Side Effects of Pet Vaccines: A Closer Look

In July of 2000 my 11 year old Belgian Tervuren, was diagnosed with spindle cell carcinoma. She had developed 2 egg-sized lumps in the area of her shoulders. I consulted with a Specialty Veterinary Clinic in Tucson Arizona, and I was told it was Vaccine Induced Cancer. She died December 1, 2000. She underwent 3 surgeries to remove the tumors, but each time it came back more aggressively.

My cat Jesse got a distemper shot and a rabies shot on Saturday the 2nd of august.H e is eating and drinking fine, he used to go outside practically all day, but now all he is does is lay around the house and sleep and he has been in the house for five days now.

After my 1 yr. old Sheltie received a 5 in 1 vac (before I knew better) he had a couple of weeks of what I now know was episodes of "reverse sneezing." He would put his head down and then have a minute or so of intense snorting - don't know how to describe it any other way. It was scary watching him have these attacks and each time I wondered if he would come out of it.I was told that the trachea actually collapses sometimes. He has not had any more vacs in the last few years nor anymore bouts with this vaccine reaction, thank goodness. We won't be doing any more vaccines! Sue

Dog died: Took dog in for yearly shots Continuum DAP and Imrab 3 He ate and drank very little and he had to be put down .He was a toy poodle Full of life when i took him in he never recovered

We boarded our 11 year old female Husky at our neighborhood vet we have used for 20 something years. They said she was too large for a cage and she would have to be put in the dog run. That we could bring her bed also since she had a car accident as a young pup and broke her hip. They would not keep her until her shots were brought up to date as she had not had any from a Vet since she was 3. I used to give her booster, but they don't recognize them! We left town for two nights so I don't know what her reaction was initally, although I called the 2nd night and they told me she wet her bed (which she has never done) and did not like their food. She has been urinating on herself ever since (one month now). She won't eat unless I hand feed her meat, tiny amounts and hold her water bowl under her nose.She just lies there like she is 100 years old. I called two other vets and they all say it is not the Vaccines! That she is 11 yrs old, spayed, that her bladder could have dropped and may be incontinent. She has always been an indoor dog she goes outside, does her business and comes right back in. So there was no reason to vaccinate her yearly. Thinking back now to when she was spayed and they gave her vaccines then; she was very ill afterward. I took her back several times, they gave her antibiodics, etc. I really feel she is going to expire this time and it was all so unnecessary.

I got my 16 week old cat that weighs 4.4 lbs his immunizations yesterday. Now he is having the same symptoms. Lethargic, Meows and bites when picked up and doesn't eat or drink. He got the rabies ahot and fel leukemia and Ercp (whatever that is) hope he will be his old self soon!!

Within 3 hours my 19 month old shih tzu was very lathargic. My high energy puppy suddenly started acting like he was 19 years old. Now I'm finding out that dogs don't need yearly vaccines. The vaccines are good for at least 5 years. Personally, my dog will not be getting his shots till he is at least 7 years old.

My newfoundland had her annual vaccinations two weeks ago. She started chewing on her feet and legs, Then I noticed blood in her mouth and on her toys. Took her to the vet and she had low plateletts, went to a specialist and he said it most likely is reaction from recent vacc. I left her there that night thinking I would see her in the AM. I got a call in early am saying she was DIC (bleeding out) She died! That was this week. I had no clue this could happen. She was 5 1/2yrs old, part of me died that day. Many friends are not aware of this as a side effect. Why are we not aware??

My dog received the intra-nasal vaccine for bordatella on Feb. 28, 2008 the next day she started to cough almost asmatic, a runny nose so full of mucous, constantly running also very tired out. She's only 3 yrs. old .Over the next few months she has been scoped, x-rayed, nebulized,and been on three different antibiotics,$1,000.00 later to no avail.The vet chalked it up to an allergy. At which I called Schering-plough the company which makes this vaccine. The vet there said to take her back and they would pay for a battery of tests to see if the Bordatella was responsible. Of course after waiting 3 weeks for results they said Bordatella didn't show up. My dog was a healthy energy filled dog until this. Now she's very lathargic and sleeps alot. I will not vaccinate my dog again I will go all natural. To see her so sick and uncomfortable and shortness of breath breaks my heart and angers me to know the vets continue to over vaccinate.

I had a 4 month old kitten die of cat distemper because I didn't get it's vaccines. I think that telling people not to get vaccines is wrong - it was the death of my little Angel.

To Patty from Oak Park, WA...

In your 6/20/08 post, you said about your cat, "he was licking his legs and paws, couldn't get comfortable laying down, and he was breathing rapidly. He wouldn't let me hold him or pet him for long".

we have two 16 week old female kittens from the same litter who both just had their last kitten shots. One has reacted exactly as yours did. She remains hostile, but only toward her sister kitten! It is now 7/15/08. Can I ask how your kitten is doing now and how long it took for it to return to normal behavior?

About 3 weeks ago I took my 1 yr old male cat Tazzy to the vet to get his distemper and rabies b/c we were boarding him and having him neutered while he was there. A week later he seemed to be ok and his same ol' self. The vet never mentioned if he had any problems. Well yesterday I took Tazzy back to get his 2nd booster and since then he has thrown up several times, has runny stool, won't eat and is very mopey (not himself). Not sure If I should call the vet and let them know b/c I'm thinking they may just want more money out of me.
what should I do? Any suggestions?

I have about a 14 week old kitten who weighs 5.5lbs. Yesterday I took him to the vet to have his booster shots and ever since he has been very lethargic, won't hardly eat or drink and he meows and bites me when I pet over the injection site. I hope he is ok, and after reading all these posts I am very hesitant to get the rest of his booster shots.

Hello, at this point, my suggestion is to find you another vet and stand up to them when you feel a treatment is likely to be adverse instead of beneficial. Classic example of this, is when a relative's two pups came down with parvo and were taken to vet for treatment. One died and one survived. Our not-quite year old shephard mix exposed to them came down with it a few days later. Realizing that vet's therapy was only 50/50 chance of survival, went the route of 2 grams of Vitamin C dissolved in l quart of water and dribbled into her mouth (she was beyond drinking on her own) frequently, had her back on her feet and drinking the next day).

I too have had problems with my chihuahua and the bordetella vaccine or nasal spray. She has same exact symptoms. Before she was spayed she had received the vaccine. All was fine, then after they spayed her she got kennel cough from the vets and the tube for anesthesia caused her to develope tracheal damage. She was on antibiotics and had nebulizer treatments for three months after. The was 6 mths old then. She is 2 1/2 yrs old and I took her for a routine visit this past Sunday. They insisted she get the shot but I told them of her reaction when she was spayed and said no. They said we can do the nasal spray and made me feel less of a good parent to my little girl so I agreed reluctantly. They gave her steroids and benadryl before the treatment and put her on amoxicyllin. She has been back to the vets again and received another steroid shot and benadryl injection and changed her antiobiotics to tribessin. She is still sneezing, running nose, severe reverse sneezing to where her whole chest sinks in. They say nothing can be done, she will be ok. Not in my book. This issue is not over. To boot, they charged me for the second treatment even though I did not want her to have the stuff in the first place. She is never boarded or around a bunch of other dogs. They make you feel like a bad person if you don't get the shots or nasal spray but then you feel even worse after you do and they have a bad reaction. Not sure what to do at this point.

Yes, you can avoid future rabies vaccinations by having a titer test done instead. My chi, as well, will NOT have further vaccinations. Two reactions she's had have convinced me that the risk is just too great.

My 9 yr old Chi always has a reaction to the vaccine shots, but they seem to be getting worse. This latest one was for the rabbies (and maybe another?). He is listless and very sore. He cries out when picked up, yelps after he barks (has since stopped barking), walks very unusual, will not jump up or down and hides under a chair shaking. It has been a week now and seems to be getting a little better. His appetite is good and bathroom is OK. I am done with all vaccinations for him except for the required rabbies (unless I can avoid that too?)

I have three terriers. Welsh, Irish and Wire Fox. The Fox Terrier is 15 and because of reactions to vaccinations, I now have all boosters given separately. Last April, 2007, I took my 3yr old Welsh Terrier, Maggie, to get her DHPP. She had been very healthy up till then. She was very lethargic for the first two days and would not eat. Then, she started walking with her head cocked to the side. She stumbled when walking and seemed disoriented. It was a very busy time for us...we were packing to move from CA to VA in ten days...my father was dying and in the care of hospice. It wasnt until about five days after Maggie was vaccinated that we realized how serious her condition was. We took her to the ER Vet about May 2, 2007. Blood work and urinalysis were normal. The vet performed a neurological exam and said that she had a serious neurological problem. She was concerned that the live virus from the vaccination might have crossed the blood brain barrier and actually caused her to contract distemper. There were also a lot of other neurological diseases that could be the cause. She told us that the only way we would know what was wrong was for her to have a CT scan and a spinal tap. She told us that these tests would cost about $1500-2000. We of course decided to go ahead with the tests. She sent Maggie home with us and told us that she would contact us in the morning. She wanted the tests done ASAP because the next day was Friday and if the tests werent done by noon, they wouldnt get the results until the next week. She called us very early the next morning and told us to have Maggie in San Diego at 9am. It was an hr drive for us and we left her off and were told that she could probably go home that night and that they would have some of the results by then. We called to find out when we could pick her up and were told that she needed to stay overnight because her blood pressure was very high...and they didnt have the results but would in the morning. Called early the next morning and was told that Maggie should stay thru the day because of blood pressure...and they still didnt have the results. By that evening, they wanted to keep her overnight. We told them that we were coming to get her. I was sure that blood pressure was from her being nervous...and they promised they would have results when we picked her up. We drove down to get her and were told that they still didnt have the results...seemed strange since that is why they needed to perform tests before noon the day before. Sent Maggie home with Prednisone and antibiotic. In the meantime, we moved out of our house and spent the next week with my family. My father died that week. We were on the phone with the vet daily...one week later there were no results from the tests. The final bill was $3,500 but we had no idea what was wrong with Maggie. She was no better...still stumbling and cocking her head to the side. She was no longer playful and slept all of the time....and peed constantly because of the prednisone. On the 17th of May, we had to leave to drive to VA. The Rx had run out and they renewed them. The vet had no explanation for the lack of test results. We started to realize that somehow the test results must have been lost. There was no other explanation for no test results ten days later. The vet kept putting it off on the lab. On the second day of our trip to VA, the vet called me on my cell phone and said that all the test results were normal. My question to him was, What is wrong with my dog? After all of that time and money, they were telling us that there was nothing wrong with her. She wasnt better though. We took her off of the prednisone and the antibiotic. We had been stopping every hr for her to pee while we were driving. It has now been over a year. Maggie is now back to normal. It was a gradual change. She no longer cocks her head to the side. She plays, runs and eats normally. The one lasting side effect seems to be with her personality. She has become anti social. She doesnt like to be held and growls at us when we make her do something that she doesnt want to do. She never acted like that before. Our new vet in VA does not want her to have anymore vaccinations...except for the Rabies. She said that it is the law that she has to have that one. She is four now and is due for the rabies in a couple of weeks. I am hoping that it doesnt cause the same problem that the DHPP did. We will never know for sure what caused Maggies neuroligical problems but I have to believe that it was the booster shot that she received.

You asked about vaccination reactions. With my new whippet pup, I actually decided to do a modified vaccination schedule. A single distemper then wait 2 weeks then a single parvo. After both shots, the pup literally screamed all night long. I had no idea this was a reaction. A few months later my pup wound up with cardio-myopathy and is dying. I read in the book Homeopathy for Cats and Dogs by Don Hamilton, DVM that the parvo vaccine can cause cardio-myopathy. Also, my holistic vet said that my pup was probably susceptable and that the vaccine caused his condition. This has cost me thousands of dollars over the past 2 years to keep my sweet dog comfortable until his ultimate death. I no longer vaccinate at all and my dogs are healthier than ever. Unfortunately, it took the slow death of my sweet Jack to finally figure it out. We've been using Arsenicum (homeopathy), a raw diet, Canine Cardiac Support (glandulars), CoQ10 as well as Pimobendan (pharmaceutical) from Canada in support of his condition.