Reactions to 12 week shots.

Katewilcox · Mar 16, 2016

Today Norman visited the vet to get his 12 week shots. He got the distemper combination with lepto, Lyme vaccine and kennel cough vaccine. He was fine until about two hours after he started to scream and yell (this boy never even makes a peep). I took him immediately back to the bet and she gave him pain medication and also told me to use children's liquid benedryl if anything else should come up. She told me it didn't look like an allergic reaction because he was free of hives, no swelling, and he was walking fine. Just in pain. It's been about 4 and a half hours since and Norman got up and ate dinner and was gently starting to play again. About half an hour ago his eyes swelled. I just gave him a **** of benedryl. Could this still be an allergic reaction to his shots? I feel awful that he's in pain and having all these reactions. Any suggestions?

davidh · Mar 17, 2016

Keep giving him the Benedryl. If he is swelling, give him a 25mg pill, it is twice the regular dose for his size, but m vet told us that when they have an allergic reaction and is swelling to double the dose, it will not hurt them. I have read some disturbing things about the Lepto vac, and I may not give it to mine next time. Please do your research.

MaplesMommy · Mar 17, 2016

I agree. Please do your research on the vaccines and their sideeffects.
Also,try to give vaccines individiually and not combined or multiple at the same time. Vaccinations are very harsh on the immune system and if the immune system was compromised (for whatever reason) it can turn into a bad reaction and/or vaccinosis.

Nu2frenchie · Mar 17, 2016

Hope Norman is feeling better today.

Katewilcox · Mar 17, 2016

Thanks everyone! Norman is doing much better today, no swelling/pain and back to his goofy self. I wish I had read up more on vaccinations but to be honest I completely trusted that my vet knew best. He has a third set of shots booked for another month but I'm absolutely going to be researching more before I take him in again. What a scary experience! It also makes me a little nervous for when the time comes to get him neutered, if he reacted so badly to a needle.

2bullymama · Mar 17, 2016

WOW... so glad your boy is doing better... very scary indeed.

Next time he is due for shots, tell the vet you want them spread out and not all given at once. Our vet office does that routinely, certain shots our vet prefers to give, but others is just a tech visit and we are literally in the office for a few minutes.... a little more time and effort for me, but I'd rather be safe. For instance, Lambeau (our Bulldog) was due four shots last week, so Dr. Rossi did two and now I go back in two weeks for him to get the other two from a technician. Talk to your vet and see if they are willing to do that, if not, you might want to look for another vet.

Katewilcox · Mar 17, 2016

She actually did mention this when I took him back in to get some pain medication. Thanks for all your help!

Squishy Walnuts · Mar 17, 2016

Poor Norman!!

I'm glad to hear he's much better now. Even though my dogs didn't have any vaccination reactions we still had them spread out over a few days just to be on the safe side.

blushy · Mar 17, 2016

Aw poor sweet boy!
It's always scary when things happen to our doggy babies cause they can't tell us anything!

I agree with everyone on spreading them out. Our current vet only does 1 at a time and it's a tech visit, we only pay for the shot, unless of course we want the vet to have a visit with us for any specific reason beside their shot.

I'm glad he's doing better!

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Alice Kable · Mar 17, 2016

2bullymama said:
WOW... so glad your boy is doing better... very scary indeed.

Next time he is due for shots, tell the vet you want them spread out and not all given at once. Our vet office does that routinely, certain shots our vet prefers to give, but others is just a tech visit and we are literally in the office for a few minutes.... a little more time and effort for me, but I'd rather be safe. For instance, Lambeau (our Bulldog) was due four shots last week, so Dr. Rossi did two and now I go back in two weeks for him to get the other two from a technician. Talk to your vet and see if they are willing to do that, if not, you might want to look for another vet.

We have done this with past English Bulldogs. Currently our cat gets shots a couple of weeks apart!

davidh · Mar 18, 2016

@Katewilcox Since he had a bad reaction to them this time, the next set, make sure and tell your vet about his bad reaction to the vac. and have him pre-treat him before hand. They can give a shot that has Benedryl and a small amount of steroid, to help with the reaction. If your vet does not know about this, then I would find another vet.