Rabies shot reaction !

1634 Views 9 Replies 6 Participants Last post by katlover13, Jun 5, 2012

Fran

Discussion Starter · Jun 3, 2012

Just a quick note - since we are heading out on errands soon...

Gracie has reacted to her shots - not horribly, but enough that we definitely notice something is not right! She had her kitten shots before we got her from the breeders, but nothing since. She's five and fully indoors.

What we have seen is a visual / nervous system issue, I think. The first day home she did nothing but sleep, and we gave her homeopathic 'thuja' as suggested by the vet, as well as an immune booster (sterol, an adaptagen). By Thursday she was more active but showing weird behavior:

- we have an oriental rug with strong colors and a few black-and-white motifs; in the evening she was spooked by the rug and swatting at the designs, as if she was seeing double(?) or thought they were raised up (?) or moving (?)

- next day, in the daytime, I put a small amount of fish oil (clear) on her plate in the kitchen (glass), usually I add it to a plate of food, but this time I forgot; she backed away in fear, and then slowly studied it before she licked it up

It seems as though she is not trusting what she is seeing, and as long as things are routine she is fine, but if there's any novelty or uncertainty, there's fear and confusion.

We put her back on the homepathic in small amounts, plus some other things. I have given her trace amounts of: milk thistle powder for liver cleanse and support, B vitamins for stress, and L-theanine, an amino acid which the doctor recommended for central nervous system healing (when my father was going through his terrible fatal experience of fluoroquinolone poisoning

).

She seems a little better today. I will keep posting as we go. Obviously, Gary and I are just sick about this. I am just glad we know her so well that we can tell something is wrong and can help her through. I have already called the vet with a 'heads up' but of course it's the weekend...

Fran

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rightsaidfed

· #2 · Jun 3, 2012 (Edited)

I hope she's ok! This scares me because I'm taking my kitten in 2 weeks to get his 16-week shots including rabies. It's required by law here.

My vet was very highly recommended by the rescue group I got my kitten from, and her specialty is cats. Hopefully she'll be up front when I ask her if I should be looking out for anything in particular. I've only been to her once, and while she's very nice and seemed thorough, her office is small, underfunded, and extremely busy because they are inexpensive. Hopefully she doesn't miss anything ecause of the demand.

I'll have to do a little more reading before we go for our rabies shot. In the meantime, hopefully Gracie's side effects wear off soon!

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laurief

· #3 · Jun 3, 2012

rightsaidfed said:
I hope she's ok! This scares me because I'm taking my kitten in 2 weeks to get his 16-week shots including rabies. It's required by law here.

Vaccines should be given several weeks apart, so tell your vet to administer only one vaccine at a time. You can bring your kitten in several weeks later for the rabies. Also, request a non-adjuvanted rabies vaccine.

Laurie

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rightsaidfed

· #4 · Jun 3, 2012

laurief said:
Vaccines should be given several weeks apart, so tell your vet to administer only one vaccine at a time. You can bring your kitten in several weeks later for the rabies. Also, request a non-adjuvanted rabies vaccine.

Laurie

She said it was perfectly safe to do rabies and fvrcp together. In fact she recommended it because it would save time and be less expensive than to pay for another visit. First visit is a flat rate then "recheck" visits for subsequent boosters are less expensive. The price difference isn't enough to be a huge concern to me, it was more saving the extra trip. I'll give them a call tomorrow to see if I can schedule them apart.

She mentioned non-adjuvanted. I need to read up more on this stuff, but I'm pretty sure that's their default.

Thanks for the heads up though!

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laurief

· #5 · Jun 3, 2012

Here are links to two excellent articles written by veterinarians on vaccinations. I strongly recommend you read both thoroughly BEFORE you have your kitten vaccinated.

Vaccination | Little Big Cat
Vaccines for Cats: We Need to Stop Overvaccinating by Lisa A. Pierson, DVM :: Vaccines are very important but do carry risks

Laurie

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Fran

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jun 3, 2012

Just to follow up - Gracie did not have the adjuvant versions of the shots. I suppose we could have used the nasal version Fvrcp, but in the end we thought that for this time the greater length of protection offered by the shot would be better than the nasal dose. The vet didn't think she would be at much risk of sarcoma at the injection sites since she hasn't been over-exposed to the procedure etc.

Fran

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Mom of 4

· #7 · Jun 3, 2012

I tend to be very concerned about the preservatives in the vaccines. Spreading out the vaccines gives you more exposure to the preservatives.

Thimerosal is being phased out in human vaccines - it contains trace amounts of mercury. In trying to eliminate side effects of the combo vaccines, many parents actually exposed their child to what I think may be worse in the long run.

You educate yourself as much as you can, make the best decision that you can with that knowledge and don't look back.

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bkitty

· #8 · Jun 3, 2012

Make sure your vet knows about the reaction. There are differences in the type & formulation of vacine (1 yr vs 3 yr for example). And if your cat are indoor only check to see if your state will allow the vet to make the call if the vacine is optional due to a reaction. Our Pixel is exempt due to reactions & Bentley only gets a 1 year vacine because of reactions BUT our guys never get to go outside.

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Fran

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jun 4, 2012

Update: she's still having visual / nervous system issues - hesitation, unsure moments, confusion etc. but last night she wanted to play - and wrestled and chased and chomped

for a really long time.

The vet called and was fine with the supplements but is switching Gracie to a more specific homeopathic remedy for a few doses (nux vomica for nerves and vision).

She is recommending that Gracie be recorded as a do-not-vaccinate candidate from now on. If ever we must give her a shot again for some reason, she said do them only one-at-a-time - but basically she said never is best. She also said that in her experience purebred kitties tend to have more trouble with shots than mixed breeds. That makes sense - stronger immune system from a greater variety of genetics...

I guess airplane travel or international adventure will be the only area where this might be an issue someday...

Fran

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katlover13

· #10 · Jun 5, 2012

Glad to hear Gracie is doing better. Hopefully you have no plans to travel to China or Europe with her any time in the future.

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