rabies vaccination reaction

Hi all

I just thought I'd bring this to your attention as I was pretty clueless about the whole thing. I took my cat Swami for his rabies vaccination on Saturday, and by sunday evening it was obvious he was having some side effects from it (he wouldn't eat, was very lethargic and generally not feeling too good). I didn't think too much of it, as he was like this for around 24 hours last year when he had his routine FVRCP and FeLV boosters, but was fine the day after.

Anyway, I checked on him on monday morning and he was clearly worse, he could barely stand up and was quite floppy, and when I tried to pick him up he literally screamed in pain. I rushed him to the vet who said he was having an allergic reaction to the vaccination - she gave him fluids and antihistamines, and sent me home with pain killers for him. I had to take the day off work to watch him, with strict instructions to bring him back to the vet if he didn't improve by lunchtime, as they may have to give him steroids and put him on an IV. Thankfully he did improve somewhat, and today he is much better (though still not 100%).

I felt so guilty as she told me that I should have informed them last time that he was lethargic after his FVRCP and FeLV boosters, as he clearly has a vaccine allergy, which can get worse each time and can be fatal! I just put it down to him feeling a bit off and didn't think anything of it. Now he has a note on his file saying he shouldn't receive vaccinations (and if he absolutely has to, then he must be pretreated with antihistamines to try to prevent this happening again).

So please, if your pet shows ANY symptoms following a vaccination, no matter how insignificant it may be, make sure to tell your vet!

Hope no one else has to go through this, I felt incredibly bad watching the poor man suffer when I could have prevented it by not dismissing his previous symptoms

Oh wow. That's frightening. Thank you for posting this. I've heard of friend's cats being unwell after vaccines but I didn't know that this can be so significant as this.

Someone on here posted earlier that she had given her cats more than one rabies booster recently because she was fearful about not passing the titer test with enough antibodies -- I hope hers are okay. My own cat had no reaction at all but this is good information to put out there.

One of mine began to drool uncontrollably after his vaccine. They kept him for the day, but it turns out the durn fool had probably turned around and licked the spot where they gave him the shot, and licked up some rubbing alcohol.

Anyhow, the good news is -- if you're doing this as part of the PETS scheme, once he gets to Britain, he'll never need a rabies shot again!

One of ours had a bad reaction, too.  I felt awful for him.  We've got antihistimines for any future vax, but now that we're here and they have their new EU pet passports, he won't need a rabies shot for another 3 years. 

Hows he doing today, MrsF??

He's much better today, thanks Mirrajay. So much better in fact that he woke me up at 5am this morning, wanting to play with his feather-on-a-stick toy! Seems like he's back to normal (and I'm back to being woken up while it's still dark outside!)

Glad to hear he is recovering from the reaction.

Mine wakes me up at 5am too -- what is it with cats and that time of the morning? He did the same thing in the US!

I have no idea! For a long time he would only start meowing once it started getting light outside, then all of a sudden it switched to 5am, regardless of daylight! I swear he can read the time on my alarm clock, pretty much 5am on the dot he starts meowing, then jumps up at the window to rattle the blinds and make noise, then meows again, and if that cycle doesn't work he begins the sprinting from room to room game, which only ends once he pounces up onto my bed and slams all of his weight onto my legs, so I can ignore him no longer! This has happened EVERY morning (weekends included) for the past 18 months. And don't even start me on what happens if I try and shut him out of our room.....

Same story here, including the dire consequences if I shut him out of my room! I'm sometimes successful in getting him to come and cuddle with me while I try to grab some further desperate moments of sleep, hahah, but after a bit of a purr and a snuggle he's off again, tearing around the room after his ball or furry toy. Little darlings first thing in the morning......! 

I felt so guilty as she told me that I should have informed them last time that he was lethargic after his FVRCP and FeLV boosters, as he clearly has a vaccine allergy, which can get worse each time and can be fatal! I just put it down to him feeling a bit off and didn't think anything of it. Now he has a note on his file saying he shouldn't receive vaccinations (and if he absolutely has to, then he must be pretreated with antihistamines to try to prevent this happening again).

That is scary.  Maxwell usually does the off colour routine for a day or two after any of his shots.  The vets said just to notify them if he got really ill.  But it is worrying.  Hope your kitty continues to improve.

I have no idea! For a long time he would only start meowing once it started getting light outside, then all of a sudden it switched to 5am, regardless of daylight! I swear he can read the time on my alarm clock, pretty much 5am on the dot he starts meowing, then jumps up at the window to rattle the blinds and make noise, then meows again, and if that cycle doesn't work he begins the sprinting from room to room game, which only ends once he pounces up onto my bed and slams all of his weight onto my legs, so I can ignore him no longer! This has happened EVERY morning (weekends included) for the past 18 months. And don't even start me on what happens if I try and shut him out of our room.....

Be glad he doesn't have a baseball bat...

Be glad he doesn't have a baseball bat...

 :DWrahhh that's hilarious!! That rings so true it's spot-on -- except for the baseball bat!

That moment with the paw just reaching out and pushed onto the face a couple of times..! The person who made this definitely owns cats.

Be glad he doesn't have a baseball bat...

Love those Simon's Cat 'tunes!     So typically cat-like!

OMG I love the Simon's Cat videos!!! He has some others, though none are so good as the first one!