Can dogs be allergic to shots? (1 Viewer)

[Steve Schaffer]

My little (18 lb) dog seems to be allergic to her annual shots. The vet always gives her all her shots at once, and within a day or less she's very lethargic and not eating or drinking, just wants to cuddle and not play or anything. After a couple of days of this I call the vet in a panic and take her in. He gives her some other shot and she seems to recover. I don't know what he gives her, presumably prednisone.

While I'm convinced she's had a potentially life-threatening allergic reaction, the vet seems to think she's just sore from having had the shot.

She's going on 10 years old and I have to admit that fear of this has prevented me from taking her in for her shots for the last 2 or 3 years. I know I should take her in again soon, but really fear that her advancing age may make her even more susceptible than before and I don't want to lose her.

She's a strictly indoor dog, only goes out to go potty and has virtually no contact with other dogs. I do also have a mostly outdoor cat, however, which she is exposed to on a regular basis, and we have had the occasional gopher in the back yard.

I'd really like some advice on this--should we space out the shots instead of giving them all at once? Is there one particular immunization that is prone to cause allergic reactions? Is it safe just to not take a chance and quit giving her shots alltogether?

Any help or advice would be very much appreciated.

 

[Robert_Gaither]

Change vets, that's what I do when they tick me off (I've changed about 4 times, two because they won't extract the air from the syringe before injecting my dog and now she has two permenent lumps).

 

[LDfan]

Reactions to vaccinations are pretty common, both in pets and humans. Ever feel crappy after getting a flu shot? It's the body's way of reacting to the antigens being introduced in the vaccines.

Instead of getting them every year you can have your vet draw some blood and run an anti-body titer. It's a relatively simple test that will tell them whether or not your dog still has enough antibodies in her blood and if so wouldn't require the shots.

Jeff

 

[Julian Reville]

True allergic reactions take the form of wheals, swollen face/muzzle/ears, shock or extreme respiratory distress.
Sounds to me as if your dog is probably sore. (After I received a teeny-weeny vaccination booster for Rabies, my arm felt as though it was going to fall off, for about a week.)

Spacing the vaccinations out might be a good place to start.
Nobody really knows what level of antibody titer is really protective, and in most places a current Rabies vaccination is required by law.

Or you can go to vet school for 4 years, then listen to people tell you how to give vaccinations.

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Thanks all, especially Julian. The lack of activity alone doesn't really bother me as I can easily attribute that to soreness. My main concern is that she won't eat or drink any water--had me worried. I have been pretty happy with this vet overall, he's always been really good when there's something really wrong. He recently talked me out of having my cat euthanized after an apparent losing encounter with a car and the cat recovered completely despite my being convinced she had a broken pelvis at least.

I think I'll just space out the shots and see what happens.

 

[Rain]

Do some research.

There is much information to suggest that annual vaccinations do more harm than good.

They are a nice easy way for your vet to make some regular cash, aren't they?

 

[Julian Reville]

Rain, I really can't ignore this one. I don't know which vet pissed in your Wheaties, but it wasn't me. Now, as far as I know, I'm the only vet who regularly posts here, so I assume I was meant to read this. I find it offensive that you insinuated (and on your other posts as well) that vets, as a group, are only doing certain things for the money. While that may be true for a few vets, I can assure you that it is not true for the vast majority.

As far as vaccinations go, until the manufacturers of the vaccines conduct trials showing the efficacy of the vaccines to be greater than what is currently printed on the label , which is in most cases annual vaccination is recommended , any veterinarian who deviates from this is assuming some additional risk. As in risk of being sued. This risk is currently greater for the manufacturers, as they have a little more money than I do.

In short, there are more sides to this than your simplistic, antagonistic, and downright insulting opinion.