It has been an eventful weekend for my husband and I. You see Squirt, our 2yr
old sable, nearly died. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that we have
nearly lost Squirt to anaflactic (sp?) shock from an extreme reaction to
vaccination.
Last year, Squirt had his yearly checkup and vaccinations and everything was
fine until my husband had gotten a few minutes from the vet's office. Squirt
started vomitting and going to bathroom uncontrollably. By the time my husband
got back to the vet's, Squirt was limp and his gums were blue. After cortizone
and antihistimines, Squirt came through it. Although he tried to play by the
end of the day, he was not 100% until 2-3 months later.
At first, our vets were unsure whether it was the Canine Distemper or Rabies
vaccination which he had a reaction to. Very shortly, they were 98% sure it was
the Rabies vaccination. They also had 2 cats on the same day have reactions to
rabies shots. (1 was very lethargic and 1 had hives) Since reactions are
relatively rare, 3 in one day was extremely suspicious. They immediately pulled
all of the rabies vaccine they had and called the vaccine producer. The
producer told them that there was scattered reports throughout the NE United
States of similar occurrances. This was during/after some bitter winter cold
and they believed that the vaccines had gotten frozen during shipping which
caused the vaccines "separate." This meant some animals got huge doses of the
vaccines.
This year, we felt that it would be wise to have Squirt premedicated prior to
getting his vaccinations and to have him get the Canine Distemper and Rabies
vaccinations separately. He was medicated with cortizone and antihistimines 30
minutes before the vaccination. Ten minutes after the vaccination, his eyes got
glassy, his ears and muzzle had turned red and he began to vomit. (We were in
the vet's office since we had intended on staying there for an hour to make
sure he was going to be ok.) I'm not all sure what the vets did for him, but it
was more than 2 hours before we could take him home. I do know that they shaved
the inside of one of his back legs - I believe they were looking for a vein
since they said it is to find a vein on ferrets. You can see where he got a
shot. I also know they gave him oxygen.
That was saturday. Today he is still real tired. He has been eating, although
not alot and he looks as though he lost some of his "winter" weight. It will
probably be a while before he's 100%, but he doesn't have to worry about
getting another rabies vaccination. Our vet said that it was a different
vaccine this year so he is probably reacting to the antigen itself, not the
solution or the other things in the vaccine. She also said that we shouldn't
have a problem with not revaccinating him vs rabies since it is a documented
reaction to vaccination. (Our only concern is if there was a biting incident.)
When he has recovered (some time away), we will get him his distemper shot, but
he will be premedicated for that too - just in case!
We feel, and our vet thinks it's reasonable, that last year's shot with the
"screwed up" vaccine had caused him his problems last year, but that shot and
possibly a sensitivity he had already caused him to become extra sensitive to
the rabies vaccine.
Sorry this is soooooooo long, but there was so much to tell! I wanted to share
our experience plus give you a warning: Our vet said that if an animal has a
reaction to a vaccination, which is rare, it is usually seen first when they're
a year old. I would encourage everyone, year old or not, to pay close
attention to any of your animals after a vaccination. Rare does not mean
impossible!
-kim, mike, squirt, and pippi (who is doing her best to comfort and cuddle
with her not feeling well "big brother")
Kimberly Burkard | _ Everything I needed to know in
Xerox, Rochester, NY | _____C .._. life I learned from my ferret:
[log in to unmask] | ____/ \___/ Be flexible and go with life's
[log in to unmask] | <____/\_---\_\ twists and turns.
[Posted in FML issue 1084]
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