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.
Bordetella
Posted by Kendra (Effort, PA) on 04/20/2008
In response to you query about side effects. Montana, Airedale 65 lbs and 10 months old given Bordatella internasal vaccine. 2 days later lethargic, loss of appetite, no fever for 24 hours. Pulled through with no intervention, but I won't do that again.
Combination Vaccines
Posted by Lori (Terryville, CT) on 04/19/2008
You asked for experiences concerning vacinnation side effects in pets. I had a very traumatic first hand experience that led to my dog's death within 10 days from the time a 5 in 1 booster was administered. It caused Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia. I felt so guilty for agreeing to the shot - no one ever told me that this could be lethal in a dog. We spent nearly $4,000 trying to keep our poor puppy alive but he just kept on failing. We had to make the painful decision to put him down. Since then I tell everyone I know to do research on what these vaccines can do. My dog was a mixed breed - dobie, rottie & shepherd. I now have a four year old chocolate lab - he's had his initial puppy shots but I am very careful about the boosters - I have a vet that will do titering which is a bit more expensive but I feel it's safer to find out if a booster is really needed "on schedule". It's interesting today parents have to sign waivers for their children when vaccinated but vets aren't required to alert pet owners to the dangers..
Combination Vaccines
Posted by L. Demmons (Lacombe, Canada) on 04/18/2008
six months ago our year old Dashchund had booster vaccinations for kennel cough, rabies, and combination vaccination for distemper etc. The next day she developed a huge lump at the vaccination spot that stayed for 3 weeks. The vet gave us anti-inflamitories. On April 2, 08 she had all her boosters for above vaccinations again. A few days later she got a rash all over her stomach that is still visible now and today just over 2 weeks later her neck is swelled and she has a lump on top of her head. Can this just be allergies? or something more serious. I hope we can manage without anymore shots, only kennel cough which is required for placing her in the kennel.
Combination Vaccines
Posted by Dee (Redmond, OR) on 04/14/2008
Beardsley is a two year old Miki; mix of Maltese, Papillon and Japanese Chin. My vet mentioned that about six weeks after the injection some of the small dogs loose the hair at the site of injection. Instead, five weeks after the injection Beardsley has developed an autoimmune neurological disorder, White Shaker Syndrome. He has fairly violent full body tremors. Steroids are slowing them down, but I have yet to see if the steroids will put him into a full remission and there is a possibility of relapse under stress or with annual vaccinations for the rest of his life. A holistic vet tells me it is possible to get a waver for the rabies vaccine with a neurological disorder. It seems a bit late, but perhaps he will gain a full remission and become himself again. His former animated self is under the bed the majority of the time and quivering uncontrollably, especially with noises like the phone ringing. I did this so he could go to an obedience class, that he can not now attend. Ironic, eh?! -Dee L.
Combination Vaccines
Posted by Tracy (Burbank, California) on 04/14/2008
Duramune Max 5 and Canine CoronaVirus Vaccine for my 9 week old Aussie male. He had a terrible reation which lead to a steroid shot and pills. He has a swollen face poor little thing. I am worried?
Bordetella
Posted by Mary (West Haven, CT) on 04/14/2008
My 7 year old Bichon Frise received the annual bordetella intra-nasal vaccine. The next day he sounded like he had whooping cough. He seemed better the following day, but the next day he had a bloody nose from the nostril which received the injection. He was also experiencing severe pain on the side of his neck. I brought him to the 24 hour clinic and was told he was probably having a reaction to the vaccine. My Vet called me the next morning to say that it was not possible, to bring him in for an exam. He was at the Vet all day and I picked him up with a "so called" clean bill of health. The next morning he was having trouble breathing; rushed him back to the Vet; and he was dead within ten minutes after I got there. After death an x-ray was taken which showed his chest cavity full of fluid. A review of the x-ray from the previous day showed the beginning of fluid, but it wasn't addressed at the time. My dog was a healthy and active dog. I truly believe his death was a result of this vaccine.
Combination Vaccines
Posted by Theresa (Palm Springs , California) on 04/14/2008
I have two Italian Greyhounds, sisters, 1 year 3 months. They had their dhtpp, rabies, and bordetella vaccines on Friday, April 11th. I have noticed a change in their personality as of Saturday.They have been sleeping almost all day long.They get up to move to another position and pass out again. Saturday my blue IG had an accident in her bed, which she never does. Then Sunday night she had diarrhea all over her crate and all over her. The eating habits have not changed. She does seem a bit dehydrated. I haven't seen her drink much. My fawn is just sleeping and does not seem to want to play like usual. Any advice?? Let me also say that my blue had broken her leg 7 weeks ago and had to under go surgery to have two plates in her front right leg. Could she have not been well enough to get her vaccines???? This is all very upsetting. They are like my children and I hate to see them in any kind of distress.
Distemper (Dogs)
Posted by Jackie (Mansfield, Pennyslvania) on 04/12/2008
Molly, a rescue puppy, (lab/rotty mix) was 10 weeks old when we got her. Already had 2 distemper vacs from the shelter. At about 12 weeks (12 pounds) took her for healthy puppy checkup. Dr. said she was very healthy. Then he gave her a third distemper.
He turned toward a cabinet (didn't know what he was doing), turned around with a huge needle. As I was asking "what is that?" he injected her. Then informed me it was her rabies.
I would have waited if he'd given me an opportunity to say "NO, not yet". At 7 months, called to make an appointment to have her spayed. Was told she was ready for a booster distemper. Told them I wasn't going to give any more.
Then was informed that they wouldn't/couldn't take her in without the booster. Against my intuitive "knowing", I let them give it.
That's when she began acting goofy: licking/ chewing her paws constantly, chewing at her belly, licking the air, very exciteable, displaying symptoms of separation anxiety. Her npples were swollen (maybe from the chewing).
Got homeopathic detox meds from the Pet Medicine Chest. Gave her two two-week sessions. It helped temporarily.
Talked with another homeopath who said it was her immune system. Got two bottles of Transfer Factor. It took both bottles (2 months) before I began noticing the improvement.
She seems to have recovered almost completely, except she still licks at the air when she gets excited.
Her diet consists of some commerical kibbles (Beniful) supplemented with home-cooked stew containing either organic chicken or ground organ meats (raised locally, non irradiated - heart, tongue & liver). Also brown rice, 16-bean mix, fine ground carrots, yam, home-grown broccoli, celery & home-canned green beans.
I freeze it in 1/2gallon glass jars.
To that, at feeding time, I ad: raw wheatgerm, brewers yeast, Vit C, MSM & cell salts, diatomacious earth, cod liver oil. She and her 12 year-old sister, Mariah (Old English Mastiff) are beautiful, healthy, sleek coated.
Molly will have her 3rd birthday end of this month (April '08). She's never had another vaccine of any type. Had a titer run at the vet about 4 months ago and she's STILL PROTECTED against distemper.
She'll NEVER had another vaccine until the Rabies titer tells us she needs it.
Seizures
Posted by Lorie (Charlotte, NC) on 03/08/2007
I definitely believe that the booster shots cause seizures in dogs. I had a Samoyed who received a rabies shot. She had gotten loose and was picked up by the dog warden. When I went to pick her up, they asked me if she had had her rabies vaccination. I said it had just expired about a month prior. They would not let me get her out unless she got her rabies shot, so I said ok. I had not gotten them their shots, because I had heard of the controversy of vaccinations and so I had held off so that I could do some research. But instead I had to let them administer it to her in order to get her out of the dog pound. About 2-3 weeks later she had her first seizure. I was scared to death because I had never seen anything like it. I started trying to figure out what could have caused it, and thinking over the recent events to try and come up with a reason for her to have had a seizure. The only thing I could figure is that she had just had the rabies shot. Since I am in the medical field, I went into work and looked up the rabies vaccination in the Physicians Desk Reference. Low and behold, right there in the "side effects" it states that it CAN CAUSE SEIZURES. After doing some research on the internet, I found other cases where dogs had had rabies shots and had started having seizures as well. Now, I know that in the US, dog owners are required by law to have rabies shots every year or two. So for those of you who don't know this, you can have what is called a "titer" drawn. It is a blood test to determine if your pet is still immune or not. If they are, they do not need the shot and you can use that for proof, if you ever have the authorities question you. When an animal is already immune to rabies, and they are given another shot, it overloads their nervous system, and that is what causes the seizures. I unfortunately had to learn this the hard way. My Samoyed has been dead now for 3 years. I still cry to this day over her. She was like one of my children and she should still be alive today. So I hope this helps others to prevent this from happening to their dearly loved pets.
Combination Vaccines
Posted by Kelly (Denver, Colorado) on 03/18/2007
I am very concerned about vaccinations my two pugs received. My female pug had an allergic reaction and vomited an hour after her vaccinations. I also wanted to let everyone know she is only 5 years old and about a week after her vaccinations she had lost a significant amount of her hearing and a lump appeared on her right shoulder. I took her back to the vet and he said she just has allot of hair in her ears, but she use to hear much better until she had the vaccinations. I am also concerned that she had a lump appear on her right shoulder. It appears to have gone down after about a week, however all this concerns me. HAs anyone else expereinced this with their dogs or cats? Concerned animal lover!
Combination Vaccines
Posted by Jim (Pecos, NM) on 03/25/2007
I have had real problems regarding vaccinations for my dogs. Pups that have died a few days after getting a parvo vaccination. I see stories here now and its quite clear that likely these shots are not very safe for our pets. There was an article in dog fancy magazine a few years back about over immunization damaging our dogs' immune system. For us older folks weren't we taught that once any immune system is exposed to a virus-disease it will be (if survived the experience) immune for life from whatever the version. Yet today we are taught by Vets-Drug Pharmacy companies that we must protect our pets yearly for life. Hog wash. The only disease I see in dogs that is a real deadly problem is Parvo. It is so prevalent everywhere. I was told by one Lab that makes one Live Modified Parvo Vaccine- (yah that I used and had several dead pups after) this company told me that once vaccinated the dogs become lifetime carriers and shed the virus periodically . Thus the reason Parvo is so prevelant-widespread-is because we vaccinate so much against it. It's now hard to find a dead killed Parvo vaccine-which would not ever be spreadable. Of course its a bonanza for a vaccine company not to want to rid the world of a virus-so no wonder you can't find the dead killed versions anymore - we have such a greedy group - thinking money - not good health. If anybody has any results of trying to heal an infected pup with parvo using H202 please speak up. I am beginning to experiment with it as a curative remedy for Parvo which can be so difficult and expensive to treat a pet.
Combination Vaccines
Posted by Ronda (San Jacinto, Ca) on 03/30/2007
I just gave my 10 week old Doxie his second set of vaccinations. About an hour and a half later, he started throwing up and coughing. He is currently being treated for kennel cough, but now I'm concerned his immune system is compromised. Should I be concerned enough to run him to the vet? He did eat and drink a bit after he was done being sick. I'm very concerned considering our former pup died of parvo. We used a bleach/water solution and disinfected everything we could. Could my new pup have contracted parvo even though we cleaned everything? Or is his reaction from the actual vaccinations. Any advice would be welcomed.
Combination Vaccines
Posted by Carol (Plant City, Florida) on 04/07/2007
Last year I had both my fox terriers vaccinated and I have never had a problem before, but this time was different.... After my 2 year old male terrier was given all the supposedly necessary shots he began limping....he had a large swollen area near his right front shoulder /neck area and could hardly walk...My female dog 8 years old also had a swollen area but appeared fine at first... I took them back to the vet and he said I just babied them too much but gave the younger dog some type of antiinflammatory meds....It took over 2 weeks for him to walk better and still had a swollen area for quite awhile...Then the female dog started acting funny and started limping on her back leg....vet again thinks we are all crazy and after a month finally did alot of tests costing alot of money....finding out she hurt her knee area and would just have to wait it out....but I think her injury was caused by an initial reaction to the shots...and then she was injured. Well I think that the vaccination brought this whole thing about and am not sure which shots they had a reaction to....and it is time to vaccinate them again and I am just puttin it off and plan to go to another vet.....but I have no choice but vaccinate them or I will not be able to board them this summer for vacation...
Seizures
Posted by chris (Escondido, California) on 04/12/2007
I have a five month old puppy. Her name is Starbuck. She is now having seizures.
Funny but when we first got her she was a jewel, smart, calm and everyday we were amazed at how wonderful a dog she was. As good dog owners we took her to get her shots. Everything started happening AFTER she started her shot series. First she was vaccinated against Parvo. One week after getting the shot, she contracted Parvo, we almost lost her not to mention the 2000,00 we paid to put her in the hospital. She was house bound to decrease the chances of getting Parvo. How she contracted is debatable i suspect it was the vaccines. She survived and of course we were thrilled. We bonded, trained her to do amazing tricks and welcomed her as a part of our family. She was house bound still at this point. All was well and to continue being the responsible dog owners we are, continued with her shots.. one week after receiving her third set of vaccinations, she began having seizures.
Now our sweet dog is having seizures on a weekly basis. I will not elaborate on how stressful and heart breaking as well as expensive this is but I completely understand all the emotions other dog owners are having when their pet goes through this.
We are now on the usual drugs which are not really working. She cant go out to play or anything that causes excitement. If she has too much fun she suffers from seizures when she goes to sleep. The seizures have become clusters mainly on the weekends.
They have not told us that because they happen in her sleep, that may be "significant". Translation: Now we have to go to a specialist. We cannot afford this and if the is what the vet tells us, we will have to make the decision to either give her away or have her put to sleep. THis is heart breaking to say the least.
I believe that these problems are caused by vaccinations. I am not a veterinarian, i am just looking at cause and effect.
Another reason I believe that vaccinations are the culprit is the experience i had with my ferret Duke. Duke was a healthy, fun loving house bound ferret, and being the responsible pet owners we are we took Duke to the vet to get his first series of shots. He had an immediate reaction to the shot and suffered an allergic reaction. One to two weeks after receiving his shots he began to get sick, no one could tell us why. I tried to save him, staying up nights, forcing food and everything else I could do to help him, but he just wasted away and after losing so much weight and suffering a seizure we had him put to sleep. They never determined the cause and we spent 3,000 on tests.
Shots are a necessary evil I understand but I also believe that they kill our animals, cause family members all sorts of heartbreak and drain our bank accounts. My only hope is that if we ever decide to bring another animal into our house we pray that they will survive the vaccinations.
Seizures
Posted by Veronica (Greer, SC) on 04/16/2007
On 4-7-07 I had my 2 husky/lab mixes' rabies and DHPP (whatever that is )boosters given. On 4-14 my male had his first seizure. It was absolutely horrifying! I am still upset. I took him to the vet that a.m.,and had a blood test(?) all seemed to be normal, so he suggested possible epilepsy. My mom-in-law does rescue and said one of hers gets seizures after her vaccine. So if this is the cause why must this be a law that we have to abide by? So we kill our kids with vaccines over the diseases and now we have to kill our pets too? I have recently declined to have my children given any further vaccinations and if there is anyway possible I want to do the same for my dogs. He is "different" whiny, hyper, doesn't seem to want to be alone, his personality is a little off. My female was at the vet on 4-13 and she was growling (not like her) at people. While there, I read in a dog magazine about a holistic vet that said that the vaccines given when puppies should last 7-15 years! So why this stupid law? From what I've read rabies is contracted more by bats than anything else. What's the chances of a dog being bitten by a bat and getting rabies? How do we get these ridiculous laws changed?
