Poor Dexter had a reaction to his shots yesterday.

[Jodie]

Last night was a RUFF night for all of us. I felt so bad for Dexter. We had to get his shots at the Vet yesterday. He seemed pretty mellow after we got home. I guess I wasn't too upset about it. I asked the vet if there was any side effects to the shots and she told me that he may be a little lethargic. I was NOT prepared for the vomiting that followed. About 3-4 hrs after his shots, we were eating supper. Dex was laying on the rug and he gave me a glazed over look. I commented to my husband that he looked like a sweet old dog. Suddenly, he looked at me (as if to say help me) and threw up PROJECTILE puke everywhere. He continued to puke until nothing was left in his stomach. Thankfully, it was on our kitchen floor. I was busy cleaning up the mess (as my family tried to get through supper). When I turned around, Dex was lapping up his water dish and I freaked! NOOOOOOoooooooo! Sure enough.....about 2 min later the flood gates opened and Dex threw up again. This time, I held on to his sides and told him he was going to be ok and he collapsed in my arms. I thought he was dead. His eyes were open, but he was limp and not responding to my voice. He didn't move! After a few minutes (probably more like seconds...but it seemed forever), he seemed to be aware of his surroundings. I kept him with me for about 5 hrs. He calmed down and seemed well enough to put in his kennel and he made it through the night just fine. He hasn't eaten any food for me this morning. However, I'm not going to push anything other then water until this evening.

My concern is wondering if it was the shots, or if it was the wormer medicine that she gave him? It was a liquid that he drank and I'm almost certain that he threw it up!

I wish there was a way to prevent this from happening again.

[Jodie]

Dex is doing much better today. I've noticed that he's a little sore when we try to hold him, so we're trying to be a little cautious. But, he's playing, running and being his crazy ol' self again! I'm still going to use caution during the next vaccine and do only one at a time...I'm thinking it's MORE money...MORE office visits...but just like kids...they are sooooooo worth it!!!

[2SCdoodles]

Poor Dex. Keep us posted on how he is doing. I had a dachshund once that had a reaction and vomited in the car on the way home. She then developed whelps all over her face. I took her back to the vet and they said she had a reaction. I remember the vomiting being her first symptom, but the whelps were huge and her nose swelled up and was huge!

From that point on we had to give her a Benadryl injection prior to the shots, wait about 30 minutes, and then administer shots, wait another 30 minutes to monitor for reactions. She never had another reaction to the shots, but she always got the Benadryl prior to the shots.

[Jodie]

I called my the Vet's office this morning. I have started brand new at this office as our current Vet of 12 yrs passed away. Anyway, I was so thrilled by her caring reaction! She was very kind and apologized for what we went through. She said that typically, reactions happen very soon after the shots (like 15-30 min). Since ours was a few hours, that was a little different?? Anyway, she said that NEXT time we will have to give Dex an antihistamine shot prior to the vacs. In addition, she said we will break the shots up. Instead of going back in 4 weeks for 2 shots, I will go back in 3 weeks for one and return in 3 weeks for the other. That way, we can pin point exactly which shot is doing this IF it happens again. Hopefully, he will be fine.

Since the passing of our loved Vet, we've seen 2 other Vets and this is definitely the place for us. If a VET can't treat my dog like family and listen to my concerns, then he doesn't deserve my business. Unfortunately, my experience and "word of mouth" has proven that we have more bad then good ones. We are a rural community and many of the Vets only care about routine FARM animal care and very little concern towards domestic pets. Thankfully, I think we found a good one!!