# Bad reaction after shots?



## rayrayr

Hi All,

I am new here, but this looks like the right place to post this.

My husband took my 3 year old 6 lb chihuahua for his annual on Friday. Everything was fina and normal until yesterday, when he started exhibiting signs of soreness around his back and tail (I am guessing that that is where they administer the shots). He was also lethargic yesterday, but played a little bit, ate, drank, went to the bathroom, etc.

This morning, he didn't want to come out of his crate. Normally he jumps out and spins around. He also didn't want to go outside, but after I sort of dragged him with the leash, he went. When we got back inside, he didn't want his cookie..NEVER happened before! Now, he is shaking a little bit and panting. I know the shaking is a semi-normal chihuahua thing, but he rarely shakes at home.

I called the emergency vet, who wants me to come in for x-rays, because she thinks something might be broken. In my opinion, she is just looking for me to come in and spend money that I don't have on x-rays. It's obvious to me that he is just in pain from his shots...but I wanted your opinions...

Thanks in advance.


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## Dogged

Usually the classic reactions to vaccines are being lethargic for the first 24 hours. We nomally tell people at the vet I work at that if it goes on for more than 24 hours, or there is vomiting or diarrhea or any swelling, we need to see them back in.

Some dogs will be sore over their injection site for a little while, usually just if you touch them right on that spot.

This may be a vaccine reaction, or it may be something else. Shaking and panting are signs of pain. They usually give vaccinations around the back of the neck.

It's really hard to tell what this is, but I would recommend seeing a vet.


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## hurricanefloyd

My dog has the same symptoms. We are right now about 23 hours after the vaccines. He was ok last night but this morning he didn't want to get out of the crate, then layed down after exiting the crate. he didn't want to go downstairs but did eat his breakfast. today after work, he doesn't come to greet me at the door (but his tail is wagging like crazy). he doesn't get up, I have to coax him to eat and use his Kong to motivate him to eat. He flops back down on the floor after eating and barely drinks. We went out for a quick pee and he almost fell down the deck stairs. 
He's also having muscle spasms at the top of his left rear leg, sort of where the leg meets the groin. After closer inspection, I see a welt about 3-4 inches long and 2 inches wide (maybe where they injected him?) I did not see the welt until after I spoke to the vet.
When I called the vet, they said to give him adult buffered aspirin for 3 days but to call back if symptoms worsen. The office closes in 2 hours at 7pm eastern. If I want to bring him in I can but if not, I'll have to go to the emergency vet or wait until Monday.
What do I do? I gave him the aspirin 20 minutes ago, how long should I wait? I don't want to end up waiting too long and then having to take him to the emergency vet but I also don't want to be overreacting here.


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## cshellenberger

Find an ER vet and get him in. It's better to overreact than to sit and do nothing.


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## sobreeze

It may be from the rabies vac.. It is given it the musle in the hind leg and that shot does sometimes make them sore for a couple days then they work the soreness out the other vac. are all give in the neck area as a subq that is under skin. I give all my own vac. and have only had one reaction in over 20 years sometime the reaction is from the Lepto part of the shots . You can give baby asprin for pain or if they get hives as mine did you can give beneydrill . But most times after 24 to 48 hours there is no soreness . Rabies shots are the ones that most often make them a little sore .


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## hurricanefloyd

He did not get a rabies vaccine this year, it is not due until next April. I know for a fact that he got at least 1 shot back in that area. There was a helper holding him when the vet gave the shot, I was looking at the dog at the time so I'm not sure exactly where he was injected back there.


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## briteday

My older papillon had a reaction to the combo (DHPPC) shot last fall. Since we volunteer at a local shelter their clinic provides vacs for our pets free. So I took advantage of that instead of using our regular vet. The next morning she wouldn't come out of her crate, squealed in pain if you even just touched her fur let alone her body or try to pick her up...that was excruciating to her. I waited for my regular vet to open at 8 and he said to bring her right in. He was convinced that it was a vac reaction. He put her on the aspirin regimen and said if she wasn't significantly better in 24 hours that he would give her steroids. By 3PM that day she was pretty much back to her old self but the achiness took a few more days to resolve.

What I learned from my regular vet is that law states they must give the entire vial of vaccine to each dog, same dose no matter what the size of the dog, great dane or papillon. Not that just doesn't make sense to me (biochemist, worked in medical labs and pharmaceuticals)...or to him. So in his office, when you go into the exam room, the tech has already checked the chart to see if you are there for vaccines. She pre-loads the syringe, drawing up the entire vial. When the vet comes in for the exam and to give the injection, in the case of a small breed, he wastes some of the vaccine into the sink. Therefore no one can ever say that the whole vial wasn't drawn up. Logic dictates that a 10# dog doesn't need the whole dose. However, at the shelter, they don't have time for personal adjustments, or interpreting the law. They just give the shot, whole vial to every animal.

Also, the same pap who has not been the same since that shot last fall, just went into the vet last week because she has mysteriously put on 2.5# in 6 weeks. Her blood and urine tests were all normal, go figure. The vet said right up front without even waiting for her test results "we will never vaccinate this dog again. Her chances or acquiring rabies is less than mine and after 7 years of vaccines I'm convinced that she is immune to everything. Do you understand your liability though if she ever bites someone?" (the dog has few front teeth left so the odds of her breaking someone's skin is slim) I told him that I completely understand my liability. We nodded in agreement and went on with the cat, 8 years old, never had a vaccination reaction but we decided since this is a 100% indoor cat, been vaccinated every year so far, no need to bombard her old immune system with any more antigens. He has been spot checking titers in clients who can afford to do so and every one beyond 6 years old has come back with full immunity to everything, cat and dog. So no more vacs for the cat either. 

In addition he has attended several seminars by noted researchers and decided on a new protocol for vaccinations. Since 3 year rabies are legal in our area, that's not a problem. However, on a case by case basis, he is advising owners of elderly pets that vaccinations may not be in their best interest, would they like to run titers? if they are on the fence about the issue. He recommends that all animals complete the booster program through 18 weeks weeks of age, then boost again after 1 year. After that, rabies is every 3 years. He splits the combo (he only vaccinates for parvo, distemper, and one other...I can't remember, but not lepto) into 2 fractions (parvo and something else) one of the years in between the rabies, and distemper the other year. He feels that by only giving antigens to one or two viruses at a time the young immune system has a better chance of forming the proper antibodies because they are not being "bombarded" with 5 in the typical combo shot. And if the animal has a reaction, you have a better idea of what vaccine causes the problem. By age 4 each animal has then received an additional full round of shots beyond the 1 year mark. At that point he is leaving it up to the owners to decide how many more rounds of vaccines they want to give their animal. And he and his associate (new grad from a progressive vet school, even talked to me about raw feeding  !!!) are very good about explaining things in terms that their clients can understand.
This vaccination protocol is being supported by CO State Univ, U of WI, and Texas A&M.

A small disclaimer....understand that by law all animals in the US must be vaccinated against rabies


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## hurricanefloyd

Well I spoke to the vet and she said to keep him on the aspirin and to give 2 25mg of benadryl 2x daily just in case it's an allergic reaction. I got him to go out and poop which he hadn't done all day and he moved around a little bit more, although still very gingerly. I feel better after talking to the vet and not just the person who answers the phone (no offense to anyone who has this job). I also felt better after the vet said she would be in tomorrow 9-5 so if things get worse, I can bring him in tomorrow. I also have an older Rx of Rimadyl, a chewable painkiller, from when he sprained his tail. She said I could give that 1x a day instead of the aspirin. 
I feel silly that I'm this worried about this but this is the first time he has had this kind of reaction to his shots (he's 3 1/2).


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## Misskiwi67

I would decide to get titers checked from now on if your vet will do it. Once a dog has a reaction, they're even more likely to have a worse reaction next time, and the smaller the dog, the more likely they are to get anaphylaxis. I'd stick to rabies only if you can...


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## onyxdaily

My lab puppy had a reaction to his first set of vaccines after we got him, although his reaction doesn't seem to be as severe as described above. But we told the vet right away and when they gave him his next set of shots, they gave him a benadryl shot first and he didn't have any problems. Then we ended up switching vets (for a different reason) and she is going to not only pre-dose him with benadryl, but she recommended splitting his shots up and not giving everything at once due to his high tendancy of allergies (he is also allergic to spiders).


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## luv4gsds

It is a good idea to get antibody titers test done before another set of vaccination is given. Holistic vets will give vitamin C with bioflavanoids before your dog gets vaccinated, the vitamin c with bioflavanoids acts like an antihistamine. There is a fairly new titer test out called TiterCHEKTM this is done at the vets office and only takes about 15-20 minutes to get the results back. The TiterCHEKTM test for canine parvovirus and canine distemper virus. From what Dr. Dodds states, measuring the titers for these two vaccines which are canine parvovirus and canine distemper virus shows proper immune system. Although laboratories will check for coronavirus, lyme and so on. It is recommend that comb vaccination should be given separately, and spaced out at least two to three weeks from one another. This will help with the adverse reaction. You have two types of vaccines which are core vaccines and non-core vaccines. The core vaccines are canine distemper, canine adenovirus, hepatitis, canine parvovirus and rabies. The non-core vaccines are canine parainfluenza virus, distemper-measles combination vaccine, bordetella bronchiseptica, leptospira spp and Borrelia burgdorferi. The core vaccines are the ones that are recommend the non-core vaccines are the ones that are given when it they are called for. 

If your dog has had a adverse reaction it is a good idea to do a full body detox.


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