We know from previous experience that our pugs are both allergic to something in vaccines. Last time we brought our boy in for his shots (parvo and others), he ended up on an IV all afternoon and scared the crap out of us.
Our girl also is allergic, but maybe not as bad. Last time she was vaccinated (I can’t recall what for, maybe rabies?), about an hour after the shot she started puffing up and vomiting. We rushed her back to the vet, where she got another shot but no IV.
Our vet has recommended skipping the Parvo and other shots, and just giving distemper and rabies. So now our girl is up for rabies, and I’m terrified.
Disclaimer: I am a crazy dog woman. This dog is like a kid to me.
Vet told us to give her benadryl before bringing her in, and they will also give her a shot of some kind of steroid pre-vaccination. Part of me wants to skip it altogether, but by law, they need the rabies vaccine, plus I’m not sure how safe it is to skip it. Heck, I’m not sure how safe it is to skip Parvo… but we do.
I just have this picture of giving her the vaccination and having her collapse and die of massive allergic reaction. Can someone please tell me that this isn’t likely?
(and yes, I’ve talked to the Vet, but I’m still worried!)
Our Jake is allergic to something in vaccines as well…her face swells up and her ears get really fat.
Our vet told us the same as yours…give benadryl before the appointment and they give her a a shot to prevent any reaction. This has been working fine and she has had all her shots except the first one without a huge scary reaction.
Try to relax so you don’t transmit your fears to your girl. I’ll send her loving dog mom thoughts to help get her through as well.
IANAV but I would suspect the Leptospirosis vaccine. My pug had the puffy reaction to it. Also, try staggering the vaccines about a week or two apart instead of getting them all at once. If I don’t do this with Jade, she still gets sickly even without the Lepto.
If she’s allergic to the rabies shot, it’s most likely the adjuvant in it that is causing the reaction. Another type of rabies vax might not cause the reaction, but of course that’s hard to know. If she was my dog I’d do everything the vet says to do, and stay at the clinic for awhile so if anything happens you’ll already be there. How long does it take for the reaction to show up?
Get a three-year rabies shot. That will cut down on the number of shots per year. I give my Labrador nosodes for distemper and parvo. Nosodes are a homeopathic alternative to traditional vaccines. My Lab has epilepsy and I’m concerned about the impact of shots on his health. You will need to find a vet who also practices homeopathic medicine.
I haven’t read any studies but if you google nosodes you will find a number of links. Two veterinarians recommended the practice and BD gets a blood test once a year to make sure that he is protected.
The fact of the matter is that no homeopathic remedies have ever been supported by clinical trials. It is bunk, pure and simple. And ridiculous bunk at that. I would strongly caution the OP to run like hell whenever any medical care provider suggests she consider homeopathy as a viable treatment for her dog.
No worries, even if I was of that persuasion, we Yoopers are a skeptical bunch, and there’s no homeopathic vets around here. For the record, although I am open to alternative treatments, I have yet to find any studies that convince me that veterinary homeopathy has advanced to the point where I’d trust my dog’s health with it.
I’m a little nutty about vaccines, I’ll say that right up front.
We did a staggering amount of research and in the end concluded that most vaccines are unnecessary, such as leptospirosis, coronavirus, and (in our area at least) Lyme’s disease.
It sounds like you’ve already gotten to the point of minimal vaccination, but I would suggest discussing with your vet the option of using titers to measure current antibodies, rather than vaccinating routinely. We vaccinated the NajaPup with a single-antigen parvo vaccine at sixteen weeks, and a single-antigen distemper two weeks later, with rabies at six months, and haven’t vaccinated him with anything but legally required rabies vaccine since. NajaPop, DVM thinks it’s a little nutty but doesn’t necessarily disagree.
My research on checking for Titers is about 50/50 for and against. Some places say it’s adequate for testing vaccination levels, others say it’s an interesting metric but not nearly as definitive as some people want to believe.
For me, I like and trust my vet, and will take his recommendations, which are to continue the rabies vaccination but not worry about the others.
An update - so far so good. I’m sitting in the vets office now, post-vac. He ended up giving her half the normal rabies vaccine as well as a steroid shot. I also gave her a benadryl this morning.
I’m hanging here for a out thirty minutes, just to make sure all is well.
Doggy is wondering what all the hubub is about, and also wishing that the office cats would play with her.
