Vaccination Gone Bad

Hello!
I am a newby here, but I just wanted to talk to some people who may understand what I am going through.

I took my 17-year-old into her Vet yesterday to get her annual check up and shots. Note she was in perfect health, mentally as well as physically and not to mention very perky and happy. Before we left the Vets office she was acting groggy and extremely quiet. When we got home she was completely limp and unresponsive. We took her immediately back to the vet and they said she was having an allergic reaction to one of the shots.

She would not move and was unresponsive... and after they gave her another shot she slowly started to respond. Last evening her Vet said she should recover. This morning called explaining that he thinks she had a stroke and that she may not recover. They want to keep her another day to monitor her. ( they also said we could take her home the way she is... now which means she would just lay there twitching )

Me and my family are very upset and we are unsure of what to do... or if there is anything we can do. She has been a part of my family forever and is very vocal and active in our everyday life. Her brother is scheduled to have his check up next week but I am very nervous about bringing him in. I 've had both these cats since they were born.

Any advice? Encouragments?
Anything would be helpful right now.
Thank you.

I really have no advice, but want to say how sorry I am this has happened to your girl.

My thinking is tht if her brother is the same age and has had vaccines every year, you could probably forgo them for the rest of his life and he would still be covered. That is with the exception of a rabies which I guess is by law.

I hope your girl perks up and recovers from this real soon.

I'm sure many more posters will have wisdom and advice to share. Do please keep us posted on how she's doing though.

I'm so sorry to hear this terrible news. How upsetting for you and your family.

My kitty Reilly had a bad reaction to one of his shots earlier this year, but they were able to give him the medication he needed and he came around.

Sending you lots of prayers

Oh poor thing!! I'll be thinking of you and your little ones!

Are your cats indoor-only cats? Cause my vets actually don't give the yearly vaccinations to older indoor-only cats. They give the vaccines but not every year. The vet said that indoor-only cats don't need them as often as cats who go outside & get exposed to all kinds of stuff. He's especially cautious about giving multiple shots at one time to an older cat. My Teazer is 13 & gets her shots every other year or so & we space them out. One shot, then we wait a month before she gets the next one. That's my experience.

We had a dog that had a stroke at 14 and she recovered and was fine, but it scared us pretty bad. But the stroke didn't coincide with any vaccinations. But she did recover.

I hope she gets better! Keep us posted!

Oh I wish I could help you, I just want to offer my prayers and good thoughts to you and your family

OMG! thats awfull!!!!!!!!! I am so sorry....I have a 14 yr. old cat, i don't get her any vaccs. actually cause she is indoors and she does suffer from hyperthyroisism

I am so sorry, and I hope your girl will recover. In terms of her brother, once an adult, the current protocol is to vaccinate every 3 years, so I would not vaccinate him if he was just vaccinated last year (just me, my opinion).

I would also ask your vet to do a senior panel on him (and on your girl if she recovers), something my vet recommends at this age if never done previously. It's not uncommon now that cats are living to their late teens, early 20s, for them to develop issues such as hyperthyroidism, chronic renal failure, and it helps to check oldsters yearly so problems can be caught early on and treated (there is no cure for chronic renal failure, but caught early, it can be treated and the cats life extended for a number of years).

Please keep us posted, I will keep your girl in my thoughts.

I'm so sorry to hear about your precious baby, and will keep her in my thoughts. Vaccination reactions are more common than vets would like us to believe, and I wish that more of them warned us of the possible side affects when we are having our babies vaccinated so we know what to look out for.
My Oliver, who is now almost 4, had a very drastic and severe reaction to the Feline Leukemia vaccine when he was a kitten: we almost lost him and I remember how upset I was with the vet that they hadn't warned us of the possible side effects--since he was an only cat and indoor-only cat who tested negative for FeLeuk he didn't even really "need" the vaccine to begin with: but I was trying to be a good meowmy and get him all the shots he needed.

Keep us posted and myself, Olly and Emma will keep you in our thoughts today.

I am sorry to hear. This is exactly why I vaccinate my cats one time and one time only ever. Vaccinations last a lifetime pretty much. At least a very long time. I would never vaccinate a cat over 7 years old. Way too risky. I have heard too many stories like this.

I hope she is ok. Please do not ever vaccinate her again.

Oh gosh, thats awful.

We had our cat vaccinated every year until she died. But that was only because she was quite old and she had arthuritus (sp?) and a sist thing on her back.
One day we just thought it was better to have her put down as we didn't want her to suffer.

I am sorry about your baby. Sending lots of get well vibes her way.

Any updates?

Oh my goodness, my heart goes out to you & your kitty cat...I'd pass on the other cats shots as well and just concentrate on getting this one better again...you and your kitty have been added to my prayer list ...I hope today is better for Kitty and you....I know how stressfull this can be on everyone, not to mention poor kitty baby...please let us know how things are soon...
Christine