Last Friday night, I took my Maltese, Rudy, for his annual rabies vaccine. I expected it to
be a routine thing. My state, Florida, requires by law that you vaccinate yearly against
rabies. If you do not, they start out fining you $250.00.
Well, it turned out to be anything but routine. He threw up 5 times on the way home and
started to scratch his eyes and nose with his paws. The vet had also clipped his nails and
a couple were too close and started to bleed, so he used that stuff they apply to the nails to
make them stop bleeding. At first I thought he must have gotten this stuff in his eyes. By
the time we got home he defecated on the floor. I then picked him up and noticed that
the skin around his eyes and the inside of his ears were blood red. First I washed his
face and paws, then called the vet. He told me to bring him back immediately.
I rushed Rudy back there and in the car on the way he started to make sounds from his
throat that I had never heard before. They took him in right away and gave him two
injections; one of benadryl and the other of cortisone. The symptoms began to abate
limmediately.
All night long I was scared that the symptoms would return and could not sleep. Rudy
didn't sleep much either. It has taken all the way til today for him to start acting like his
normal self. The whole thing really threw him for a loop! Rudy has an enlarged heart
and CHF and did not need an episode like this. He has been doing really well, too, since
he started a new medicine called "Vetmedin".
Of course, I have decided never to give him another of these vaccinations. I had already
stopped the others years ago. After reading horror stories about this rabies vaccine on the
internet, there is no way I can subject him to this again. I am going to ask for a letter from
the vet to try and get these state people off my case. Rudy never goes out without me
or my daughter and is always on a leash......there is no place he will come in contact with
a rabies infected animal.
The thing is I don't know where to start to find out if they will even accept a letter about
the reaction that happened to him. I don't care, though. If Rudy lives for another year,
and he is 13 now, I will definitely not give him this vaccine again, no matter what they do!
Dee