# Adverse reaction to rabies shot



## Michele McAtee (Apr 10, 2006)

I am so pissed (and a bit freaked out) right now and all I can do is read (more) and post here and go to my vet.

I took Huck Finn in last week for his rabies. First shot and I had waited until he was just over a year for him to get it. Last night, I took his collar off and noticed a lump--bigger than a quarter, smaller than a golf ball, at the injection site on the back of his neck!

Thought I'd start here, do you guys have any knowledge/experience with this? I've read everything from benign to sarcoma "ball" of cancer.

It seems like it is IM (intramuscular) and not painful to him (at this point).


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## Jennifer Coulter (Sep 18, 2007)

I am not a vet, but I beleive that this is pretty common with the rabies vax, and not considered an adverse reaction by the vets even. It does not mean your dog will experience other side effects.

Keep an eye on it, they can last a long time, but should start to get smaller start to get progressivly smaller after a couple of weeks. If it is painful, grows bigger, or does not start to get smaller after a couple of weeks you might want to see the vet.

A new dog in our program (a BC) just had the same thing at his injection site, he is much younger than your dog, and the lump is starting to go down more each day now.

It is the kind of thing I would let my vet know about as I think that they should document these types of things, but don't think you should be overly worried.





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## Debbie Skinner (Sep 11, 2008)

A Beauceron puppy buyer about 10 years ago had a similar situation. His dog was an adult..about 7 years old and got a rabies vaccination in the neck/shoulder region. He developed cancer at the injection site and died from it  But, there are other reactions associated with rabies with cancer being the worse. Don't jump to the assumption that this will happen to your dog. Good luck. I know of a malinois adult male that got the injection in rear thigh and had nerve damage to the point of dragging his leg and recovered eventually. I think it took a few months. I was planning to import a Beauceron male FRII last year and the vet in France gave him "all" the vaccines for export including rabies. He develop a rare immune response (blood disorder..I can't recall the name right now) and he died. These are dogs over a 20 year span though that I've heard of or owned. I think it's rare, but it is a concern since I'm not in favor of vaccinating adult dogs after about 3 years of age as they normally have immunity. It's the law that makes us vaccinate (rabies) not science.


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## Michele McAtee (Apr 10, 2006)

Common, 19.4% according to this report:
http://www.workingdogforum.com/vBul...ne-javma-report-adverse-reactions-dogs-10459/

It just really makes me that much more interested in being even MORe proactive with rabies legislation.


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## maggie fraser (May 30, 2008)

Is the lump fairly soft and malleable? A dog of mine I'd had rabies jabbed in the neck got a haematoma, (fairly soft, blood filled lump), although they can go quite hard. If it's that, nothing too much to worry about and it will go down in time. Hope it's nothing more serious, and good luck!


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## Michele McAtee (Apr 10, 2006)

Of course, I too hope it is nothing more serious! It is just one of those things, the 19.4% (how the hell do they come up with that number anyway) of people this has happened to has not been me...ever. Now it is. Ergh.

I am hoping that I can get lil Huck exempt from any further rabies shots in the future and I plan on following up with the rabies vaccination challenge, to be involved and help out with everyone's dogs not just mine.


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## Anna Kasho (Jan 16, 2008)

Don't panic, an instantly developed lump is NOT cancer - cancer would take a bit longer to form. Both my cats got rabies vax in the shoulder (I didn't know better then) and both had soft lumps the size of a quarter for almost a month. The vet kinda blew it off when I questioned her - oh, if it's more than a month it may be a problem, come back then... I have a different vet now.

When I had dogs vaccinated, I requested that the vet inject it in the right hind leg like they're supposed to do with cats, because of cancer risk. Didn't notice any lumps, but I did see depression/lethargy, itching all over, sudden worsening of skin condition, and change in behavior in one dog who had been 100% healthy with clear skin up until then. 

A close friend of mine has a basset who's bombproof, and just recently got a puppy dachshund who had a severe allergic reaction within a couple hours of the vax - swelling and hives all over, difficulty breathing, lethargic and vomiting. She was lucky to pull through, with overnight care at the vet and meds. So it can be very serious with some dogs...


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## Michele McAtee (Apr 10, 2006)

Right on...I'm not panicked, it was just is a sucky feeling when I found a lump of that caliber that has obviously grown over the course of the week, on a lil dog that I've grown quite fond of over the year.

Hopefully, it will decrease in size and amount to nothing. However, its all that "in between" cancer and nothing that has me :bangsheadonwall: (I don't have smilies)


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## Kristen Cabe (Mar 27, 2006)

Michele McAtee said:


> I am hoping that I can get lil Huck exempt from any further rabies shots in the future and I plan on following up with the rabies vaccination challenge.



This is something I would definitely do. It's the whole, 'oh, that's fairly common, so it must not be serious' attitude that ticks me off when it comes to vaccinations. Any reaction is enough (for me) to warrant a call to the manufacturer, but nine times out of ten reactions go unreported.


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## maggie fraser (May 30, 2008)

Kristen Cabe said:


> This is something I would definitely do. It's the whole, 'oh, that's fairly common, so it must not be serious' attitude that ticks me off when it comes to vaccinations. Any reaction is enough (for me) to warrant a call to the manufacturer, but nine times out of ten reactions go unreported.


You're probably quite right there!

Another dog of mine (gsd) got plenty of adverse reactions, not only to vaccines either, I actually kept a diary on him as my vet didn't believe me. Metacam nearly killed him as did rimadyl and countless reactions to other drugs - that was until I decided by the age of two - no more drugs for him! Interestingly, he enjoyed much better health for a lot of years on nothing only diet,exercise management without going into too much detail. Lumps and bumps in my experience are not unusual after a jab, could be a rabies jab or an ab jab - to the original op - have you not had many dogs before? My thing is, drugs only when very necessary, I do an initial puppy vax and 1st year booster when I can get away with it although it's not easy for those who're travelling their dogs and boarding etc. jmo, drugs should be very carefully considered in any scenario - particularly the Routine ones.


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## Michele McAtee (Apr 10, 2006)

maggie fraser said:


> to the original op - have you not had many dogs before?


Please explain how this question is pertinent? I've had 9 dogs in my lifetime and not any noticable adverse reactions. I guess it's my time, huh? Really doesn't matter if it is my first dog or my 20th, a reaction is a reaction and I am going to report this occurance. 

I am happy to report that his affect is fine, everything about him seems fine except for this lump.


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## maggie fraser (May 30, 2008)

Just that I guess you're lucky - nothing more, I was just a little surprised by the apparent panic in your post. No offence intended and please don't take it that way, I supposed rightly or wrongly that if folks have had a few dogs this is something they'd have come across.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Michele McAtee said:


> .... I am going to report this occurance. ... I am happy to report that his affect is fine, everything about him seems fine except for this lump.


I'm glad he's fine, and that it wasn't one of the rare and much more serious injection reactions.

I just looked up injection-site-swelling in a vet manual, and they estimate 52%, but my personal guess would be higher (unreported occurrences). I am 100% with you in deciding to report it.


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## Michele Fleury (Jun 4, 2009)

My Dutch Shepherd developed a lump at the injection site the size of a small kiwi after her first rabies vac last summer (picture that on a pup that only weighed 20 lbs). She also had vomiting and diarrhea within a few hours that lasted into the next day. I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with it when she's due for her next rabies booster this fall. One of my previous dogs had a really bad reaction to a DHLPP booster, after having several over the years with no problems. Her face swelled up and we had to give her large doses of steroids to get it to stop. It took 2 days for the swelling to go down completely. I titered her for distemper and parvo from then on and she never needed a booster, thankfully. I was a vet tech for 8 years and a small lump at the injection site is not uncommon with vaccines, not just rabies so most Vets won't think anything of it. There are many variables that could cause a lump at the injection site that aren't necessarily a true reaction to the vaccine itself and the dog may never have another such reaction in the future.........or it could be the beginning of much bigger things.


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## Kristen Cabe (Mar 27, 2006)

Michele Fleury said:


> My Dutch Shepherd developed a lump at the injection site the size of a small kiwi after her first rabies vac last summer (picture that on a pup that only weighed 20 lbs). She also had vomiting and diarrhea within a few hours that lasted into the next day. I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with it when she's due for her next rabies booster this fall.


Get a medical exemption or run titers from here on out when it comes due. No WAY would I give a dog another shot that had a reaction like that, and your vet shouldn't, either! It clearly states in all vaccine literature that shots should only be administered to HEALTHY animals. I wonder what the percentage of vets is that actually adhere to that? I know it's not a big number.


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## maggie fraser (May 30, 2008)

I do sometimes wonder about the 'should only be administered to a healthy animal' bit, it seems sometimes that's the bit where they become unhealthy!


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## Michele McAtee (Apr 10, 2006)

THe lump seems to be dissipating. I did speak with my vet and he related that we have to measure the lump to report it and then it is likely that the manufacturer can place "blame" on the injection point itself. I did not go in, as there are no other symptoms. However, it bugs me that it is just left like this. I think I will call the manufacturer myself. ? Just to have at least reported it to them so they have the information.

I must wonder, what is the exemption "maximum" for a vet. I bet a vast majority don't even track the reactions/exemption requests.


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## ann schnerre (Aug 24, 2006)

FWIW, and keep in mind i have worked w/literally thousands of LARGE animals, probably only hundreds of small...

when i have experienced inj site lumps, they've mostly been due to 1) poor inj technique, ie, "we're in a hurry to get it done, the animal's squirming, just get it 'somewhere' " and 2) re-use of needles (usually not a problem in vet clinics, def a problem in a production environment) when injecting 100's of animals at a time.

both easily managed problems.

i have always seen a rxn in my dogs/cats to rabies vax: lethargy being the worst i've experienced (so far, fingers crossed), more pronounced in some animals than others.

as above, JMO and JME.


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