Allergic Reactions...

Chili is coming up on her due date for her shots, and I'm a little worried. Last year she had the parvo/distemper and rabies at the same time, and that night she had an allergic reaction. I'm assuming it was due to the shots. Since the two were given at the same visit I am not sure which one could have caused it. She does not have to have the rabies this year. It wasn't what I would consider a severe reaction. Her face got a little puffy and her belly was itchy and she vomited everything that went into her mouth. The next day she was fine. I called the vet so that they could put into her records that she had had the reaction. However, what will they do to prevent it from occurring again? Is it fairly common for a dog to be allergic to a particular shot?

Sorry can't help you on that. I've never experience that. Hope Chili will be okay. But i do remember that my friends dog would get really sick and vomit after a shot but on the third shot he didn't get sick. So possibly Chili isn't used to the shot.

I think it's probably more common for the wee tinies to be allergic. Ask your vet what kind of precautions can be taken. It may be that a different serum can be used, or he may want to give Chili one shot on one day, then the other a couple of days later.

Well, Jillian is far from being a teeni weeni - she's well over 100 lbs - probably 120-130 and she has allergic reactions quite badly. The only immunizations she receivs now is rabies and that's only because it's required by law. I never suggest having more than one shot given at a time - typically I would say give a month or two in between and give the system a chance to recouperate from the first shot.

just my 2 cents worth (and we really know it's only worth 1 penney) on the little guys, I would never want to double up on shots. Even if the vet stands there saying it's ok....separate visits seem to be tolerated better. I have always had my pups vaccinated on single visits........no wonder the vet thought I was a walking wallet, he got to charge more. lol Maybe it's just me, but one shot has sometimes made them feel lethargic for a day.

I am so thankful . . . [knocks on wood] . . . that mine don't seem to have any allergic reactions. Except, of course those paranoid allergic reactions the two girls have to any kind of spray bottle

If we have any history of an animal having allergic reations to a vaccination we give them an antihistimine 1 hour before administering the vacc, sometimes we have to change the brand of vacc too some dogs and cats have problems with specific brands, but its not a common problem here for allergic reactions to vaccines to occur

Thanks everyone for your replies. I was a little concerned about them giving her more than one shot at a time, but I figured that if the vet was willing to do it then it must be okay. (Shows how much I know, lol.) That particular day at the vet was a pretty rough one for her. Not only did she have those shots but she had a heartworm test and a skin scraping done. Luckily this time she only gets the parvo/distemper shot since the rabies isn't due again until 2006. I wonder if that (doubling up the shots) was the whole reason why she had the reaction, since the very first time she received either shot she was fine. It was her second time receiving the shots that she had the reaction. I will definitely ask when I schedule her appointment this time to see what can be done or what I can possibly do (i.e., antihistamine) to keep her from having a second reaction. The first one was sooooo scary to me. Seems like any problem that she has seems even more serious to me than it really is just because she is so tiny!

I agree one shot at time those combined shots are not ok .

you can give thuja (homeopathic remedy, 30c) right after the vaccination and then the 4 days following it, and then sulfur (6x) for 5 days after that.

30c and 6x refer to the strength of the homeopathic product.

Does everyone here give their dogs yearly shots? I've read many times before that once every two or three years is fine...thats what I've been doing...

I think maybe its something you can consider if your dog has allergies to the shots...my dogs are usually not around other dogs and I never leave them in bording kennels or anything of the sort...so I usually feel pretty good about giving shots every couple of years instead of annually...my Chi, however, has not had his shots for the past 4 years come to think of it..lol

Its a good idea to give them a shot every year against Distemper,parvovirus and Hepatitis but the manufacturars of the vacc do say that the immunity can last up to two years, so there you go, BUT if you vacc against Kennel cough that HAS to be every year cause the immunity level drops by 10-12 months, Your dog doesnt need to be in contact with other dogs to pick up distemper and Parvo, they just need to walk over the area an infected dog has been! Rabies I dont know anything about cause we dont have that here in Australia, The other good reason to take them in yearly is to get them checked over the vets pick up things sometimes that the owners didn think were a problem so its always good for a yearly check up! Combining vaccines is fine as long as they are not mixed together in the same syringe if they are not the same brand. we have a vaccine called a C5 which is all 5 viruses Parvo, Disptember, Hepatitis, Parainfluenza and Bordatella in one vacc, Its fine, less stress on dog having to give only one needle. Like i said earlier i dont know any thing about rabies vacc so they one might be different

That's interesting, I did not realize that Australia did not have a rabies problem. Good thing because it's a terrible and deadly illness.
Thanks for the replies everyone!