poor mylo, glad he's on the mend
Hi Nathalie,
Sorry Mylo had a reaction to the vaccinations. Ugh. It can be really scary.
I am new here and glad I found your post because my Carlota also had a reaction to her rabies vaccination....a very bad reaction, and my vet acted so surprised. After reading your post along with some of the others here I am wondering if it is not a chihuahua thing.
When Carlota had her first rabies vacc. the vet mentioned that sometimes dogs have reactions to it, but "very, very rarely" she actually said it never happens. Still, she asked me to hang out for a bit just to make sure she was okay. Carlota and I stayed in the waiting room for about fifteen minutes and all appeared fine, so with the vet's ok, we hopped in a cab (I live in NYC). Well, halfway home Carlota's whole head swelled up to double the size, her eyes were huge and protruding and watering and she was crying. She had hives all over and was desperately scratching. It was the scariest thing I have ever seen and it seemed to happen in a matter of seconds. I told the cab driver to turn around and bring me back.
The vet was stunned. She dropped what she was doing and administered a shot of adrenaline. Phew. She was loopy the rest of the day but the swelling gradually went down.
Well, she had her last rabies vacc. about two months ago with the same vet. This time the vet used a different brand vaccine and had me wait even longer. All appeared fine. We made it home and Carlota seemed sleepy, but no swelling. Then about fifteen minutes after being home....same exact thing....her whole head double the size, crying, scratching. I called a cab and brought her back within minutes and again the vet administered an adrenaline shot.
It is really scary. My vet was perplexed, again telling me how very rare and strange this is...oh, and not to worry because she wouldn't charge me for the life saving adrenaline shot, this time. Hmmm, thanks.
I know it is not the vets fault that my dog is allergic to her rabies vaccine, but the vet acted as if this had never ever happened to any dog before and just by reading the posts here I see that it does.
My vet is super expensive and when she made the comment about not charging me for the adrenaline shot "this time" I just saw red, as if it wasn't a life saving thing, but just some sort of fancy collar. It goes without saying that I would have paid anyway.
Needless to say, I am looking for a new vet. Somehow I feel a little better knowing that it is not such a "rare" thing for chihuahuas to be allergic to the rabies vaccine.
Sorry for the long post.
Hope Mylo is back in form.
Lee
I am a little freaked out.
