rabies shot
 

Hi, I was just wondering, my baby, Colt, is 6 months old and is to get his rabies shot, but he only weights 2 lbs 9 oz, I'm very concerned about this shot. At his 4 month visit to the vet, she wanted to wait until he was 6 months old to receive the shot because he is so small. She said that it is the same dose that a saint Bernard would get. Should I wait until he gets alittle older?

What are the laws in your state? The rabies vaccine is very safe so there should be no issues with him getting it now. He needs his rabies shot before he's neutered. When are you planning on doing that?

I was under the assumption (after reading some posts here) that Rabies and Lepto were the vaccines that caused the most reactions among yorkies. Do the reactions only happen when they are given alongside other vaccines?


and sorry for hijacking the OP. This is something that has been worrying me lately since my vet suggested me to get my pup vaccinated for rabies after she turns 6 months old. He gives the shot alongside the 3 core vaccines, and he reasurred me that his pugs (he breeds pugs) never had any reactions, but I still convinced him to give it to my pup 2 weeks apart from the core vaccines (Hepatitis, Parvo and Distemper).

I always give mine the Vac's at least two weeks apart, Never at the same time. I also always give mine Benedryl at least 30 minutes before going for Vac's.

Great vet!!! She is absolutely correct about the dosing! Many vets will tell you they "adjust the dose" for a small dog....that is NOT true. Vets CAN adjust dosing on the other vaccines but by law, they can not split the dose on the rabies shot. I agree with the vet....a 2 lb pup is too small. If I were you, I would wait until he is 8 months old to have him neutered, as his growth plates will be matured by then. Hopefully, he will have hit at least 3 lbs by then. Just stay at home with Colt, dont even have to go back to the vet until he is 8 months old,,,,,then call and make his appointment for his rabies shot and his neutering....trust me, the "Rabies Gestapo" will not come looking for you and Colt because someone has turned him in for not having his rabies shot! Your baby will be safe from rabies until he gets the shot, if you providethe supervision that is essential with a baby this size. You absolutely can not let this baby out unsupervised....he can not come in contact another mammals that could carry rabies....no squirrels, bats, cats, other dogs, etc, so as long as that little fella is watched closely and is not allowed to engage in "socializing" with other animals and their saliva, you will be safe from rabies. And I would just advise you not to get out and advertise you have a puppy that has not had it's rabies shot! Keep your mouth shut about that, keep your puppy "close to the vest" and supervised closely, no public socialization (which you should be very cautious doing at any time with such a tiny pup)......and when your baby gets to 3 or 3.5 lbs, you will be that much safer with that massive dose of rabies vaccine.....even that little amount of weight gain makes a substantial difference. Congratulations on your little boy! He is going to provide you with so much joy and love and devotion, you just have no idea what is in store for you! I adore them all.....but those little boys....OMG!!!!!!!

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
Excellent! Vets wont grab your baby, run to the back and force anything on them!!! You educate yourself, then go to the vet, and always remember, you can ALWAYS just say "NO!". Pugs are not Yorkies, so they have their own issues.....for example, the Lepto vaccine, which Yorkies have a high incidence of adverse reaction to. Pugs have respiratory/breathing issues that Yorkies are not concerned with.....so you can not compare these two breeds, just because they happen to both be dogs, and classified as small dogs. I am happy you took control of the situation and educated yourself about vaccines and then "spoke" on your pups behalf.

Your state law dictates when you're *supposed* to get the rabies, but I'll tell you that I didn't always follow mine bc of my kiddos' sizes. I did the rabies when I thought it was best for them.

One thing to safely do is to always give Benadryl 45 mins prior to a vaccine. My vet says that in her 30 yrs as a vet - she has NEVER witnessed a vaccine reaction in a dog who has been given Benadryl prior. I'd especially recommend it for rabies.

I always give a benadryl dose prior to vaccines and spread them out. But I think all the hype about vaccine reactions are way over blown.

To be fair with him, he always allows us to be with our dogs when he gives the shots and shows us the tags on the vaccines, and asks for our help when it comes to holding them down for the shots, which makes me feel safer since you never know how dogs (specially the big ones) might react to a stranger handling them even if they are muzzled, plus with pups and small dogs there's always the risk of them falling down the table.

I think tha reactions have more to do with the individual dog rather than them being a specific breed issue, unlike how flat-faced breeds have high risks of complications when undergoing anesthesia.


I was expecting my pup to be tired all day after her last shots, going from some of the posts I've read here, but instead she only slept around 1 hour before going back to her normal self.

Anyway, I'll probably take her to a local ER vet clinic that I know through our city's rescue group. They do make individual vaccination protocols for each dog unlike our vet, who is honest enough to reccomend us specialists in case our dogs have something serious that can't be fixed with a small surgery or medication since sadly he doesn't have the resources to set up a big clinic, plus they are open 24/7 in case our pup has a reaction.

It's not like I'm dumping my current vet since in the 10 years we have known him he has saved the lives of 4 of our pups when other vets that make "big bucks" couldn't even do a proper diagnosis, and our older dogs are already used to him so I believe I'd put them under unnecessary stress if we took them to a clinic instead of having our vet come home to treat seasonal issues that they have like cold tail and allergies.

I never heard of giving a dog Benadryl before getting vaccines. Is this before any vaccines and how much do you give? Would it be children's.My Joey is 3.5 lbs. Thanks

Ask your vet for dosing but I give mine half of an adult pill which is 12.5 mg the children's version is 12.5 mg. Its pretty commonly used for allergic reactions but I also use it for thunderstorm anxiety too. :).

Wow, thank you for all the information, I think that I will call and push back his appointment a couple more months. I know that my vet is truly cautious with Colt because he is so small. She was very upset with me for taking him to Pet Smart for a hair cut, I didn't know any better! Also we are training him to go potty outside and she is afraid that he might pick something up from the other critters that might come into the yard. There sure is a lot to learn about these little guys, that for sure! We have only had him for 3 months and seriously we wonder what we did with out him.

My puppies had the rabies vaccine at 16 wks old in accordance with our state law. I've never had a reaction in any of my dogs. I don't use Benadryl for vaccines but I do hang around the vet hospital for about a half hour after the vaccine just in case,