Vaccine Reactions, How Common Are They?

[Greytlady94]

My three greyhounds are 10, 10, and almost 9. Their vet and I have agreed on titers with the exception of intranasal bordetella which is given every 6 months, and that is what we have done for over three years now. It certainly is not less expensive this way, however I believe it is the right thing to do for my dogs.

[Guest taylorsmom]

A lot of dogs have adverse reactions to vaccinations that go unreported. The other problem is that people do not always link the two together.

 

Just this week at agility a woman with a Springer who has Demodex all around her eye was asked if the dog was recently vaccinated. She said yes and when they figured out the timing, it really pointed to the vaccines as a contributing factor to the severe demodex.

 

A lot of owners don't even realize what a vaccine can do to a dog and thus don't equate the two. After working with dogs daily for several years, I think the incidence is much higher than most people think, at least 10-25%.

I agree with this post entirely. And thank you so much, Dr. Feeman, for starting this very important poll and thread. I think it is very helpful for all responsible dog owners to discuss this very important issue. I do think that a lot of reactions are not recognized as such, because we often are looking for the dramatic reactions (like seizures, or respiratory difficulties, etc.). I also think that most people do not know what to look for and in which of their pets to look for reactions the most, like in immune-compromised animals. My Lab Lucy is a case in point. When she was a puppy, she seemed totally fine, we got her from a reputable breeder and had access to all the records of her lineage. At the time, I had not yet done any research into vaccinations and so just went along with the vet and breeder on giving the enormous numbers of vaccines that are typically given to puppies at the same time. After her first rabies shot she developed a large lump at the site of the vaccination, which eventually went away. Then I did my research, and delayed her next series of shots for as long as I could. One of the reasons I did this was because, within a month after her first rabies shot she developed terrible skin allergies. So I had her holistically treated with a combination of Homeopathy and NAET for the allergies, and by the summer of 2007 she was doing much much better. Unfortunately, we had her yearly vet visit with a new vet in September of 2007 and the vet insisted on giving her at least the rabies, in order to comply with the law. I had already decided that I would titer for the rest, and not give lyme or lepto because of all I had read regarding the ineffectiveness of these vaccines. I have been feeding my dogs a species-appropriate raw diet in an effort to help boost their immune-system functioning as well, because that is what I believe is our best line of defense against many diseases. Anyway, about a week after this rabies vax Lucy's skin allergies were back full-blown, and have been terrible ever since. Is this a vaccination reaction? According to my regular vet, no probably not. But according to the reading and research I have done, as well as according to my holistic vet, yes most likely. Why isn't there more consensus on this in veterinary medicine?? It is so frustrating!

 

Now I am dreading Taylor's upcoming yearly exam, because she is due for her rabies re-vax and she is hypothyroid. From what I have researched, vaccination reactions can include a worsening of auto-immune related disorders. I would love to get a medical waiver for her, but unfortunately I think that may not work because I don't think many vets think of thyroid issues as possibly being related to vaccination reactions. Rita, my one dog who has no immune-related problems that I know of, had her rabies booster about a month ago with no adverse reactions noted.

 

I do believe that vaccines have been incredibly important in decreasing the incidence of many of the more severe diseases that animals can die from, but I think the trade-off has been chronic, quality of life-altering (not necessarily life-threatening) diseases such as allergies and auto-immune disorders. One of the problems I see is that there does not seem to be yet a good consensus on how long immunity lasts so the veterinary community's hands are tied by the legal community, insisting on (in PA anyway) rabies re-vax every three years. I am grateful that in this state at least it has been changed to a three year instead of the ridiculous yearly re-vaccinations. As someone else noted in another post, how many adult humans get re-vaccinations and boosters on a yearly basis?? Or even every three years??

 

I also think that there is a lot of ridiculousness and hysteria on the no-vaccination side. It seems that strongly anti-vax people (my former homeopathic vet included) seem to blame anything and everything on the rabies vaccination in particular. My homeopathic vet thought that Lucy's obsession with tennis balls was related to rabies vaccinosis--uh, no--she is a Labrador Retriever, and tennis balls are in her blood!! That is like saying that a Greyhound's couch potato behavior is related to rabies vaccinosis!!

 

Edited because I feel guilty about my long-windedness in this post!!

Edited June 16, 2008 by taylorsmom

[Cheryl2]

I have to go along with the very rare voters. I don't know about other breeds but in the past 15-16 years, I've seen thousands of shots given to greyhounds with very, very few adverse reactions. It's my job to pay attention to how they're feeling day to day, lethargy, off feed, any changes in behavior or appearance. I'm referring to greyhounds only of course.

[Guest BasilMom]

My personal feel is that just like human vaccines there is a trade off. My skin children always had some type of localized or systemic reaction to their shots. As far as canine vaccines go I was very upset when my Bridge girl Holly less than 48 hours after getting her booster shots at 19 months old and 1 week off the track started to have Grand Mal seizures. I still atribute the 5 in 1 to her seizures but my Vet wouldn't commit to it and I understand. It may have been a coincidince. 5 months after her rabies shot last year she came down with OS just after her 5th birthday. Maybe she didn't have the right gene pool or it was her fate but only my greyhound puppy gets boosters now and my other gets Rabies only.

[Guest Snowy8]

I voted rare, I've had 15 greyhounds & Pipi has an allergic reaction. Gabby has an epileptic reaction if she gets all her shots at once....Pipi breaks out in hives....so she gets a benedryl shot before her shots.

[Guest PiagetsMom]

I've only had one of my girls ever have a reaction to her vaccinations and it was only after she was older (12 or 13) and the vet told me that as their immune systems are compromised by age that sometimes happens. He advised skipping the vaccinations for her, and we did. But, that incident hasn't stopped me from vaccinating, and won't unless Piaget were to have a problem herself, which as far as I can tell, she hasn't. Her vet does have everything pretty much spaced out, and while it means more frequent trips to the vet, I'd rather it be that way.

 

Lucy only goes once a year, and her last vaccination she was very, very sore and stiff from all of her injections. Nothing more serious than that, but I felt sorry for her and actually told DS to talk to his vet about it next time around.

Edited June 20, 2008 by PiagetsMom

[Guest EmilyAnne]

A lot of dogs have adverse reactions to vaccinations that go unreported. The other problem is that people do not always link the two together.

Exactly what I was going to say.

 

Also, I think the complications can arise later down the road than we think, such as cancer, and etc. Science can't prove a connection, but they can't prove there isn't a connection either.

 

I'm not against the idea of vaccinating altogether, but there needs to be more educating about OVER vaccinating. Also, pet owners need to look at their individual situations. Such as the overal health and history of your dog, wether or not your dog is in contact with strange dogs, etc.

 

My dogs will no longer be getting vaccines as Riley is 13, and Henry is just too sensitive. (He has epilepsy)

 

Currently my dogs are up to date, (Riley cause I didn't know better, Henry has ony been with us since October)

 

I know pretty soon I'm gonna have to make sure I avoid my dogs having contact with other dogs. I know this won't be too hard. People around here are respectful about that. If they aren't, I could tell them to keep their dog away cause my dog has a horrible highly infectious disease and that should do the trick.

 

I'm also very watchful and careful about my dogs sniffing other dogs stools. I wish more people would scoop!

 

[macoduck]

I know this is a 2004 poll but I realized I'd never voted in it. Beginning in 2005 Gracie has had a reaction to her yearly vaccines, though not life-threatening. She did have a bad reaction to the dental vaccine. Wally has had a mild reaction as well. Our vet now advices them each having a steroid shot at the same time as vaccinations.

[Guest daseff]

My girl greyhound fell extremely ill a day after her vaccines....she couldn't walk at all by the next day and spent 6 days in emergency care.

 

So with my boy grey, we went for his annual vet exam and I asked the vet to draw blood and check the titer levels BEFORE the vet administered ANY vaccines. That is the best way, in my opinion, to tell if your grey's levels are where they need to be. Then you don't unneccesarily give them vaccines when their systems don't need it.

 

If you are at all scared like I am about vacccines....please try this next time instead of just getting the vaccines like the vet usually reccomends.

[Guest MZH]

We got a 3 month old puppy who had been vaccinated twice with a 7 in 1 shot before the age of 3 months. He was very lethargic for a month after we got him -- so lethargic (or calm, we thought) that we named him Perry after Perry Como. Frankly, the lethargy worried me; the pup was acting like a 12 year old dog and couldn't even play. The blood work was abnormal too.

 

Then we discovered he was a she and that she had rounds, tapes, giardia, and a UTI. We took care of the worms and the UTI and in time she became the lively pup she was meant to be.

 

Perry became Perri and Perrier because she has become bubbly and downright rammy! We don't know if the change in her behavior was the wearing off of effects of the two 7 in 1 shots plus the 5 in 1 and the rabies shots (not at the same time) we had to give or because she just got healthy after deworming and eliminating the UTI.

 

All is well now; she's 7 months old now.

 

Marcia

 

[Guest RooRoo]

I think about this often and although neither of my greys has had a noticable "adverse reaction", I have had 2 of my cats suffer. Without getting into here and bore you all, I am convinced the tumor in one cat and sudden sickness followed by behavioral issues in another was a direct result of vaccinations. The timing was too much of a coincidence. This most recent case was the 3rd "reaction" in 14 years... too many as far as I'm concerned.

 

It's all so confusing too- so many and what are they really for- I use the argument that I have cats that are exclusively indoors. For the dogs what is lepto and parvo, distemper ...and all the other ones really for?

 

I agree with many here that you don't necessarily cease all vaccinating - there's got to be some benefit but maybe over-vaccinating?

 

Health risks aside, the other problem with NOT doing it for the dogs is that I want to abide by our state and town laws. In order to get a dog license, you need proof of rabies. No dog license = trouble with the town... and they check from time to time. Other times you need proof of vaccinations for boarding or public events so I've been vaccinating like a good citizen.

 

But my biggest concern is...I can't help but wonder if some cancers and other chronic diseases are instigated by the many, many vaccines over the years of an animal's life... I am a simple person, not real smart by any means but somehow I think there got to be some correlation along the way

Edited October 19, 2008 by RooRoo