Reaction to lepto vaccine
 

Recently, my pup Oliver had a fairly bad reaction to the lepto vaccine. He started sneezing, the vomiting. Shortly after his face started to swell and he had a hard time breathing. Scared me to death. The vet hospitalized him overnight and he came home the next day. Now my question. The vet said she would leave the decision up to me if he received the vaccine again next year. If he receives it, he will have to be dosed with benedyl prior to and likely again afterward and will also require a hospital stay. Would it be better for him not to get it at all. What if his reaction is even worse and more severe with damage to his health?

My vet decided this year not to give my dog the lepto vaccination. Last year he was very ill, and there's a small - teeeeeeeeeeeeny, tiny, really - chance that the vaccine may have triggered the problems. The vet thinks that we're safer without it than chancing a reaction. According to him, when they DO see vaccine reactions, it's normally due to the lepto vaccine and they're seeing a few more of that recently - it's not incredibly common, but it seems to be happening more and more with the new vaccines. We are even taking the precaution of dosing Tommy with Benadryl before/during/after his other vaccinations as well, also recommended by the vet just to be on the safe side.

What kind of dog is Oliver? The vet also said that some breeds are more at risk of a reaction to the lepto vaccine... pugs, yorkies, and a few others, I can't remember which ones.

If it were up to me, I would leave the lepto out for Oliver as well - I'm leaving it out due to a small possibility, but you KNOW that Oliver has a problem with it.

lepto reaction
 

I was leaning towards not giving Oliver the vaccine. I have been reading articles on the rise in lepto cases in dogs and was afraid of not getting the shot. I really don't think that all the steroids they will pump into him can be good for him either. Oliver is a six month old shihpoo.

I was pretty worried about not getting the shot too, but when the doctor wanted to leave it out I figured it was a pretty big deal. Most vets really tend to over-vaccinate (in my opinion, at least!)... so when they suddenly turn around and recommend NOT doing it, I think it's important.

Is Oliver on steroids due to his reaction this time? Poor little pup. At least he's ok now. You might want to talk to your vet about using Benadryl next time anyway, our vet recommends it for every dog who has ever had a vaccine reaction of any kind just to be safe. We just call them for a dosage and start Tommy on Benadryl 24 hours prior to his shots and keep him on it for almost a week after. It has pretty few potential side effects for dogs, at worst it made him a wee bit more sleepy in the mornings.

Oliver was on steroids for two days and benedryl for a couple days after that. Your right, he sure was sleepy for a couple days. He seems just fine now. I guess I'm just worrying in advance. They are members of your family.

I don't mean to derail this thread at all, but I just wanted to mention for Tommysmom, since it seems our dogs have similar problems, that I've stopped all but legally required vaccinations because over the years I saw a pretty direct relationship between vaccinations, HW preventatives, wormers, everything really and Streets' digestive issues.

I really think that there is the immediate reactions to worry about, but also the effects on the over all health of an animal, especially if they already have chronic conditions. I'm not at all suggesting everyone just stop vaccinating, but rather that it be treated as an individual thing which is considered in light of the animals health and lifestyle.

i am very scared of lepto, min pins do not--------- do well with it!!! i have a fenced in back yard about 1 acre i think thats good enough for them and the 2 vets i use say no lepto, brenda and the pins[ATTACH]33449[/ATTACH]

Lepto is pretty much an endemic threat here--we do vaccinate against it, and we [I]still [/I]ended up with 8 dogs being treated for it right now. Their cases are very mild, though, and we attribute that to the protection offered by the vaccine.

However, having said that, if we lived in an area with a lower prevalence of leptospirosis, we'd likely not vaccinate against it. We didn't when we lived just 40 miles from here in Eau Claire. Now that we're in the county forest, though, it's a different story.

Is there a lot of leptospirosis in your area, Mistie62? If there isn't, given that he's reacted to it previously, I sure wouldn't hesitate to just drop the lepto vaccine from Oliver's vaccination protocol.

[QUOTE=pitgrrl;547151]I don't mean to derail this thread at all, but I just wanted to mention for Tommysmom, since it seems our dogs have similar problems, that I've stopped all but legally required vaccinations because over the years I saw a pretty direct relationship between vaccinations, HW preventatives, wormers, everything really and Streets' digestive issues.

I really think that there is the immediate reactions to worry about, but also the effects on the over all health of an animal, especially if they already have chronic conditions. I'm not at all suggesting everyone just stop vaccinating, but rather that it be treated as an individual thing which is considered in light of the animals health and lifestyle.[/QUOTE]

I was actually thinking about this, Pitgrrl... I had Tommy's shots done this year simply because he's so young, I really felt he should have his first adult shots. I think after this though I'm going to find a way to do titers instead. Rabies is every 3 years here, so I don't have to worry about that for a while, but I'm uneasy about the others. I've never been able to prove a direct correlation between vaccinations and Tommy's issues, but they DID start after he began his first round of puppy shots. Our vets mentioned it when we went for his shots this year. They aren't the same vets that we originally had, but they sat there combing through alllllllllllll of Tommy's extensive veterinary records, counting off days between when he had his puppy shots and when I had him in for various gastro issues and they really feel that there might be a correlation even though they don't match a textbook case of vaccine reaction. I'm glad you brought this up though, because you have what I don't - EXPERIENCE. I have only gut instinct, because Tommy is so young, I won't be able to see the patterns very clearly for another couple of years.

Thank you for bringing this up, hopefully others will see it too and perhaps gain more insight into mystery gastro issues!

And yeah, sorry for highjacking this thread! It's really all related though... it's always a balancing act between protecting our dogs from potential threats and protecting them from unnecessary medical treatments, isn't it? [SIZE="1"]And heaven help the doctors if I ever have a skin baby... what's in that vaccine? Do we need it? Can I titer test my baby? :laughing: [/SIZE]

According to the vet, lepto isn't a "huge" problem here, but it's still around. After reading these posts, Oliver will most likely be skipping that one next year unless it becomes rampant.

My puppy, Roxy, just got her Lepto shot, and she's going to get her booster for it tomorrow. I didn't see any reaction with it in her, but my vet did tell me to keep an eye on her. The way my vet made it sound is all they have to do is give them a shot to reverse the affects if she does have a reaction. She said that it was common in small dogs to get reactions.

My mom's dog has severe reactions to shots too, he gets seizures from some certain shots, its really scary. She has decided not to give him his shots unless the virus becomes very common in our area and it is something to worry about.

I would ask the vet if it's something to be concerned about if he doesn't receive the Lepto. If they say you should, maybe you can leave him there and they can give him something to make the reaction go away when it becomes present. If they say they are not really worried, I wouldn't do it.

Good luck to you guys! :)

My dog also had a reaction as a puppy and swelled. The Vet always leaves the Lepto out of her yearly vaccines thinking that was what made her swell. He has always given a Bendryl shot when she takes her yearly to be safe. She is 10 yrs old now and never had a problem since. My opinion it was the Lepto but we never took a chance and left the Bendryl off to know for sure. Wish I could tell you more other than she has made it without the Lepto. She is 10 yrs old now.

Lepto
 

My golden just contracted this and we live in north Oshawa in a subdivison, not a rural area at all and she only goes for walks on the sidewalk and park no dog parks. You don't want your pet getting this it's nasty. She seems to be responding well to the antibiotics and the fever is coming down, it started at 40.2 C. plus her liver enzymes were going up. Our vet says we caught this early so fingers crossed that she continues to do well. Needless to say we will be looking into the vaccine. You would be shocked at how fast this thing attacks your dog. Not fun and scary.

Glad your golden is doing better, Style. It's a scary disease! Hope she's fully recovered soon! :goodvibes:

I don't give lepto and my Vet fully approves. They actually said they are against it before I even had a chance to say I didn't want it. Few cases have been reported in my area and it seems the probability of adverse reaction to the vaccine outweighs the danger of getting lepto. More so if an owner is attentive and notes a problem early but we all know things can sneak up on you too. Plus, I believe it is akin to the human flu vaccine, or bordatella for that matter, in that it only targets certain strains and there is no guarantee the strain in any one area is the one of the ones the vaccine covers. I re-evaluate this decision every year at check up time.

when I brought Leo to the vet the first time after getting him from the shelter, I brought all his papers he came with and the vet was surprised to see he got a lepto vaccine. He was probably from a breeding farm which might have been why he got it, but she said a lot of dogs have reactions to it so she prefers to give it only to dogs who live in high risk environments. Not to say dogs can't catch it outside these areas but sometimes the risk of complications outweighs possibility of infection.

One year old labradoodle
 

My one year old labradoodle had the lepto shot and had a bad reaction to it this was 6 weeks ago and now he has lost 10 pounds and is not wanting to eat or play I took him to the vet and we are waiting on blood work to see what's going on with him but I think it has to do with the shot he had did this happen to anyone?

[QUOTE=Stacii;1051332]My one year old labradoodle had the lepto shot and had a bad reaction to it this was 6 weeks ago and now he has lost 10 pounds and is not wanting to eat or play I took him to the vet and we are waiting on blood work to see what's going on with him but I think it has to do with the shot he had did this happen to anyone?[/QUOTE]This is quite an old thread and you might get better results if you start your own. I have not had a reaction because I don't give Lepto. If you google you will find that lepto vaccine can have bad reactions and some, like me and my Vet, do feel the risk of reaction to the shot outweighs the possible benefit of the shot. The risk of your dog contracting Lepto varies by region and by what you do with your dog. Since this thread is old you may find more up to date information by googling the vaccine. But hopefully others will have more up to date info. too. i hope he's better soon.

Lots of dog react to the lepto vaccine :(

The middle of this page has a nice blurb why they don't administer the vaccine:
[url]http://wilmingtonanimalhospital.com/info_vaccines.php[/url]