bad reaction to rabies vaccine? :(

SmrBrd2012

My husband took our cat to the vet today to get her 3 yr rabies vaccine. He brought her back and she was fine, just annoyed with the vet ordeal. WIthin a half hour she started vomiting everywhere! First a big load of her food and then saliva/water all over the house. She puked at least 15-20 times. I called the vet and they said to bring her back in. She's back there now and they're giving her fluids and benadryl. They said she (obviously) had a really bad reaction to the vaccine and that they are calling the company and planning to not use them anymore. What?? Why does this have to happen with my cat? Vet also said if she continues to feel bad tonight we'll have to bring her to a 24 hr care place and that the drug company will pay for it (??). Is this a thing that happens? Anyone have similar experiences? She always took her other shots really well.

sandollar1010

Oh no, I'm so sorry.  This happened with one of my dogs years ago.  I'm glad you got her back to the vet because it can get bad quickly.  My dog started throwing up and acting really restless.  By the time we got her back to the vet, her gums were all swollen and white and she was barely moving.  The vet had to give her an epi pen shot, and said we almost lost her.  Our vet wouldn't give her another shot after that happened, and since it is required by law, he wrote a letter to the town.  We had to sign off that if she were ever bitten or got loose; we would need to quarantine her for the specified time.  She never had a reaction before and we thought it was just a reaction to the rabies vaccine, but then the same thing happened with her distemper vaccine - luckily we were watching her closely.  I would make sure with any future vaccines you keep a very close eye on her and ensure you can get to the vet ASAP if needed.  I'm like a crazy person with the dogs I have now; I separate all vaccines and make sure we do them on the weekend so I can watch them all day.  I hope she is doing better and doesn't have any future issues. 

SmrBrd2012

Wow, that's really scary! I'm glad she made it through. 

Luckily, the vet took good care of her and now she's back home and relatively back to normal. Hopefully it stays that way. Will definitely think twice about how we schedule future vaccines. Thanks for the insight.

chrisnjay05212010

that is terrfying! im glad she is back home and doing ok!!!

LuckyAngel07

So glad your kitty is okay, but that is scary!!

My vets have told me that the 3-yr rabies vaccine is NOT recommended for cats anymore. In general, they don't handle it well and there are far more reactions than they see with the regular annual vaccine. I'd be rather annoyed with any vet who didn't tell me that and gave a 3-yr vaccine to my cat anyway!

I hope your cat makes a full recovery. It's unlikely you'll be required to have the vaccine again; most animals that have had reactions to them can be considered exempt, especially if the vet does a blood titer in the future to show everything is in order.

aggiebug

LuckyAngel07 said:

It's unlikely you'll be required to have the vaccine again; most animals that have had reactions to them can be considered exempt, especially if the vet does a blood titer in the future to show everything is in order.

This is actually untrue. Rabies vaccination protocols are based on law and there are no exemptions legally granted. However when a patient has a reaction as you describe I do think it is important to weigh the risks of not following the law vs the health risks for you kitty. I urge you to discuss with your vet the implications of owning an unvaccinated pet. What would happen is she broke the skin of a person? There is slight variations from state to state and even county to county so your local vet is your best resource.

slsorren

This happened to my dog as a puppy - bad reaction to her rabies but one of the vets didn't want to admit it was from that. I volunteer with a reacue and was told some animals can have bad reactions to it. She threw up around 15 times too. It was awful. I took her to the er and she received fluids and antivomiting meds. From now on, I schedule her rabies on a Friday so I can watch her all weekend if needed. Last time they offered to keep her for the day but I didn't think that was necessary, and luckily she was fine! Just something to be aware of now when she is due for shots.

moonprincessd

One of our cats got sick to, but she only threw up once. She was fine. Our male cat had no problem at all. Some animals just have really bad reactions. It's the same with people.