Seizure Dogs And Vaccination

[Hawthorn]

A little background

A year ago, Sunny and Sophie ran head-on into each other in our garden. After this Sophie had a few complex partial seizures (mainly fly-catching and gum-chewing) but we were advised by the vets we saw that these would most likely become less and less frequent and eventually stop altogether. At first this appeared to be the case, as after the first two months during which Sophie had several seizures, she then had none for 9 months. However, 2 months ago Sophie had two seizures within 48 hours of me applying her Frontline, and then another one last night. Currently I am monitoring and noting the frequency of the seizures so that I can discuss with the vet whether medication is necessary. I always keep valium on hand in case I need to give her some to stop a seizure.

 

Vaccinations

I've been doing a lot of reading about seizures and in the course of this have come across information suggesting that it may not be advisable to continue to vaccinate a dog who has seizures, due to the possibility that the vaccine might make the seizures worse. I discussed this with the vet at Sophie's annual check up recently and she said that although Sophie most likely has some brain damage, she did not see this as a reason for not vaccinating her. She seemed unaware of, or at least unwilling to discuss with me, any possibility that vaccines can cause or exacerbate encephalitis, seizures, brain damage etc. She gave me the phone numbers of two vaccine manufacturers so that I could phone them "to put my mind at rest". I did phone them and, as I expected, both said that they knew of no reason not to vaccinate a dog who has seizures and knew of no evidence that seizures can be made worse by vaccines. However, I don't really trust the advice they gave me and have postponed Sophie's booster vaccination whilst I do some further research/thinking.

 

At the moment I am leaning towards never vaccinating Sophie again, but of course that decision brings with it the worry that she will contract a disease, particularly Leptospirosis. I follow the 3-year protocol so Sophie would only be due her Leptospirosis vaccination this year.

 

So, I am wondering what other owners of seizure dogs do? If you have a seizure dog, have you decided not to vaccinate them any more, or do you give them their annual boosters as normal? If the latter, have you noticed any increase or worsening of seizures after the booster?

 

I know that each dog/owner/situation is different, but I often find that hearing the thoughts and opinions of other people helps me to make up my own mind, so your contributions will be greatly appreciated.

 

Sophie says thank you too!

[cleptogrey]

my late welsh terrier had seizures and went into shock right after his last rabies vac. at age 11. we continued w/ other vaccines and omitted the rabies. there is always a way to avoid a state mandated vaccine.

[mom2four]

We have a 12.5 year old Lab that started getting seizures/ epilepsy in 2003, after her routine vaccinations. She has had no vaccines since, but we do have titers done to see where her immunity is at.

[GreyWrangler]

one of my dogs did terrible with frontline, yes i noticed the onset of her, as i call them, dumb seizures. I also stopped vaccinating (except for rabies - legal) her after she turned 12 and was a cancer survivor. She passed at 14.

 

But my current seizure dog gets vaccinated and have notice no correlation to that and his seizures, not even related to his monthly heartworm med, sentinal.

[TheFullHouse]

In one respect, you are lucky, you know what causes Sophie's seizures. Most seizures, especially in people are caused from some sort of bump on the head, which seems to be the case with Sophie. We have no idea why Saint has them. I speculate it was probably from a tumble on the track because none of his siblings has ever had a seizure. I continue to vaccinate Saint just like I do the others because he has never show any adverse reaction to them. If he had, I would have stopped. He also gets frontline and heart worm preventative just as the others do.

[Hawthorn]

Bumping in case anyone else wants to vote/comment

[Guest EmilyAnne]

I've only had Henry almost two years, and I dont believe there is any benefit to vaccinating every single year as opposed to every 3 years. However, Henry is now around others dogs a lot, so I have decided I will be vaccinating him every 3 years. Not the rabies though. Definately the parvo! The rest I need to research more. While Henry is older, (approximately 11) he wasnt rescued until approximately age 7, and he is not from a greyhound kennel as he is a greyhound mix, so I've no idea if his shots were kept up in his first 7 years, otherwise I would assume he would have built up enough immunity by now after all those years of shots.

 

He has no reaction at all to his monthly Interceptor heartworm meds.

[LBass]

I think that it is a very individual choice based on how your dog reacts to vaccinations, medications, etc. Piper has never demonstrated increased seizure activity around dosing with monthly heartworm pills or around vaccinations. Based on that, I carry on with those things as usual. My vet is good about using the 3 year rabies vaccine and I like that, since it protects Piper while minimizing the amount of vaccine he gets.

 

--Lucy

 

[Guest snakes]

as a recent addition to the seizure gang, and luckily enough to have a vet that is strongly in favor of natural remedies, i only vaccinate if absolutely neccesary/legally required, we do titers most of the time.

I am thinking of doing this for my other pup too, she has only had one seizure ever, but if they don't really need the vaccination i see no reason to give it.

[greypuppyluv]

I voted to continue to vaccinate but I only have Phaelin vaccinated every 3 years (and my vet is fine with that). Phaelin only started having seizures late last year and had his last vaccinations 6 months to a year before that, so it really hasn't been an issue yet. If he had a bad reaction to the vacs, I would reconsider, but since he is exposed to tons of dogs through our volunteering, I feel vaccinating him is best for now.

[Guest mcsheltie]

No vaccines for our dog that has had seizures. Our vet writes a letter so we can opt out of the rabies vax. The only flea product we use on her is Adams mist. Nothing topical or systemic for her.

 

Edited to add: From the research I have done, which includes conversations with Dr Jean Dodds and Dr Ron Schultz, we are not worried about her exposure to disease. She has been vaccinated her entire in her life.

Edited October 8, 2009 by mcsheltie

[JAJ2010]

Vaccines last lots longer than the vets want you to believe. I wouldn;t vaccinate and would find another grey/dog savvy home to keep her while on vacation. I'm not big on kennels for vacation anyways.