Has anyone ever had a dog react neurologically to a rabies shot?
Went for a senior checkup,(he's 10) updated the rabies and my boy has been wobbly since. It started in the back end, he fell, couldn't get up. Then he got progressively more unstable behind, if one of the other dogs bumped him, he would go down. Now it's the front end, drags his toes when he's walking. This all in the course of 4 days.
NO other symptoms, he's eating, wagging his tail, no pain, not on any meds etc. Did back radiographs yesterday, showed only some back arthritis. Going for a neck/head xray tomorrow then to a neurologist.
Before going to a neurologist I would do a complete blood workup to rule out things like lyme or anemia. Last year our 11 yr. old girl woke up and started dragging her toes and then they knuckled over..turns out she was anemic, for which there is no treatment.
Best of luck, keep us posted.
Rabies is a neurological disease. If my dog started showing symptoms like this right after having a rabies vaccination I would find out what exactly the vet gave my dog and then contact the manufacturer for advice before exposing my dog to any more xrays in an attempt to explain away what seems obvious.
I have a friend and her girl had a reaction about 2 weeks after getting her rabies shot. It was given in the back leg and she started to limp, she stopped eating, was lathargic and very sick.
Was at the vets and put on anti-inflammatories and antibiotics as they did not suspect a reaction to the vaccine until a few days later when all labs came back normal.
She did recover fully, but she was at the vets for a number of days.
Just wondering if this dog happened to have an application of flea/tick spot-on treatment around the same time? There is documentation about neuro symptoms from Bio-Spot (the one available from Walmart).
Yes, totally the rabies vaccine in my opinon. Vets should not give old dogs any vaccines. I have known several having reactions and some even dying soon after the vaccine. Titer if you are worried. l bet he titer shows they have full protection.
The rabies vaccine itself is a killed virus, meaning it has a very, very low potential for causing any reactions (and cannot cause the disease). Live vaccines or modified live vaccines have a higher potential for causing problems, but it is still rare.
One possibility could be the route of administration---again, rarely, a nerve could nicked in giving an injection of any kind, or the muscle tissue gets injured, both of which can cause a soreness, stiffness or temporary neurological deficits.
Sometimes, too, when an active dog is restrained for the vaccine and moves the wrong way, the potential for neuromuscular injury is there. Since this dog is older, other neuromuscular things could potentially be going on.
I'm not saying that the rabies vaccine is not the cause of this dog's problems, but it's also very possible there is another cause and the vaccine itself is being blamed. None of us were there or privy to the dog's medical records, so it's tough to make that call from our computers.
Rabies vaccines are mandatory in most every county in the United States, and because of this, the actual disease is very rare, which is a good thing. The rabies virus and the disease still exists in the native wildlife population in most parts of the country.
Has this dog been seen by the neurologist yet? Please let us know what the results were if you can!
