Animals having seizures from vaccinations?

[Mommyintraining2]

I just heard of an acquaintance whose horse was vaccinated and began sweating profusely and having seizures. Two days later it died. Have you ever heard of animals having adverse reactions to vaxes?

[northwoods1995]

Yes, I worked at a vet clinic at one time and a puppy had a serious anaphylactic reaction after vaccinations. He survived though. I can't remember all of the details b/c it's been quite a few years but I remember the vet saying it was a vaccine reaction and the puppy was in pretty bad shape for a couple of days but did recover.

[lonegirl]

Like people animals can have anaphylactic reactions. It isn't very common but occassionally it occurs. In 13yrs as a vet tech I have seen only a few mild reactions...not severe

[Mommyintraining2]

Interesting. Also, they can find no cause of death.

[PlayaMama]

there's also the fact that cats can develop sarcomas from vaccines. my mom's clinic has moved to vaxing on the hind leg because that way if a tumor develops they can amputate the leg rather than have the cat die from the spreading of a malignancy.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Rare but very possible. One of the 7 puppies I had had bad reactions to the vax he was given. Because of it we didnt finish his series.

[Plaid Leopard]

An acquaintance told me it was dangerous not to vax my children. Then his GF reminded him that they could no longer have their dog vaccinated because of the reactions it had had to the vaccines, so he realized that it could be dangerous to vaccinate children as well.

[bbrandonsmom]

Yes, I worked as a vet tech for many years. Numerous animals developed sarcomas, and that's about the time they started doing the vax in the thigh, and also spreading some of them out to 3yrs. Vets just started seeing how bad animals were reacting to so many vaxs before peds did, imo. That's why they started to do titers instead of vaccines. Last I heard, they were trying to get titers passed on rabies as well, instead of the vax for the state.
I have to board my dogs this winter and utd vaxs are required. I'm going to see if they will accept titer levels instead. Last time we did Bordetella, our dog got very sick.

[prancie]

yes, a friend of mine is a vet tech and a couple of years ago was all broken up because he had vaccinated a dog who shouldn't have been and they expected the dog to die from it.

[Pat899]

Yes, my mother lost a little kitten after she got it vaxed for rabies. It started seizing as she was writing the check and died about ten min later.

[tessa_s212]

I currently work at a vet clinic. We see especially a lot of small breeds that will have reactions to the vaccines, but only a few times have we seen or heard of owners reporting seizures after a vacc.

I own a cockerk spaniel that only has 2-3 seizures every year. They've decreased tremendously from 6-8 seizures when she was younger since she's been an a better quality food, and decreased even more when we stopped vaccinating her. I DO think there is a correlation.

And like a pp said, the fact that they do the vaccines on the legs now, so if it developes malignant cancer the leg can be removed before it spreads... the chance that that could even happen should scare you enough about vaccines. I do NOT vaccinate indoor cats any more. Not for anything. Puppies I do, however, especially for Parvo because Parvo is just so common and life-threatening.

[tatsu15]

Yes, my dog had a seizure 6 months after his rabies shot. This was about 10 years ago though. I was not informed that dogs do not need to get rabies vaccines annually and wish I knew back then what I knew now. The vet said it's common in aging dogs but in the back of my mind I knew it was from the vaccination. Poor thing... I would not have given it to him had I known.

[Jadzia]

Originally Posted by PlayaMama 

there's also the fact that cats can develop sarcomas from vaccines. my mom's clinic has moved to vaxing on the hind leg because that way if a tumor develops they can amputate the leg rather than have the cat die from the spreading of a malignancy.

I lost a beloved cat this way. He developed a cancerous tumor at injection point that spread to his organs.

Also, veterinarians were the first to notice "vaccinosis" - the over-vaccinating of pets and began to use caution. I wish pediatricians would take a cue. Instead they keep expanding the already bloated pediatric vaccine schedule and wonder why so many more kids suffer from chronic illness.

[MoonStarFalling]

We got our first dog, took him in for the required shots and when we got home he collapsed into a seizure. He had them several times after that but they spaced out with time. Then we had to get him vaccinated again for boarding. Same thing happened. He seized several times the first few days and as time went on they spaced out again. I refused to have him vaccinated anymore and he hasn't had a seizure in a few years now.

[Tellera]

One of our cats started to vomit and have diarrhea a few hours after his first shots (was a kitten).  I didn't make the connection initially - it was long long ago before I knew anything.  I had no idea anything could go wrong with shots.  We finally took him to the emerg vet and they gave him benedryl and fluids and kept him overnight.  They told us he would have died if we had brought him in any later, and not to get any more shots but the rabies one from then on.  They couldn't narrow it down as he got a bunch that day. 

I was pretty &%!@ horrified. 

[Otto]

Originally Posted by Tellera 

One of our cats started to vomit and have diarrhea a few hours after his first shots (was a kitten).

Was a dewormer also administered?

[Tellera]

Originally Posted by Otto 

Originally Posted by Tellera 

One of our cats started to vomit and have diarrhea a few hours after his first shots (was a kitten).

Was a dewormer also administered?

OK I had to go get his records to find out. So, the vaxes were given at 23 weeks - I guess not a baby kitten.  They were Bortadella, FVRCP, FeLV, and rabies.  I can't be certain about a dewormer, the only other thing on the invoice is "Well Pet Exam."  He was born in an animal shelter, would they have given a dewormer to him when he was still there?   

Also, according to the emergency vet record, they gave him something called "dex" along with the benedryl.
 

[Otto]

Originally Posted by Tellera 

OK I had to go get his records to find out. So, the vaxes were given at 23 weeks - I guess not a baby kitten.  They were Bortadella, FVRCP, FeLV, and rabies.  I can't be certain about a dewormer, the only other thing on the invoice is "Well Pet Exam."  He was born in an animal shelter, would they have given a dewormer to him when he was still there?   

Also, according to the emergency vet record, they gave him something called "dex" along with the benedryl.

Hmph. I would have expected a shelter to have already given FVRCP (especially, given how devasting an FPV outbreak can be) and, prior to adopting out, rabies. And to routinely deworm. But I'd also expect the deworming to be listed on the records if the vet did it later. I asked only because the diarrhea is pretty common after dewormers in my experience, and the vomiting can go with it early on. The "dex" I'd guess is dexamethasone, but lonegirl would know better. In short, I'm not being very helpful here. I'm glad he made it through, though.

[LivingSky]

All of my initial research about vaccinating (or not) was related to animals. I purchased a Great Dane puppy and the breeder is 100% vaccine free and requires it in her contracts. So, I did my research and came to agree with her stance. Shortly after that, a horse at the barn I boarded at was given the West Nile vaccination and he foundered that night. It was actually the first time I heard a vet agree that a vaccination was the cause of an issue. The horse's owners spent more than a year trying to get him sound enough to live without pain before they had to give up and put him down.

I do wish more vets in my area were open minded about doing titer tests instead of vaccinations though. I've fought with both my horse and my dog vet and finally had to agree to disagree, neither of them will budge - "Vaccines are the only way". Sigh.

Anyway, the things I've learned about vaccines over the years with my animals has been more than enough to convince me not to vaccinate myself or my children.

[KarenMT]

My dog has epilepsy and we are pretty certain it was caused by a bad vax reaction.  he had the DHLP(?) and Bordatella together and was completely catatonic the next day and lethargic for days after.  The vet said he would be fine but we started noticing small odd things and several months later he developed epilepsy.  He has an atypical pattern of seizures- cluster, partial/focal seizures.  Not a full blown grand mal usually but he has severe post ictal reactions which can leave him partially blind for days.  The vet would not comment on whether he felt it was caused by the vaxes but he did say his profile was more typical of an injury (ie. swelling of the brain following a bad vax reaction).  For now we love him and just do our best to manage all his meds.