Vaccine Reaction - Page 4

I googled it. Wheatland and Yellowstone counties. I guess I better go get her shot.....

Why are so many vets today, saying to give Rabies at 4 months old? I have refused to do that and usually wait till 6 mos to 1 year like we use to do years ago...I do not like lepto and never give it in a shot....

What about the Corona? Do most of you give the last in a series, at 16 weeks old, the corona> especially if you are in a club or trialing or showing.?

I never give corona either,  think it causes more problems than its worth and if a pup/dog gets it, it just runs its course and then you're done..

Lepto is most often a culprit in vx rxn cases and those prices are ridiculous.. vet need to look into finding another lab to do titers with or I'd be looking for another......

As for the Rabies quarantines, that is just ridiculous!! A totally vaccinated (on paper) animal can still get Rabies - no vaccine is 100% and a simple titer will prove whether or not a dog has protection and I'd fight like a dog myself to prove it..

This happened in New england in the 80's..it was just ridiculous.. talk about panic in the streets.. overvaccinating is not going to solve the problem.. it may have officials thinking they are covered but they aren't and they have just required you to f#$%& up your dogs immune system... GRRR!

gsdlv2

This has happened twice to my female who will be 4 in December.

The first time was in New Jersey when our vet gave her both her 3 year rabies and combo booster at the same time.   The swelling was moderate and we medicated her with Benedryl and used wet compresses to help with the itching until it subsided in about three hours.

After we moved to North Carolina, we discussed this with our new vet and when vaccination time came she gave the rabies a month prior and removed the Lepto from the second mix because she said that is often the culprit in reactions.  We also premedicated our female with a double dose of Benedryl on the vet's recommendation.  In addition, we made certain that the Fort Dodge product used with tissue-based, not egg-based which the vet said would also help.

Despite all this, the reaction was more severe and lasted about six hours.  Our beautiful dog was unrecognizable and looked a lot like Jake LaMotta after a really bad bout.  After more research and several conversations with our vet, we have decided to vaccinate our female with only a 3-year rabies as required here by law and because we live in a county with a large number of rabid wild animals.  We will do blood titers on everything else and hope for the best.  We are too concerned that the escalation of her reaction could mean that the next time she might have a really serious problem like anaphalactic shock.

Our male, who suffers from inflammatory bowel disease, had a very bad flare last year after his rabies shot.  We feel we have no choice but to renew his, but we will elminate all others for him as well.  We feel the risk is just too high to take the chance.  I don't trust the drug companies that make human products, the pet food companies, or the companies that make drugs for our animals.  The push to increase the bottom line has too recently resulted in a rush to market and a cavalier attitude toward safety.

Do your homework and be an informed dog owner where vacs are concerned. Most dogs do not need annual vaccinations. Do titers first and if your vet wants to charge you an outrageous price for that, find a new vet. If you have a dog that does not "hold" a protective level of immunity for more than a year, odds are that dog is an immune cripple that can't make antibodies and will need annual vacs as long as it exposed to other dogs or areas frequented by other dogs. These dogs are likely to come down with a serious auto immune disease some time in their lives. Lupus, immune mediated bowel disease, leukemia, etc. Maybe even DM, the jury is still out on that. These are the dogs that we would not want to breed. The lepto vaccinated against is not the one most commonly encountered in the US and is normally considered effective for around 6 months. Why bother?

I've had personal experience with leukemia in 3 dogs. All 3 were over vaccinated by vets who didn't do their homework or who cared more about money than giving their clients the information needed to make an informed decision about how often to vaccinate their dogs and for what. Each had every vac known to the vet profession, on the same day. All 3 died from leukemia.

I will never again subject a dog ofmine to annual vaccines unless he or she cannot make antibodies. Adult dogs do not die from parvo. In fact with the use ofTamiflu puppies should also survive with no ill effects if the vet catches it soon enough. Lyme is curable when diagnosed in a timely manner so it your unvaccinated dog does get sick with lyme, it can be cured. If a dog is vaccinated against lyme, it will frequently show a positive lyme titer, so you will not know if that is from the vac or if the dog is actually lyme positive and you still have to treat the dog with antibiotics. The lyme vac is nowhere near being 100% effective either. I would not use it unless you are in an area that has a lot of lyme disease. The vac is no longer avilable for humans due to the poor response of humans to that vac.

Uncomplicated kennel cough is never fatal, it is self-curing and self-limiting.  Very few cases lead to pneumonia, but it is a nuisance disease and most feel it's worth vaccinating against so as to not have to listen to the coughing and gagging.  I opt to not vac for kennel cough. In the almost 50 years I've owned and showed dogs, I've never had a dog with kennel cough and they were not vaccinated. A kennel's requiring it is protecting itself from being blamed for your dog getting kennel cough while on site. A vac will prevent your dog from getting bordatella if exposed to another dog that has it, but it will not stop your dog from bringing it into that kennel so does not protect any dogs other than your own. In today's litigious society I can understand why a kennel owner would require kennel cough, but they might think about considering having the owners sign waivers if they don't want to vaccinate their dogs against kennel cough. BTW, I would never use the intra-nasal form. My first GSD developed a chronic bacterial sinusitis after an intra nasal vac demanded by a kennel. He sneezed mucous and blood for 3 years  until dying from leukemia. We carried towels everywhere he went. He was treated by the premier soft tissue surgeon in the east and in spite of 2 surgeries and every antibiotic known the man, it never cleared up. The surgeon was puzzled and was very careful to not say the vac caused it, but he did say it was a definite possibility.

First do no harm............

So sorry to hear about your little girl . Last year our litter all went for their first shots. Within 4 hours the oldest male was sick, vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy, no appetite. By the following morning all 7 pups were ill. The vet said it was parvo, but the pup that got sick first recovered in less than a day. One girl(pick female) had to be put down, she was so ill. All the other pups recovered within 4-5 days. Most were Ok after 48 hours, this does not indicate parvo from what I have read. After lots of research on the net, and through many doggie friends, we came to the conclusion it was a vaccine reaction. It seems that in some combinations, parvo, distemper vaccines and worming WILL make pups very sick. We are now taking a minimalist appraoch to vaccinations, following Dr. Dodds guidelines. All of the pups eventually found excellent homes, and non have had any long term effects, and all went through their second vaccinations without ill effect, although using different manufacturers vaccines.

cheers...

I don't even believe the timing of this thread.  Really now....when was the last time we talked vaccines?  I finally made an appointment for Joe (my young male) for the end of this week after going to my vet last week and discussing my concerns about the shots.  It has taken me months to make this appt........I don't even believe the timing.

gsdluv2, I honestly don't think a dog (or human) has a reaction to anything the first time it is exposed to the allergan. I wouldn't count on the lepto being the culprit, but ask your vet if it's possible for that to happen at the initial exposure. I've been taught it is not.

Glad your girl is doing much better now. She looked sooo sad.

The vet clinic I first patronized when I moved to this town uses vaccines as a cash cow. They said they would only board my dog in isolation ($21.00 a day) instead of regular boarding ($18.00) because she hadn't had the bordetella vaccine (kennel cough).

They also said my cat would have to be boarded in isolation because he'd gone a couple of months past a year with his vaccines. That was because I took him in to be vaccinated, and walked out with a bill for $185.00 for a minor ear problem (and no vaccinations.) They said they'd do the vaccinations when I brought him back for the recheck in a weeks time.

Well, guess what? I was so angry over the size of my bill that I NEVER WENT BACK!!