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Old September 6th, 2010, 09:11 PM
Karen4dogs Karen4dogs is offline
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Bad reaction to vaccination

My Border Collie puppy had his 1st vaccination for distemper almost 3 weeks ago with a modified live vaccine. One week later, he couldn't walk and when I brought him to the animal hospital he was diagnosed with vaccine induced polyarthritis. He was on I.V overnight, and given pain meds, steroids, and antibiotics for a week.
He seemed to recover and yesterday his problems started all over again.
He is unable to walk due to the pain and inflammation in his joints. I carry him out to go to the bathroom and he just falls over. My vet says he has never seen this severe of a reaction before. I would like to know if anyone out there has heard of this before. I am taking him to the vet again tomorrow to see what can be done.
Any help or info would be greatly appreciated.
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Old September 7th, 2010, 09:33 AM
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I'm so sorry you're going through this with your puppy, Karen Unfortunately, I have no advice to give you but I wanted to send along some for the vet visit today. I hope it goes well and you get some answers!
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Old September 7th, 2010, 09:37 AM
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Unfortunately I've heard stories from dogs receiving vaccines. My boston started scratching one week after a vaccine and has never stopped. I hope your pooch is OK!
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Old September 7th, 2010, 03:02 PM
Karen4dogs Karen4dogs is offline
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Re: bad reaction to vaccine

Hi and Thanks for the support from those who replied. I took our puppy "Crash" to the animal hospital last night because he was in a lot of pain and was not moving much at all. They put him on I.V again and on the same meds as before since they seemed to work. He will be on them for a longer time this time around. I saw him this morning and he is improving. He will come home tonight. I am very leery about getting him vaccinated again. I know I need to but this has been very difficult for us, especially Crash. Our vet said he would talk to Pfizer (who made the vaccine) and see what they recommend, possibly pre-medicating him next time. Don't know much for now.
Thanks for the input and keep it coming!
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Old September 7th, 2010, 03:06 PM
Chris21711 Chris21711 is offline
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I have messaged Dr. Lee for you, hopefully he is not away and has advice for you.
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Old September 7th, 2010, 04:09 PM
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I'm so sorry to hear about Crash. I love his name by the way. Reactions are not uncommon with vaccines unfortunately. Hopefully Dr. Lee can help shed some light on this for you. I don't know if the vaccines were a combined vaccine and maybe that's part of the problem. Just a shot in the dark, but worth keeping in mind maybe. I sure hope your pup recovers quickly and this gets resolved.
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Old September 7th, 2010, 06:07 PM
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Dr Lee Dr Lee is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Karen4dogs View Post
I would like to know if anyone out there has heard of this before.
Yes. This is not a common reaction to vaccines but can happen especially in younger dogs. Some weimaraner puppies can have a specific reaction if given a standard MLV vaccine (recombinant vaccines do not create this in weimaraners).

Some pets can have very debilitating clinical signs. Many dogs will respond well to pain medications and immune suppressives. It can take time and be difficult. There will also be specific considerations and changes to vaccine protocols with him in the future - many will have to be avoided.

I hope this helps.
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Old September 7th, 2010, 09:31 PM
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Dr. Lee has a sticky thread in cat health forum about vaccines, that might help you understanding vaccines more It is nice to hear your pup is improving. How is he doing now?
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Old September 8th, 2010, 10:02 AM
Karen4dogs Karen4dogs is offline
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Vaccine reactions

Crash came home last night and was very happy to see his family again. He was pretty spunky and very hungry! He is on a stronger dose of steroids, antibiotics and pain meds and will be on them longer and will have to be weaned off of them slower. Still waiting for our vet to call and let us know what to do regarding his next vaccination. Thanks for all your input.

Last edited by Karen4dogs; September 8th, 2010 at 10:16 AM.
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Old September 8th, 2010, 08:10 PM
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Glad to hear Crash is home and I hope all goes smoothly for the little darlin' from here on out!
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Old June 14th, 2011, 02:12 AM
pattymac pattymac is offline
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I've read articles about dogs such as border collies having problems with reactions to vaccines and certain worm medications, I think it's Ivermectin which what's in Heartgard. I'd check on google for Border Collies and vaccine sensitivities
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Old June 14th, 2011, 07:07 AM
Longblades Longblades is offline
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Collie types can carry a genetic mutation called mdt1 that can increase sensitivity to invermection and many other drugs, including over the counter, non-Rx remedies. For instance my sister's first English Shepherd could not take Glucosamine without dire diarrhea and tummy upset. Google, you'll find tons of stuff on it.

Reputable breeders of Collie types (border, rough, smooth, sheltie, English Shepherd etc) will screen breeding stock for this mutation and try not to pass it on. Research also shows that neutered and spayed dogs are at increased risk for vaccinatin reaction. Separating vaccinations by a week or so can help but is hard to do. My Vet for instance uses a combined vaccine and cannot separate the distemper from the parvo. So unless I go somewhere else and spend a LOT more money, presuming I can find a Vet who is willing or able to purchase individual vaccine I'm scuffered.

Make sure you do separate rabies from the others by at least a week or whatever your Vet recommends. You can separate that one.

I love his name as well. Too bad he took it literally. I hope you get him over this successfully but I fear you will have to be on alert for reactions to many other things as well. Nothing insurmountable though, Sis's first E.S. who had some of the same problems made it to nearly 17. Good luck.

ETA: oops, sorry. Mdr1 Not t. And I should add, other, non-Collie breeds are affected too. Whippets for instance. http://www.mwcr.org/be_aware.htm

Last edited by Longblades; June 14th, 2011 at 07:42 AM.
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Old June 14th, 2011, 09:58 AM
2Greatbulldogs 2Greatbulldogs is offline
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Here is a quote from Dr Marty Goldstien (Oprah and Martha Stewarts vet):
"I think that vaccines, justly credited as the tamers of disease epidemics, are nevertheless the leading killers of dogs and cats in America today." Martin Goldstein, D.V.M.

Do your research ; dogs are over vaccinated; No offence to maintream vets out there but yearly vaccinations are the bread and butter of most practices. The 28 leading veterinarian schools are changing their vaccination protocols, it will take decades for most vet practices to change. I know of several cases where people have their animals vaccinated every year for rabies by their vet, but the manufacturer of the vaccine recommends it every 3 years. Much better would be vaccine titer testing.

I too have had issues with vaccinations; suddenly after being vaccinated, my dogs were 'allergic' to almost everything, breaking out in rashes after eating things they ate before with no issues. They sufferered terribly with itching and hives for months after the vaccines and having to be put on medications and steriods all with there own host of adverse side effects or long term risks. Who knows, if my dog ends up with cancer in five years, nobody is going to say; hey I wonder if this is from all those medications you had your dog on years ago. Of course my vet, assured me it had nothing to do with the vaccines, just a coincidence in timing.
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Old June 14th, 2011, 11:01 AM
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Do your research ; dogs are over vaccinated;


Cats too, with some pretty tragic consequences. It blows my mind that there are vets who continue to vaccinate indoor cats against FeLV and rabies every single year, and use adjuvanted vaccines to boot.
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Old June 14th, 2011, 12:35 PM
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Rgeurts Rgeurts is offline
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Our little Nookie's problems were most likely vaccine related (Vaccinosis). They are pretty sure now that's what caused him to have meningoencephalitis. Our holistic vet is writing us a letter stating he doesn't require any vaccines for our trip to the states next weekend, then we will be doing titer testing from here on out.
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  #16  
Old June 14th, 2011, 02:24 PM
Choochi Choochi is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Karen4dogs View Post
My Border Collie puppy had his 1st vaccination for distemper almost 3 weeks ago with a modified live vaccine. One week later, he couldn't walk and when I brought him to the animal hospital he was diagnosed with vaccine induced polyarthritis. He was on I.V overnight, and given pain meds, steroids, and antibiotics for a week.
He seemed to recover and yesterday his problems started all over again.
He is unable to walk due to the pain and inflammation in his joints. I carry him out to go to the bathroom and he just falls over. My vet says he has never seen this severe of a reaction before. I would like to know if anyone out there has heard of this before. I am taking him to the vet again tomorrow to see what can be done.
Any help or info would be greatly appreciated.
Are you positive the reaction was to a distemper vaccine or was he given a combo such as DHPP which contains distemper, hepatitis, parvo, and a flue shot.

I would not re-vaccinate this dog ever if the reaction was this bad. Some vets will suggest combining the vaccine with additional meds to counter the effects of the reaction, I think that's being very irresponsible and not keeping the dog's best interest in mind. I would just do rabies every 3 years which is all that is required by law and do things to boost the immune system.

I was having a conversation with a lady this weekend who's dog had an extreme reaction to a lepto vaccine which eventually caused the dog's death within 2yrs.
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  #17  
Old June 14th, 2011, 03:41 PM
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Longblades thanks for the great website I knew that collies had different problems with drugs and carry a list with me at all times for the vets just in case, but this one has more drugs than what I had.. thanks again.

My mom had a dog that had a reaction to a rabies shot all her neck and tongue swelled up lucky she was still at the vets, she was never given the shot again. Hope your puppy is going to be ok, border collies are great dogs busy but great.....
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