Side Effects of Pet Vaccines: A Closer Look

I am in the medical profession; my husband is also. We have an almost 3 year old, 14 pound, rare English cream dachshund. When she was 1 year old, she received all of her vaccines including the rabies and leptospirosis the same day. She was placed in her cage to go home. It took 30 minutes to get there. When I removed her from her cage, I saw that her entire face was severely swollen; her eyes swollen closed. Upon further inspection I saw that she was entirely covered in a red rash. The vets' office had closed. She started vomiting almost continously Soon she began to have respiratory difficulty. I took her to the 24 hr. emergency office where she was given a Benedryl injection, Flagyl, and medications for her other symptons. I took her home and returned the next morning to the vets' office. She still had the same problems, however she was breathing normallly. She was given another Benedryl injection, Benedryl to take by mouth, an injection for vomiting snd was assured that all will be fine. Five days later she was in the same condition. She could not even keep water down. She had lost weight and was really weak. I returned to the 24 hour emergency office. The doctor there said she was still reacting to the vaccine. He gave her a cortisone injection, a cortisone dose pack to take by mouth and continued the Benedryl and nausea medications. He also injected some fluid subcutanously into her abdomen to help her dehydration. Then he told me to never let our vet give her another vaccination without giving a Benedryl injection first. She gradually improved. The next year when it was time for her vaccines, being a medical professional, I decided to start her on childrens liquid benedryl, 25 mgm, every 6 - 8 hours for four or five days prior to her vaccines. Her vet gave her a Benedryl injection prior to the vaccines. He decided not to give her the Leptospirosis vaccine, thinking that might be the culpret. We stayed at the vets' office an hour after the vaccinations. Everything seemed fine. I asked for a Benedryl injection to take home with me and a cortisone dose pack, in case of trouble later. At home when the Benedryl injection began to wear off, she started swelling of the face, eyes and nose. I immediately gave her the Benedryl injection I had brought home with me and started her on the cortisone dose pack. I also gave her hydroxyzine ( Vistaril) liquid, 3/4 teaspoon, to try to prevent the vomiting and the childrens liquid benedryl 25 mgm,every 6 hours throughout that day and night. This time she vomited only once early the next morning. She had a slight rash that went away within a few days. I continued the medications several days for good measure. All was well. January of this year, when her vaccines were due, I started the childrens liquid Benedryl, 25 mgn every 6 hours again for four days before time for the vaccine. I told the vet that I wanted to do the vaccines one at the time to try and determine which vaccine was the problem. He gave her the rabies vaccine after having given her the Benedryl injection. I continued the benedryl liquid by mouth and the nausea medication at home as a precaution, about 2 - 3 days. She seemed o.k. Four days after the rabies vaccination, I came home from church on a Sunday and she immediately began vomiting large pools of blood, pools the size of a salad plate. She did this 7 times within 5 - 10 minutes. I immediately rushed her to the 24 hour emergency office. I was told she had enteric gastro - enteritis. I told them I thought it was caused by the rabies vaccine. The doctor told me that if the dog did the same thing again next year, we would know!! I am not interested in repeating that scenario next year.. When "we" have a patient with an adverse drug reaction, we tell the patient to never take the medication again.

They kept her that night, giving her I.V's and other treatments. When i picked her up the next morning to return her to the vet, I was told that they nearly lost her that night. The vet kept her that day and sent her home with me that night. She still had an I.V. port in her leg in case I.V. meds were needed again. She was returned to the vet the day after that and the port was removed. They gave her carafate to seal the internal bleeding. I started her on a histamine blocker myself to reduce the amount of acid in her stomach. The vet had given her enough carafate, 500 mgm for 8 days. At the end of that time, she was having old blood in her stool so I knew she was still having some bleeding inside. On my own, I continued the carafate and histamine blocker for 7 weeks. Her stool became normal. We went back to the vet today to get a blood count. They were ready to give her another vaccine. I had gotten on the internet and done a lot of research re: the vaccines. I discovered that the rabies vacccine can be good for 1 - 3 years, so I won't be repeating that next year. I also discovered that an antibody titre can be done to determine whether the pet needs a particular vaccine. That is the course I will be taking. If it is not needed, it won't be given. I refused any more vaccines at this time.. I understand that a legal exemption can be obtained for the rabies vaccine. My question is "How do you procede to obtain the exemption to the rabies vacine.?" Our vet does not think the rabies vaccine caused her bleeding. I do. Our doxie is strictly an inside dog, trained to use piddle pads. She is not around other dogs. She cannot be groomed at the grooming salons without the rabies vaccine. I can't cut her toenails. She is long haired and difficult to manage for that. That aside, we really would like to have an exemption to satisfy the law re: rabies vaccines. I don't have the heart to put her through that anymore. Ted or anyone, Can you help?

My Chihuahua puppy suffered from an extremely bad vaccine reaction during her 3rd puppy series. She had previously had 2 DA2PPv+CV and 1 Bordetella without any problems. On her 3rd series she had a 3rd DA@PPV+CV, 1st LeptoVax4c, and 1st Lyme. I kept her at the hospital with me all day to observe(I'm a vet tech) for reaction(reactions to Lepto seem most common in small breeds). She had a slight skin reaction that evening approx. 5 hours after vaccination and we treated with Diphenhydramine subcutaneously. She quickly improved, seemed fine and I took her home. The next morning she seemed fine upon wakening. About 45 minutes later she jumped up to nap on my lap and I went to give her a kiss on the nose, her entire face was swollen to about 3 times it's normal size. I quickly rushed her to the hospital. She also developed wheezing and hives on the ride over. She was treated with Dexamethasone and again, Diphenhydramine, both subcutaneously immediately. Once the sypmtoms began to recede we followed up with Benadryl liquid by mouth every 4 hrs for the next 24 hours. She was 14 weeks at the time and 5lbs. I have yet to take her for her final series.

I have a 4 year old female Lab who is allergic to just about everything. My vet talked me into giving her all her shots at the sae time this year (bordatella,3-yr rabies booster,DA2LPPC booster). She has had diarrhea for two weeks now. The vet said it must be something I'm feeding her, even though I have her on a strict diet and nothing has changed. She's also having trouble swallowing her food. We have to feed her very small amounts because she gets choked. I will not give her all her shots at the same time again.

My 11 week old siberian husky received the 3rd round of the DHPP-C vaccine, after receiving the first two at 6 and 8 weeks respectively. She seemed a little lethargic after, but as that is common I thought nothing of it. A few hours later she had hidden under the deck and was wheezing. As soon as I was able to get her out I called the vet and arranged to bring her back in. It turned out she was having an allergic reaction to some component of the vaccine, and was bleeding into her lungs. Although the doctors at both the regular office as well as the specialty clinic worked with her for about 5 hours, due to the severity of her reaction and the critically low oxygenation levels throughout that time, she did not make it. I am now hesitant to give any of my pets anything more than what I am required to by law, even though I had never thought to question the recommended vs. required vaccines in the past.

I took my Yorkshire Terrier, Maggie, in to receive a parvo booster shot yesterday. Today she is depressed, lethargic, and is urinating a large amount of blood. She is two years old.

my dog had his rabies and distemper shot and about two days later his stool has been abnormal several days. He is 10 years old and I recently met a woman that testified before congress about childhood vaccines. She thinks that his vet is over-vaccinating my dog.

Our cat (a little over 1 year old) received 2 vaccines, rabies and distemper and is very sluggish six days after--there are no other symptoms--cold, etc. This must be the drug--how do we counterract it?

We purchased pet insurance for our 2 1/2 year old inside only cat. Part of the deal was to have a physical and update vaccinations. He had his first rabies (2 years) at 11months, and vet at the time said he didn't need anything else, since he was strictly inside and not exposed to any other cats. Jan. 15, took him to new vet, gave him rabies and FeLV, and FeUpper resp. even after I told them he did not need them. Here we are some 2 weeks later, 1 emergency trip and 1 overnight hospital stay, and 500 dollars later, I have a cat that has lost 3 lbs, will not drink, runs a temp of 104.5, and has completely transfromed from the spaz cat who loved to play, run, chase, and get into general mischief, into a cat that can barely walk, and wants to sleep all the time. drs. keep telling us the shots did not cause this. He has never been sick before, and now, nothing but sick since the shots. I will not be getting more shots for him. and only hope he can pull through. drs. diagnosis-fever of unknown orgin. ha ha....

I took my 7 week half pound toy poodle to the vet to get first set of shots on a Monday. They gave her an 8 and 1 shot and wormed her.By Monday night she was vomiting. She vomiting Tuesday night and by Wednesday I thought she was doing better just a little weak but walking around. Thursday night she was laying around not walking. I took her to the vet Friday morning. They gave her some fluids through the skin. I left her there through out the day. The vet said she was not doing well and there was nothing else he could do. I took her to another vet and he gave a blood transfusion and some antibiodics. she was doing better saturday then sunday she starting laying around again. Symtoms she was having not opening her eyes much, stiffing the neck back, stiffing legs out, and hissing at me. She was tested negative for porvo. I truly believe the shot killed her. I heard after the fact the vet should not have given this small of a dog a 8 and 1 shot. Is this true?

I've owned my horse for 6 years and last Spring he had what I consider to be a bad reaction to the first set of yearly vaccinations. I think that was tetanus, strangles, rhino and rabies. He was lethargic and walked away from me in the paddock for 3 days. This is a horse who's in my pockets and always following me around like a puppy. He's never reacted like this before. I wondered if any other horse owners have had similar experiences and know what to do to prevent this type of reaction. Since he's boarded, I have to vaccinate. A homeopathic clinician recommended giving 3UC of Thuja 3 days before, day of and 3 days after to reduce reaction. I haven't tried any homeopathics on him yet, but may consider it. Anyone have any experience with this remedy and animals?

My 1 pound and half pound 9 week old baby Chihuahuas are due for their second round of shots and I am researching what is in the second round, what it is incubated in, what the possible side effects are, etc. If you have any information you can share with me, please email me at [email protected] and put puppies in the subject line please. I am really scared of vaccines, for people or animals. I had a dog that lived 21 years and she never had a Rabies vaccines, or anything past a second round of shots. I am really concerned about my little girls, they are so tiny. Advice is appreciated. Thanks.

My 1 year old bichon-poo was vaccinated on 1-4-08. He received a distermper/parvo/corona booster. He started getting very sleepy after the vaccinations. On 1-20 he was falling over and was diagnosed with narcolepsy. He can not stay away for more than 5 minutes at a time. He loses control of his back legs, falls to the floor and goes to sleep. Even out in the snow, he can't stay awake. He falls face first into the snow and sleeps.

I have a Minature, Dapple Dachund--her puppy shots were ok, but the boosters made her break out in lumps and have trouble breathing. It would take the vets office a full day just to get her shots in her a little at a time. Now we just don't let her get them, or take her out where she can contact distemper/parvo, etc.

Had I not found this forum I would have been lost as to what I should do. I just took my 8 month old kitten in for her original vaccinations so I can get her spayed and I will never take her back once this is all done. She's lethargic and irritable, very unlike her normal loving attitude. I have a 7 1/2 year old cat who hasn't had any shots since he was 3 years old and he never will again either. They are both inside cats so I really don't see a reason for any more vaccines especially if this is how they're going to react to them!

I didn't think it was possible, and I tend to trust science, but the parvo/kennel/distemper vaccination given to my 7 week old beagle puppy, has made her anemic. What was a healthy puppy is now likely to be intermittently sick for the rest of her lives. Vet didn't explain risks, or offer single-vaccine solutions.