poorly dog after rabies jab

jaymac_2

OH took the dog for her booster last week and was persuaded to have a rabies jab too though the one in her passport is valid for another 18 months yet. On Monday she was off her food and had a huge swelling on her shoulder. I thought she'd fallen off the bed in the night and this was the result but we took her off to the vet who gave us anti inflamatory tablets. Today blood and pus were oozing from the swelling ( covering an area about 6 by 6 inches and a couple of inches high) so we took her back to the vet. After an operation to clean out the swelling and cut away dead flesh - with a six inch incision - the vet said she'd had a very rare reaction to the injection but couldn't say which one. She talked about a "sterile abscess" which, according to our GP is common in TB and rabies has similarities with TB so he thinks it's probably because of the rabies jab. Checking on google many sites say don't have rabies jabs at the same time as other boosters so please be warned by this. Our vet has actually waived the fees for treatment and is only charging for medication - £25 so far - so i wonder if they're feel guilty.

walwin

How awful.

I ca't understand why the vet would want to give another rabies jab before the due date.

I've never heard of a reaction like this and I lived in Spain for many years where the rabies jab was compulsary, so I'm afraid I can't say anything helpful, but didn't want to just read and leave.

Did she give a reason for wanting to vaccinate 18 months early?
When we were preparing to leave Spain my vet stressed how good it was that the girls (dog and cat) wouldn't have to have the rabies jab as often.

The rabies jabs were always given on the same day as the other boosters as the rabies had to be done annually there by law.

I really hope your dog is soon back to being fit and well.

I'm not sure how much confidence I'd have in the vet now, though, as I can't understand why she gave that unnecessary injection.

jaymac_2

Thank you for your kind post. We'll be seeking a meeting with the senior partner to find out what's gone wrong here but the vet we saw claimed that a lot of people were having trouble at the ports if they didn't have annual rabies jabs. We've taken the dog to France five times now and never had any trouble of any kind coming back but OH was worried by her comments.

dorsetlass

that is a dreadful story, I'm so sorry and I hope your dog gets better very soon.

We've been travelling to France and back twice a year since 2000 - and never had a query on the 2 year rabies vac at the ports. Also 18 months before its due date just seems completely and utterly wrong.

I'm sure I've read somewhere that the rabies vac should not be given within 2 weeks of any other jabs, so we tend to keep ours a long distance apart.

I do hope you get some sensible answers.