My dog died recently and right before he had had a vaccination that had a 10 follow up booster. Do you think these shots had anything to do with his death?

Hi Cindy,

I am so distraught over 1 thing though and was hoping you could help me with it. Max was totally healthy 2 months ago. We brought him to the vet for a vaccine that he was over due for. At that time they highly suggested another vaccine that needed to be followed up with a booster in 10 days. Max seemed fine after that visit but then we went back for the booster. He went steadily down hill after that booster. He 1st started drinking water continually. He couldn't get enough. Then he became very lethargic and weak. He lost 16 pounds in a 2 week period and could hardly get up anymore. The vet ran a bunch of blood tests, testing him for diabetes etc. and couldn't find anything wrong. I told him I thought it was the vaccination. He said that it couldn't be; that they had never had any problems with the vaccine before. Now reading your minimal vaccine policy, I am even more convinced. We as a family do not believe in vaccines for ourselves. I often questioned why we gave them to our dog. It is tearing me up thinking that maybe I did this to Max. Do you think it is a possibility?

Thanks for your time.

Sincerely,
Diane

Hi Cindy,

Thanks for taking the time to talk to me about this. I just called the veterinary clinic and got the name of the vaccines. On Jan. 8th Max had a Distemper Vaccination and a Leptospirosis. He seemed Ok, nothing unusual that I noticed after that. On Jan. 29th I took him in for the booster on it. I noticed that Max didn't seem himself after the booster. By the second week of Feb. he was getting sicker & sicker, was drinking tons of water, quit eating food unless hand fed and just laid all day. I took him in again, they did blood work and found nothing. Max lost all his muscle tone and 16 pounds of weight in the last 2 weeks of his life. All he wanted to do was lay in the snow and lick it. They did more blood work and put him on antibiotics which still didn't help. On Friday Mar. 7th they suggested that he be given a shot of steroids to maybe give him a boost in his appetite. I was desperate because Max was dying so I took him in. The very next day I took him back for his final shot. I couldn't bare to let him suffer anymore. At least he is at peace now, but I sure am not. I can't even begin to tell you how much I miss him and how bad I feel for what he had to go through. This will never happen to me again. If the law makes us get our pet a rabies shot, well I guess I have no choice, but no animal of mine will ever be vaccinated for anything else again.

Diane

PS If you have ever heard of anything else about this vaccine, please let me know. Thanks for your time.