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Rabies vaccination question (1 Viewer)

Stan

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Took my black lab in for her rabies vaccination. Have to do it every three years here in Washington. She's 6 1/2 years old, had one as a puppy, another when she was three or so, no problem.

She's normally very active, running, playing, etc. But she fell asleep in a chair and hasn't moved for almost ten hours. Vet's office is closed until Monday, so nobody to talk with.

Is this a normal reaction?

She also has a minor ear infection in her right ear. They gave me some ointment I need to put in every night for the next week, so maybe related?

She has never been sick a day in her life, but this is very odd behavior.

Sorry for posting so much recently, I'll try and not be a Chatty Kathy from now on.
 

Stan

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She's getting back to normal. The ointment for her ear is working after only three doses. Life gets better.
 

Mike Frezon

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Sorry, Stan. I didn't see this until now.

Adverse reactions to rabies shots can be quite serious.

You need to let your vet know what happened. For one thing, they might change the dose for any future immunizations. He/she may also want to check the dog out and run some bloodwork to see if everything is settling out all right.

We've known people whose dogs have had real, major problems after getting their rabies shots.
 

Mike Frezon

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I don't want to post up this link to frighten you, but this will at least give you an idea of some of the serious things that can happen after a vaccination.

They always say...never look up your symptoms on WebMD...or you'll scare yourself to death.
 

Stan

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I don't want to post up this link to frighten you, but this will at least give you an idea of some of the serious things that can happen after a vaccination.

They always say...never look up your symptoms on WebMD...or you'll scare yourself to death.

Yikes, that is scary. She's due for a distemper update next month, but I'm having second thoughts about that.

She's still totally zonked out, but she is eating and drinking water like normal. Going outside for her restroom needs with no problem. No symptoms except the extreme sleepiness, but I will be calling the vet Monday.
 

David Norman

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I assuming like many humans after vaccines can get a little achy/low fever for a day or two then feel better pretty quickly since giving them something to intentionally
aggravate their immune system. Like reading most medicine labels and reading supposed horror stories after vaccines it seems like nobody should ever survive any vaccination
when of course the overall reaction risk is pretty miniscule.
Do Vets suggest Tylenol/ibuprofen [edit - apparently not the latter] type meds for dogs -- I haven't had a pet in 30 years?

Is she feeling better today? If not I suggest at least calling a Vet Hospital/Vet School advice line which should be available 24/7 and I sure like most
hospital/ER there should be a nurse/vet on-call to answer what hopefully is a simple question.

https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/FAQs/Pages/Vaccination-FAQs.aspx
 
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Clinton McClure

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Rabies vaccination every three years? Most vets will recommend it every year (at least in the south / southeast) and almost every groomer will require proof of a yearly rabies vaccine.

Ibuprofen is toxic for dogs.
 

David Norman

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Rabies vaccination every three years? Most vets will recommend it every year (at least in the south / southeast) and almost every groomer will require proof of a yearly rabies vaccine.

Ibuprofen is toxic for dogs.

Didn't realize -- good to know in case I ever get a dog again. I'm not sure it was even an OTC med back when I last had a pet.
 

Johnny Angell

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Rabies vaccination every three years? Most vets will recommend it every year (at least in the south / southeast) and almost every groomer will require proof of a yearly rabies vaccine.

Ibuprofen is toxic for dogs.
If I don't know about the safety of a drug, I assume it i toxic for my cats.
 

Stan

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Rabies vaccination every three years? Most vets will recommend it every year (at least in the south / southeast) and almost every groomer will require proof of a yearly rabies vaccine.

Ibuprofen is toxic for dogs.

Must be a law that varies by state. We've always been three years here in Washington. I was almost going to skip it, but we got our first near-by dog park a while ago, so with her exposed to other "mystery" dogs, didn't want any problems.

Our first dog park in this "area" was 30 miles away. Ridiculous. Then one was built about five miles from my home. 11 acres for big dogs and a small fenced area for the little guys. The whole thing is fenced, they can run and play, water is provided. Pretty much self-policed. If you have a violent dog or don't pick up after your dog, you're basically banned by the other users. Never had a problem with mine. I think black labs just have this built-in "I love everybody" vibe.

She turned out fine, maybe just a bad reaction this time to the vaccine, but she's back to normal.

As for Ibuprofen, I would never, ever give a dog "human" meds unless the vet told me to. They may be mammals like us, but they're very different.
 

David Norman

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Glad she was OK in the end. Rabies vaccines for dogs here (Southeast also) are also yearly so it must be a regional difference related to confirmed cases in wildlife.

The original mention of the meds was phrased as a question b/c I didn't know what Vets suggested if anything after vaccines. I've been surprised over the years at
some of the meds from antibiotics to pain relievers my friends vets used which were identical (except for dose of course) to various MD rxs.

More surprising/shocking are some of the people I know buying meds off Vet sites for their own/family use because of the massive difference in cost.
 

Stan

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More surprising/shocking are some of the people I know buying meds off Vet sites for their own/family use because of the massive difference in cost.

Had a friend who was into hydrocodone. Apparently there is a veterinary version that is pure hydrocodone, no Tylenol like Vicodin, that is used as a cough suppressant. He took the meds, the dog never saw them.

Found out he was also buying them off internet sites. This was probably 15 years ago and laws have thankfully changed.
 

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