Puppy can't handle vaccines!

[Caney Creek]

Caney, my 11-week-old white female, went to the vet yesterday morning for her 2nd round of shots. She had a terrible allergic reaction -- turned beat red, COVERED in hives, swollen face -- and had to stay with the vet for the rest of the day. They gave her a steroid injection right away and benadryl injection later. They called and said she was fine to go home in the late afternoon. Within 5 minutes of her being brought into the exam room, she was completely broken out again -- even though her last benadryl shot was only an hour earlier. The vet gave her another shot while I was there with her, and she started to calm down. She gave me 4 syringes of benadryl to take home and give her every 4 hours, or every 3 if absolutely necessary. The vet said that puppies sometimes have a reaction like this to their 2nd or 3rd set of shots, and the flare-ups should subside within 24 hours -- however, she also said that Caney's reaction was far worse than "normal," and we should forego her 3rd set of shots completely (except for Rabies).

So, I took her home, she pottied and ate dinner, seemed to be feeling better, ran across the backyard with the other dogs, and then was covered in hives again 15 minutes later, scooting around the house like she was being stung by bees. I did not want to give her any more benadryl, and she finally curled up in her kennel in the bedroom and was able to stay there long enough to fall asleep. She woke up about 4 hours later, and we gave her the next dose. Since then we have been doing the injections every 4-5 hours.

My boyfriend took her back to the vet today -- didn't get too much feedback, just gave us 3 more benadryl shots. It has been 38 hours now, and Caney is still breaking out just the same. The hives seem to come back whenever she becomes active or excited or stressed.
These pictures were just taken less than an hour ago.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j108/Zoe_beth/IMG_2103a.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j108/Zoe_beth/IMG_2107a.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j108/Zoe_beth/IMG_2106a.jpg

Has anyone else dealt with this problem before?? I just need some insight, advice, reassurance.... I don't know whether to wait it out or go ahead and take her to a specialist. It is breaking my heart to see her in such misery.

 

[carrieabn]

Poor baby!!!!! Hoping she is waking up this morning mch better!

 

[Jan]

Poor Caney. I hope she is feeling better soon. It can take a few days for a bad allergic reaction to subside. I would just keep giving her the bendryl.

 

[Biff]

(((Hugs )))) for Caney, I hope she's back to normal soon


She is gorgeous btw

 

[Caney Creek]

Thank you everyone for your support!

Jan - Thank you for the reassurance, that's all I needed! I just don't want to keep pumping her full of benadryl if it's something else she needs. I thought it would be over by now!

We ran out of the syringes of benadryl last night, and had to make a trip to Kroger to get some children's benadryl. She has been sleeping since we gave her the liquid, and she looks ok right now (still a little red and bumpy on he face, but not too bad).

We will be keeping a close watch on her! Thanks again for the love!

 

[Draymia]

I am glad she is doing better. I would be VERY careful about future vaccinations. I would do titer checks to see if she ever actually needs another one. And then I would only give Parvo or Distemper and no more combined. The titers may show she does will not need any future vaccinations.

I only give vaccinations (puppies) for live threatening diseases. I do not give all the others. After the initial puppy vaccinations of only parvo and distemper, I run titers and have never had to give a dog over the age of one, another vaccination, except for rabies. The rabies is a law, but if there is a problem, your vet can excuse that vaccination.

 

[BoscoDog]

This same thing happened to Bosco when we took him to get his 1st shots. Bosco's allergic reaction didn't happen until right after we got home. It was so scary! We had no idea what to do so we rushed him to the emergency vet.

Anyways, since this happened we give him benadryl before he goes and gets his shots and we haven't had the problem again.

However, your case sounds more severe then Bosco. I wish you luck and I hope your little girl feels better soon!

 

[MaggienDeuce]

Can't imagine how scarey that must be. Hope your sweet girl is all better soon.

 

[Caney Creek]

I had never heard of titer checks before, but we will DEFINITELY be doing them if she ever needs more shots in the future! I know she will have to get Rabies next time, so I'm sure they will give her some benadryl prior. I've read that the Lepto vaccine has been known to have sever side effects. I'm not really sure what that one is for.... We will have to do some research and find out which vaccines are most important in our area, and then go from there. We don't want to go through that again!

Thank you all for your well wishes and advice. Caney is doing much better today. She is back to her usual games, and has not needed ANY benadryl! Now we can finally start her antibiotics for the vaginitis she was ALSO diagnosed with when she went for her shots.

Caney earlier this morning, speeding through the living room with her fish toy:
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j108/Zoe_beth/IMG_2282a.jpg

 

[BetsyB]

Oh poor Caney!! Isn't it terrible when one of your babies is sick or hurting?? Glad to hear she is finally feeling better now. I would also forgo any unnecessary future shots.