed cancer around the age of 10 years, and passed away at 11 years. The vet mentioned that annual vaccines may be contributing to the occurance of cancer in animals.

I lost a kitten today. He appeared to be completely healthy and then received his 3 way distemper, Calici, Rhinitracheitis vaccine- stopped eating- started gagging up any food I put in his mouth, had labored breathing, and died. Within 3 days. Beautiful soon to be show cat- an Ocicat. I had modified what vaccines they get as I lost one last year also. Even had a necropsy done and it showed a healthy cat- whose organs shut down after his vaccine.

I read an article online saying it is common for this to happen as we inject 3 live viruses at once into a tiny body and they have to be able to fight them of. The article said the killed vaccine is more harmful and suggested the 3 components be broken down into single vaccines.

As for people- they can do all of the skewed studies they want- but we know our autistic son had vaccine issues. The flu vaccine was especially devasttating for him- to the place where we had to stop it.

I know they are a necessary eveil- but very scarey to me.