Vaccination lethargy - I feel so bad!

[yangdemei]

I took my baby Mitts in for his 2nd round of vaccinations. I wasn't there for the first one as he was a "rescue" cat. The woman who found him gave him his 1st vaccines.

He was NOT happy to go (reached through carrier and sliced hubby's hand twice, prompting the vet to ask how long we keep him in the cage ...

as if he lives in there...

) He had never been enclosed in the carrier before, but we had let him run around in it for fun....

Anyhoo, Mitts is now very tired and sad and now I feel like a bad meowmy.

Also, I read all the stuff about not giving vaccinations and we have to give EVERYTHING here as there is a big inner city stray cat/dog problem.

Sorry for the long post. I know I did the right thing, but I feel so bad.....he's so not himself.

 

[talon]

Of my 4, one will get "the blues" for about 2 days after her vaccinations. The vet has always said that this is a normal reaction and just watch her closely for any further signs. So far, knock on wood, there hasn't been.

 

[petnurse2265]

It is a normal reaction, and it is for his own good, the diseases he is being protected from are a much worse fate. I remember when my daughter was a baby and got her first vaccinations, she screamed for hours afterward it was awful, but a neccesary evil. Mitts will feel better soon.

 

[scamperfarms]

Mitts will feel better soon. Just keep an eye on him. I vaccinate all of mine and they usually get a bit sleepy. My cat Loki did have a vaccine reaction on his last round. But he got some Subq liquids and was ok.

 

[aussie cat love]

Not sure about wher you live but here in australia we have a few different vaccines cats can be given.The main ones being F3 and F4. F4 covers chlamydia. My cat has a bad reaction to F4 so I will no longer get him done with that one and request only the F3 for him. Maybe find out which type was used and see if it was different to the first.

 

[clark&aggy]

I had my aggy vaccinated a few days ago. She also had to have an x-ray taken to see if there were any crystals in her urine (that's another story).

My question is, can the area where they gave her the shots swell up internally and feel like a tumor? I was just petting her and there's a big lump in her back near her shoulder blade. I don't remember having felt it before, but maybe I wasn't petting her in the right way to feel it. I'm nervous now.

Can anyone offer up some similar stories? Wouldn't an x-ray show a tumor?

p.s. She was also terribly groggy for at least 24 hours so don't be worried. It's normal.

 

[petnurse2265]

Sometimes the vaccine will cause a local reaction (at the site of injection) and can take up to 6 weeks to fade, but they do slowly fade. Vaccines are meant to get a reaction out of the bodies immune system and to start building antibodies against the virus's that they were vaccinated for. well diferent cats can react different ways some being lethargic afterward and some not, and some developing local reactions. Just keep an eye on it and let your vet know if anything gets worse (get infected or larger).

 

[tuxedokitties]

Originally Posted by clark&aggy

I had my aggy vaccinated a few days ago. She also had to have an x-ray taken to see if there were any crystals in her urine (that's another story).

My question is, can the area where they gave her the shots swell up internally and feel like a tumor? I was just petting her and there's a big lump in her back near her shoulder blade. I don't remember having felt it before, but maybe I wasn't petting her in the right way to feel it. I'm nervous now.

Can anyone offer up some similar stories? Wouldn't an x-ray show a tumor?

p.s. She was also terribly groggy for at least 24 hours so don't be worried. It's normal.

This page (click here) has a good explanation of various types of adverse vaccine reactions.

 

[babybird]

If you feel bad, listen to my story.

My husband and I have 7 cats, all indoor, all our babies. My favorite girl is Baby Bird ( dont ask, goofy name). She has allergies and was prescribed a course of prednizone which is a steriod.

We got home from the vet and I sat the pill bottle on the kitchen counter, went to find the cat, and then gave her two small pills out of the bottle. About 20 minutes later I noticed she was walking funny, as if drunk. I immediately thought OH NO! this is some sort of reaction, she's dying or very sick! I ran into the kitchen to check the pill bottle for any information and realized that I had given her the WRONG mediciation. I was horrified. See, we also have an epileptic dog and his PHENOBARBITAL comes in the same kind of bottle. Same size, shape, everything. I sat Baby Birds pill bottle near the dogs medicine and my husband moved it over. I didnt think twice when I picked it up.

I then realized I had given my cat 120mg of phenobarbital, enough for our 70lb dog with severe epilepsy.

I freaked out and called the vet who told me to force feed her hydrogen peroxide and she'd call me back. By this time the cat couldn't walk and had just laid over on her side. Phenobarb makes you very sleepy and the dosage level I gave her....well, lets say I was horrified. It can also cause you to go into respiratory failure when taken in large doses, I think people commit suicide this way on occassion.

It was a madhouse. I was so upset with myself and worried for the cat and husband was so mad at me I thought he was going to kill me, but nothing he could have done to me would have made me feel any worse than I felt myself.

Long story short I gave her lots of hyudrogen peroxide but she didnt vomit. The vet called back within minutes and had done some calculations and told us not to worry *too much and to watch her and if her breathing slowed down to bring her over immediately. Fortunately other than being VERy sleepy for about 6 hours, she made a full recovery.

There was NO excuse for my mistake. Im just so very very thankful I didnt harm her.

 

[aussie cat love]

The rabies vaccine can cause sarcoma in cats. It is best to get the shot in the cats leg so if they do get rabies the lag can be amputated and the cat still live. If you have an indoor cat it woul probably be best not toeven bother with the rabies vaccine

 

[yangdemei]

Just a quick update, Mitts was almost back to himself in 12 hours and by 24 hours later, he was as ornery as ever, making up for lost time I guess!

No bumps, no problems.

 

[talon]

Originally Posted by Aussie Cat Love

The rabies vaccine can cause sarcoma in cats. It is best to get the shot in the cats leg so if they do get rabies the lag can be amputated and the cat still live. If you have an indoor cat it woul probably be best not toeven bother with the rabies vaccine

Here in the US it is a required vaccine - quite a common shot. Never heard of any getting sacroma - going to go have to look that one up!

 

[aussie cat love]

They are fairly common. Do a search for Vaccination Associated Sarcoma in Cats or VAS. Also this website has a heap of information www.catshots.com I found out about VAS while researching adverse vaccination reactions as my cat had an bad reaction. It is well worth knowing about these side effects.