# Puppy Vaccinations



## Tilly Smith (May 6, 2009)

My GSD puppy was given a C3 vaccination by his breeder. Last weekend he got another C3 vaccination and was also given a Kennel Cough injection.

He got his needles at 9:30am on the Saturday morning and spend most of the day sleeping. At about 12:30 that night he started vomiting. He vomited once, I took him outside, spent some time with him, cleaned up his crate and then about 30 to 40 minutes later I put him back to bed. He probably wasn't in his crate for 15 minutes and he vomited again. Basically this went on for the next 6 hours. 

During the following day he slept all day (only getting up when I took him outside to toilet) but wasn't throwing up at all. That afternoon he was better.

It would have been about 1am when he started throwing up again and it continued for the rest of the night. 


During this time his colour was still good, he was drinking but not as much as normal, he was still pooing normally (nothing runny etc).

I took him to the vet on the Monday - he had a bit of a temperature and had lost about 0.7kg (since the Saturday morning). The vet gave him an inject to stop the vomiting and antibiotic injection (Metomide & Moxylan) and 10 Cephalexin tablets (twice a day). Within 24 hours he was completely back to normal.

Now - does this sound like a reaction to the C3 & Kennel Cough vaccinations? The vet didn't think it was and thought it was more likely a tummy bug.

He is due for his 3rd needle in about 3 weeks - should be go ahead with his final puppy vaccination?


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

http://www.weim.net/emberweims/Vaccine.html
is the Dodds minimal vaccination protocol. 

I'd start reading up a lot before giving this pup another shot.

You didn't give the age of the pup at the shots already given.

I am curious about (well, a lot here, but here's one) why bordetella (kennel cough)?


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

_QUOTE: I took him to the vet on the Monday - he had a bit of a temperature and had lost about 0.7kg (since the Saturday morning). The vet gave him an inject to stop the vomiting and antibiotic injection (Metomide & Moxylan) and 10 Cephalexin tablets (twice a day). Within 24 hours he was completely back to normal. END
_
What was the diagnosis?


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

If you do kennel cough (I'm not a big fan for its efficacy), ask the vet if they have the intranasal as it's a better vaccine. Ya'll down in Oz have different nomenclature for the vaccines (had to look up what C3 was), so it covers distemper, parvo, and canine hepatitis. So it covers core, which is good. 

If you're concerned about immunity, ask the vet or one of the vet schools to take a titer for parvo and distemper for your pup to see if the vaccine accomplished what it was supposed to. That way you'll know if it's necessary or not. Also ask about pre-medding them for an analphylactic reaction if you're concerned. It's sometimes difficult to say if something is vaccine related because vomiting is pretty non-specific and puppies can get into things without you knowing, but I think checking titers and pre-medding for analphylaxis would be prudent. Hope that helps and glad your pup feels better!


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## Sanda Stankovic (Jan 10, 2009)

He cant take titres yet, it hasnt been long enough after second vaccine to see whether it is sufficient to offer long-term protection. His titres would be high enough now after second vaccine but it doesnt mean that they would protect him long-term. 

The problem with side-effects of vaccines is that different dogs will experience slightly different reactions. Usually its the swelling at the site of injection, fever, lack of apetite for day or 2 but some vaccines I am sure can cause nausea also. Vomiting I would say is probably not the most common response but you never know. Ask the breeder if the pup had the same reaction after the first shot. One would assume if that is how he responds to vaccines it is likely to have happened the first time also. 

Are we still vaccinating pups that often?


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## Tilly Smith (May 6, 2009)

He was given the C3 vaccination at just over 6 weeks and had absolutely no problems with it. He got the C3 & Kennel cough vaccination at 12 weeks. When I spoke to the breeder they said they often have problems with Kennel cough vaccinations.

The vet suggested he had a tummy bug which caused the vomiting but there was no tests undertaken - it was purely a case of giving him the 2 needles and "see how he goes". 

I also was feeding him chicken breast and pumpkin (because he loves pumpkin) cooked in a little chicken stock while he was sick - he give his tummy a bit of a rest. His appetite was very much the same but I did notice he wasn't drinking as much (which is why I added a watered down chicken stock to his meal for extra fluids).

There was no swelling or lumps at the needle sight.

If we go ahead with the third injection - due at 16 weeks, that should be his final of his puppy injection and then it is yearly injections. 

How long after his third injection should we wait to do a titre test and do these tests need to be undertaken on a regular basis?


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## Sanda Stankovic (Jan 10, 2009)

I think these days they might only give one yearly booster (so in 1 year) and then maybe every 3 years (and that is a guess, it might even protect him for life). I would say test titres just before his yearly booster is due, so in a year. If his titres are good you might choose to do it on yearly basis and boost if there is a need for it. Your vet should have more feel for how often boosters might need to be given.


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## Kris L. Christine (Mar 25, 2009)

Tilly,

You might be interested in reading this post http://www.workingdogforum.com/vBulletin/f25/vaccinating-puppies-16-weeks-10629/ on puppy vaccinations.

Also, Dr. Ronald Schultz declares in his presentation_ An Update on What Everyone Needs to KNow about Canine and Feline Vaccination Programs_ published in the 2008 Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the AHVMA, Pages 325-336:

*"Kennel cough is not preventable with vaccines."*


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