The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
Rabies Vaccine Side Effects
Posted by Nicole (Richards Bay, South Africa) on 08/10/2008
I have a 4 year old Daschund, which I adopted a year ago form the SPCA. He received his first rabies vaccine on the 25 July 2007 almost 4 weeks later he started with the symptoms of a slip disc in his neck (he could not move his neck from left to right and was limping badly on his front right leg, yet there appeared to be no pain in the leg just severe pain in the neck), he was referred form his normal vet to a specialist and more than 30 X-rays later they wanted to operate but could not find the exact location of the slip disc they then wanted to do a CAT scan which I could not afford to do. I decided to try a different vet which a friend had recommended to me. The last vet that I went to gave my dog a quarterzone injection which cleared the symptoms within a week (with allot of rest). I had had no problems with the slip disc or joint pain at all for the past year until 4 weeks ago he went for another rabies shot (Schering-Plough Rabisin) and in this past week the exact same symptoms have started again. I don't know for sure but i assume it is due to the rabies injection.
Rabies Vaccine Side Effects
Posted by Lynda (Merrimack, NH, USA) on 06/30/2008
I have a nice year old border collie who received the rabies vaccine three years ago. Four weeks later she was throwing up yellow bile, her eyes had blood spots, she became lethargic. I took her to the vet and they said she had Thrombocytopenia and she required a transfusion. I was not sure I could afford the 4-5 K to have this done on an emergency basis and called my husband to discuss. He said that he didn't think we could afford it, as they said she might not make it anyhow. After not agreeing to do this I wanted to take her home so she could be comfortable, the other option presented to us that she might have ingested some toxins and we could treat with Doxycline and vitamin K....we opted to treat her with oral medication. Within two days she was her old self again, her eye cleared up, her appetite came back. She finished the medication and didn't have any problems.
She was due this year for her Rabies Vaccine again, my husband took her a little over a month ago, she began throwing up yellow bile, and a huge amount of blood, her eyes are red again, she is very lethargic, eating only small amounts and has to be carried downstairs to go out to do her business. We took her to a different vet and again her platelet count is down, she now has some doxycycline and some steroids. I have give her the medication an hour ago and hopefully she will make another miraculous recovery.
I will never ever give her another vaccine, this stuff is dangerous.
Rabies Vaccine Side Effects
Posted by Stella (OH) on 06/07/2008
Ugg I am so disgusted with these vets, they know damn well what they are doing. It's not possible to be a veterinarian and NOT know the truth about what these vaccines are doing. How Stupid of them to lose our trust. You would think in a bad economy especially that they would want to keep our business. I'll tell you one thing for sure they lost mine a long time ago when they vaccinated my cat without my consent. My cat was healthy for 11 yrs without any vaccinations and without any Vets. I took her to a vet at 11 yrs old and they vaccinated her and it's been all down hill from there. If they thought they were pulling a fast one on me by causing my cat to need long term veterinary care they were sure wrong. I Now Take Care of her myself and with a promise that for the remainder of her life no matter how short or long that may be it will be spent in the BEST CARE in the comfort of her own home and she will NEVER have to be in the presence of those monsters again!!!! (I never planned to be a vet but, hey I will learn whatever it freakin' takes to care for my animals myself, I am the only person who can be trusted to do so) It's a damn Shame!!!!
P.S. This is what can happen if you go to an emergency clinic in Ohio or in any state or country for that matter. It is sick. I am telling everyone Do your homework as best as you can before hand in case you do ever need to go to a vet. To think I went to this emergency clinic once.
Rabies Vaccine Side Effects
Posted by Lynda (Goodyear, Arizona) on 06/07/2008
We lost our beautiful Black Lab (Sadie) after getting her rabies shot. It's been 10 days since we had to put her to sleep and we are hurting so much. She was so anemic and weak. We all need to call the Dept. of Agriculture for Veterinary Biologics (515)232-5785 and insist that our pets get Titer Tested before given anymore shots. They are over vaccinating our pets! People get Tetnus Shots every 10 years. Why do our animals need rabies shots every 3 years? I am so full of Guilt for letting her get this shot. I can not sleep in the bedroom because she slept next to the bed and now her spot is empty.
Rabies Vaccine Side Effects
Posted by Aileen (Pittsburg, California) on 06/04/2008
My 1 year old Chihuahua/MinPin (who is about 5-7 lbs) received his rabies vaccinations on 5/25/08. He has a big kind of hard lump on his back now. I called and they said to wait 2 months and it will go away.
Rabies Vaccine Side Effects
Posted by Cherri (Henderson, Ky) on 05/17/2008
I took my 18 year old cat to the vet to be boarded up for 3 days. I did not ask for her to receive a rabies shot. She stays indoors always. They gave her a rabies shot. Before we took her there, she was eating 2 cans of soft cat food (Fancy Feast) a day and now I am lucky if she will eat 1/2 can a day. She walks around like a zombie now and her walking is horrible. A totally different cat since she had the rabies shot.
Rabies Vaccine Side Effects
Posted by Cesar Montoya (Los Angeles, California) on 05/11/2008
My dog Ronnie, a Dachshund, fell ill after receiving the rabies vaccination. He started shaking and was very sore at and around the injection spot. We tried a small amount of baby Tylenol,it stopped the chills, but the the soreness.
Rabies Vaccine Side Effects
Posted by Telyaka (Katy, Texas) on 04/27/2008
On the 4/25/2008 my rott weiler received a rabies shot after the shot he started making a funny noise like a gasp for air. Now his hair is sheding really bad and he is not himself. I need to know how to reverse the side affects because i do not want my dog to die. I just got him back from the Harris County Pet Shelter because he ran away from home and they told me it was mandatory for him to receive a rabie shot. He is 3 years old and my dog has never been sick... I need to know what to do.
Rabies Vaccine Side Effects
Posted by Sandy (Union, KY) on 04/22/2008
My kitten Cornish Rex at 6 months had his first rabies shot (3 year) and developed a 1 1/2" lump on his upper rear right thigh. I was horrified. It took 8 weeks for it to go away. He also received the 3 in 1 vax at the same time. It caused all kinds of problems with foods i.e. diarrhea. I finally went with raw feeding and that has worked within limitations.
Rabies Vaccine Side Effects
Posted by Judy (Toms River, NJ) on 04/21/2008
Rabies Vaccine associated auto immune disease Generalized Ischemic Vasculitis: Peaches vax was April 9th in R rear haunch, ear sores and big greenish spot on same haunch at end of May, nose became chronically warm/dry with whitish look off and on, major swelling in right rear leg and haunch in mid October, hair loss inner thigh and bony rear pelvic bone near rectum with atrophy over same R thigh/haunch haunch, by November she had developed sores on each of her toe pads, peeling nails, hair loss and sores over knuckles of toes, then it took 10 months (March ) for her to lose all the hair over the haunch where the green spot originally was. Finally diagnosed by the Chief Professor of Derm at UPenn, Dr. Morris. Take photos of every change you see.
She is getting better on Natural Vit E, Transfer Factor, Ester-C, Immuplex, milk thistle, Sam-E, and the drug pentoxypylline.
Rabies Vaccine Side Effects
Posted by Missi (Colorado Springs, CO) on 04/21/2008
At 6 months of age my rhodesian ridgeback, now 20 months, received his rabies vaccination (Pfizer). One month later he developed bleeding ulcers on his ear tips. He has finally been diagnosed with small vessel vasculitis caused by the rabies vaccine. His ears have not been without an ulcer for the last year. At 12 weeks, my boxer got his parvo vaccine. He has a congenital birth defect of his eye, which caused a pinpoint cataract. Within 12 hours of the parvo vaccine, his eye became very inflamed, completely dilated and could see that the cataract covered the entire lens. He has been on medication to keep the eye comfortable since this time (3 years). My 12 y/o bulldog presumably has rheumatoid arthritis from her first 5 years of being vaccinated. THis cannot be confirmed to be caused by vaccines though.
Rabies Vaccine Side Effects
Posted by Silvia (Tempe, AZ) on 04/20/2008
My nine year old American Hairless Terrier began going into shock about 7 hours after getting her rabies booster (Ft. Dodge vaccine). Her face and neck began to swell, her breathing became difficult and I had to take off her collar so she could breath due to the swelling. We rushed her to the emergency vet (of course it was after hours by then) to get cortisone and steroid to treat the shock. After about 20 minutes she could breath better and within an hour you could almost recognize her face again.
Rabies Vaccine Side Effects
Posted by Jill (Anoka, Minnesota) on 04/20/2008
I just got my 3 year old tabby her yearly rabies vaccine. She hasn't stopped throwing up since she got home at 2:00pm. It's now 8:00pm and she is sill throwing up. She won't eat and the one time she got a drink of water she threw it up. She cries and cries, hiding behind furniture. My younger cat is as concerned as I am. I questioned even getting her the vaccine because she never goes outside(neither cat goes outside). I didn't give her the distemper/respiratory 3-way because I didn't think it was necessary. I'm glad I didn't. I'm hoping with some rest she will get better.
Rabies Vaccine Side Effects
Posted by Jennifer (Wantagh, NY) on 04/19/2008
Hi, My 4lb. Chihuahua Sprite reacted to Vacc.. I think the Rabies. He is now 8yrs old.. but when he was younger I noticed hard tissue under his skin where shot was given. At first I didn't relate the shots.. I was worried he had a tumor.. so took him to the vet and they actually told me they needed to remove the "mass" to biopsy it. So he had surgery.. well after surgery the mass was found to not be cancer, but only told it was inconclusive to what it was. Then another time given shots he developed the hard tissue again and has permenant hairloss too (at exact shot location). So after this I knew it was from the shots.. this past year I got the basic shot (against parvo, kennel cough & distemper), but no Lepto & Rabies. Which this time he has not developed any hard tissue or hairloss. So scary with these little ones.. and now my friends 5lb Chihuahau CoCo got her shots a few days ago and seems to be having a reaction.. wheezing and tired. I hope she'll be ok!
Rabies Vaccine Side Effects
Posted by Lori (Rockford, Illinois) on 03/19/2008
my dog got his rabies shots last week, and now, a week later, he is nauseous, vomiting, he isnt eating, or drinking water, he has a fever, and seems very fatigued. I seem to remember him having this same problem last year about this same time, but I didnt put two and two together until this year. He is 9 years old. He is half Chiuaua and half pomeranian. He also develops skin problems every year about this time as well. severe Itchy skin, redness, he pulls his own hair out.
