We took out 1.5 year old Cavapoo to get shots on Wednesday. They gave him a rabies shot and a distemper/parvo/para/a2 (?) shot. He was fine for several hour afterwards, running and playing like usual. Around bedtime, he started crying when we tried to move him into his bed, and all the next day he hardly moved. When we tried to pick him up, he would yelp. I called the vet, they said some smaller breeds have these kinds of reactions. Today - more of the same. He isn't moving, hardly eats, the pain seems to be gone, but he's just not himself. We're going to try to get him in today, but I was wondering, is this a normal vaccine reaction?

Adverse reactions happen according to our vet.

When our German shepherd received his last rabies vaccine shot, he started crying and whimpering that evening. It was obviously bad so I called the vet the next day and was told to give him Benedryl to see if that helps. It didn't, the vet didn't have any other ideas, and the crying and whimpering continued nonstop for two weeks and ended completely a month later.

Wow

quote:

Originally posted by bryan11:
Adverse reactions happen according to our vet.

When our German shepherd received his last rabies vaccine shot, he started crying and whimpering that evening. It was obviously bad so I called the vet the next day and was told to give him Benedryl to see if that helps. It didn't, the vet didn't have any other ideas, and the crying and whimpering continued nonstop for two weeks and ended completely a month later.

Wow! That's scary! Glad he's doing better. Maybe we'll just watch our boy for a few more days.

We had a Schnauzer, that had gotten her yearly shots for several years with no problem. Took her in one year for rabies and parvo. About 45 minutes after we got home, she started having trouble breathing. Made a red light and siren run back to the vet, and I can’t remember what he gave her, but it fixed her up. After that she got her shots about a week apart.

I only allow my boys to get vaccines 1 at a time a week or so apart.

My littlest guy gets significant swelling for about 3 wks after vaccines. About the size of a golf ball or a little bigger. That is large for a 15 lb guy. Some just have it ruff with their shots.

I hope it resolves soon for your boy. Hard to watch them suffer.

Not normal, per se, but it isn't uncommon. For the ones who have adverse reactions, we usually preload them with a bit of NSAID like meloxicam during the visit, which helps mitigate the ouchies.

I wonder if that distemper combo had leptospirosis in it? We commonly use that combo because it's endemic to our region, and it does cause more injection site pain than the DA2PP combo without it.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I'm happy to report that Charlie is back to his normal self and doing well! I think we'll ask in the future that he receive his shots a week apart.